Maratona di Roma, 22 Mar

Rome the Eternal City – what a place to run a marathon. I did it last year and was very impressed by the organization. I had not planned on doing it again, have not been really training, but the goody bag and t-shirt (see bottom) were the deciding factor (seriously!) So despite doubts about my ability to finish the course, I registered just a month before the run. The registration process can be a little challenging for foreigners due to the need for a medical certificate and iffy online payment process (lots of comments on this from reviewers of the Rome Marathon at www.marathonguide.com). That was one of the reasons I joined a local club and FIDAL (the Italian Athletics Federation) last year, which makes a huge difference. Plus, paying the fee via the Italian Post Office, not an option for international runners.

I took the morning train from La Spezia to Rome, then the metro to the Marathon Village at the Palazzo dei Congressi. Clear directions given (in English as well) on the website, plus volunteers who handed maps and pointed participants to the right direction at the metro stop. Bib pickup was a breeze, although I did not like the narrow path through the vendors to get to the exit, I thought they could have arranged the booths better to reduce congestion.
Checked into my hotel, nice little place near a metro stop, then met up with friends Natalie, Ernesto, Rino and others from our running group, Arci Favaro. It was very cold, with a strong wind adding to the misery. We had dinner in a local restaurant in Trastevere: all 6 ladies ordered buccatini all’ amatriciana, the classic Roman pasta (left below), while the men skipped pasta in favor of steaks (Ernesto said it was too late for carbo-loading, he had a point since we did not eat until almost 9 PM). We also had really good carciofi (artichokes) and other side dishes. I ended up eating too much for which I paid dearly the next day.

Marathon morning was still very cold. I wore sweatpants and my hushand’s old sweater over my running garb; the old stuff was thrown away just before the start. I was under the false impression that it was getting warmer but it could be due to the wind having stopped temporarily, and aggregated body heat from so many people standing close to each other. This is one marathon where you don’t have to be at the start line 2 hours before gun time. The race started at 9:00 am and I did not even leave my hotel until 8:00 for the metro station, took only 5 min to get to the Colosseum. The starting area of any marathon is charged with pent-up energy, excitement and comradeship where total strangers share marathon and training stories. This one is no different, except perhaps for the world renown façade of the Colosseum next to where runners are let into their respective corals. Quite a number of international runners were evident, especially Team in Training participants from the US. It took over 4 minutes for those of us in the last coral to get to the start line.

I won’t go into detail about the whole course, but here are some observations. The porto-potties were terrible, yes, this is first-hand experience. I had to make 3 pit stops due to a tummy upset probably caused by the previous evening’s gluttony. Stern resolution to Self: no more social eating and drinking the night before a marathon! Despite that, I felt pretty relaxed, having decided early on to take it easy and just try to finish the race within the generous 7:30 time limit (well, OK, the self-competitive side said to try to finish the race in less than 6 hours). The wind picked up again, so I ran with my wind breaker zipped up most of the way. Highlights on the route: at about 25K, we passed a commercial district where only half of the road was blocked off. Traffic was jammed up on the other half, and drivers leaned on their horns. At one section, a van driver and a carabinieri (policeman) were yelling at each other so loudly that people thought there was going to be a fight. This seems to be a regular feature in Italian road running (have not seen this during bicycle races though). As we headed back towards centro (the historic centre), I turned a corner and there was this vaguely familiar beautiful building in front of me. As I got nearer I heard singing, and realized that I was in front of the Vatican (this was a change in the course from last year). It was surreal, the wide road was blocked off for runners so I had this open view of the building. There were a lot of people were walking on the sidewalks and standing on the square in front of the Vatican while hymns broadcast from the sound system. Two large screens showed a communion in progress inside St. Peters’ (I thought it was the Pope on the screen giving communion but found out later that he was in Africa that weekend). I just had to stop for a while to take it all in (and to take a few pictures).

Nearer toward the finish, we had to go through narrow cobble-stoned streets in a touristy shopping district. By that time, shoppers and tourists have taken over the running course, nobody bothered staying behind the yellow tapes. I just had to take a photo of what the “course” in front of me had turned into (see right photo) – a few times I had to say “excuse me” to get through the throng of families, baby strollers, dogs on leashes and bicyclists. I have previously heard complaints from serious runners about this problem. To slow runners like me who are not trying to qualify for Boston, this is an amusing experience, so typical of the way things are in Italy, so why sweat it? Fortunately once outside the shopping area, the road widened and it was less stressful, not having to avoid colliding with people. At 40K I was about 15 min away from my under-6 goal and have decided to give up on it. Then a power-walker from the US passed me. She and I have been passing each other the past 20K or so. As she passed, she asked why I was slowing down, she expected me to finish ahead of her, and dared me not to give up. That’s why it’s so nice to run with other slow runners/walkers, I did my share of encouraging others especially first-timers earlier on this race. That was the motivation I needed to “sprint” (as fast as a slow runner could sprint) the last K toward the finish. Even so, I just missed the goal, my Garmin noted that I crossed the line at 6:00:24 (bummer). Debi was yelling my name at the finish line, having stopped in Rome on her way up from Naples.

About 18 hours later, I received an email from the Marathon organizers informing me that my chip time was 6:00:34, and gave me a link to download my completion certificate. As mentioned before, I am impressed by their organization. The good thing about this marathon: besides the goody bag and t-shirt, I added another finisher’s medal to my collection. Best of all, I was still able to walk about 3K back to my hotel, change, head for the train station for the 3 hour trip back to La Spezia to be at work the next morning with just slight muscle soreness. On the train, Debi and I looked at the brochures I collected at the Marathon Village to see what half marathons and marathons we would like to try out (top of our list: Bergen in Norway, and Istanbul, and the June half marathon in Rome for Debi).