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Last post from Italy 
before the Challenge ends… hello from Tuscany!
We spent a week at the seaside in Marina di Grosseto with a couple of friends.
We took advantage of our location to visit a few towns in Tuscany.
The first town we visited is Pitigliano, also known as “The little Jerusalem” for the presence of a Jewish community that has always been welcome and well-integrated here.
This is the local synagogue:
Today we also visited Montepulciano and Montalcino. Both are in a very rich wine-producing region (the “Vino Nobile di Montepulciano” and the “Brunello di Montalcino” are famous local wines 
).
Here are a couple of photos from Montepulciano:
And here are a couple from Montalcino:
I found out that in Grosseto there is a very nice track that belongs to a track-and-field school, the “Campo di Atletica Leggera Bruno Zauli.”
On our way to Montepulciano, I asked my friends if we could briefly stop there, so I could do one last Sweet 1600. The track is in the city center, right next to the Zecchini Municipal Stadium. The space was recently renovated (in 2016) and is very well organized: in addition to the track, there is a field of natural grass for all activities related to athletics (discus throw, shot put, hammer throw and javelin throw), two platforms for the high jump, two for the long jump, two for pole vault, and the track even has a covered section!
And yes @kuwanna you are totally right, it’s not good to trespass, so I am not recommending it to anyone. Unfortunately, most of these tracks in Italy are closed in the summer. I always try to find phone numbers online and call before checking them out, but I never get an answer.
But I gotta end on yet again another funny note… the day I got caught for jumping the gate of the track in Rome was quite memorable because… my boyfriend proposed! Can you imagine if I had gotten arrested and he had to propose in a Roman prison?!
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Today we had an excellent lunch at the restaurant Il Teatro Cucina Toscana in Montepulciano… highly recommended!
Sorry to miss the FLRC picnic! 
Congratulations to all the prize winners and finishers for rocking the Challenge, and thanks again to @adamengst, @tonya-engst, @heathercobb3, @Dave_K, and all those who organized group runs and contributed to creating such a wonderful running community in Ithaca!!!
it makes it sound very adventurous!