PITTSBURGH — A conversation halfway across the world led both Dr. Matt Harinstein and Dr. Michele Pilato to the starting line at the 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon. Harinstein, a cardiologist at UPMC, was visiting Pilato at ISMETT- one of UPMC’s partner hospitals in Italy. Harinstein told his colleague the story of how he previously ran the Pittsburgh Half Marathon.
“When I got to mile marker 12 I said, ‘oh, I feel great,’” recalled Harinstein. “I think I could continue further and finish the whole marathon and so ultimately, I finished the half marathon but said it maybe one day I’d like to do the full marathon.”
“He told me he did the half marathon and I teased him,” said Pilato, with a smile. “‘Half marathon half man’ I was just teasing him, of course.”
A flight back to Pittsburgh, and a few days later Dr. Harinstein messaged Dr. Pilato to let him know he signed up for the full marathon this time around. Dr. Pilato said “you know what? I’ll join you!”
“So I thought okay Matt, we will be there together,” said Pilato.
“At first, I decided to do this and I said, you know he’s coming all the way from Italy and now I’m really locked into doing this,” joked Harinstein. “It’s a lot of fun to have him here. And it’s a lot of fun to do it with a colleague and a friend.”
Dr. Pilato has run multiple marathons, including the Athens Marathon this past November. His advice for Dr. Harinstein on his first? Well, he compares it to life.
“You are tired, you don’t know if you are going to cross the finish line so you will you fight with yourself and eventually when you get the line, you think I’m going to do another one,” said Pilato.
“It’s a lot of motivation that you have people here who have done this many times before, and had been successful and are so enthusiastic about it,” said Harinstein.
When the runners take their mark Sunday morning on Liberty Avenue, 11 countries, including Italy, will be represented at the Marathon.
“It goes to show how much you know people think highly of Pittsburgh, and how much people want to run the marathon here,” said Harinstein. “I think it’s bringing all of us together.”
As for Dr. Harinstein, he is just hoping he won’t be too far behind his friend, and colleague
“I’m just hoping he doesn’t have to wait for me to long at the finish line to celebrate,” joked Harinstein. “I’m a little concerned he’ll be there about an hour before. But hopefully he’ll wait.”
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