Rome

From Jo S

 

I have been asked a few times recently why I keep coming back to Rome. I began to wonder myself. And then I got here. If you haven't ever been then do! Not necessarily to run the marathon, just come here and see for yourself. And for running a marathon - what could be better than starting and finishing at the Colosseum?

Anyway, weather was pretty much perfect for running - a bit too warm at first (cloudy so muggy) but this was good for standing around at the start and during the race the temperature seemed to drop and there was a light breeze. The course was slightly different to last year and I think there were more cobbled bits. Cobbles in themselves are not a problem but the problem with cobbled parts of road is that they tend to be a bit lumpy but having run up and down Harkness Hill over all the tree roots in the dark as many times as I have it was still not an issue. Lost a minute over the first km due to lots of people but gradually caught it up by about 17 km so was back on (and under) target. 20.5km - return of the dreaded stitch. Almost exactly the same place as last year. I had been expecting it as I have had very tight abdominal muscles for about 2 weeks now. This time instead of trying to fight it I eased off and managed to run through it. Cost me a couple of seconds on my average pace and saw the club record slip away but at least I was still running. I found things got tough from about 30km but then by about 33km the route comes back into the city and there is Piazza Navona,
Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna, la Fontana di Trevi and Piazza Venezia to pass through and by now the crowds are plenty and vocal. From Piazza Venzia (39km)there is just one last push past il Circo Massimo (again) and then alongside the Palatine Hill, up around the back of the Colosseum at which point I started to pick up the pace and a nice 600m sprint to the finish.

Garmin time - 3.33.58 (Garmin also says I ran 42.78 km so obviously I added an extra 585m loop in somewhere...) which is a PB but not a club record but unusually for me I am actually quite pleased!



Unofficial times for the others are Marcello 3.44, Chris just over 4.00, Jean Marc as above and Luca about 5.00