Call me crazy, but after a rather non-satisfying experience in Ft. Lauderdale last month, I decided on 8 March (registration deadline) to participate in the Rome Marathon again. Unfortunately on a light run just a week before the marathon, I felt a pulled muscle and thought it might have been caused by a fall down the stairs while in Miami. A trip to the doctor and xrays showed no bone stress nor fracture, and with no recurrence of the pain, the decision was made to go ahead on Thursday, with the option to just walk (this is also the 3rd "Fit-walking" race within the marathon). Booked my room on Friday evening, took the train to Rome to collect my bib on Saturday, and then it was the big day. How's that for last minute? I stayed at a really nice and affordable B&B near the Castro Pretorio metro stop which is a great location since it is on the blue line to the marathon village and to the starting point at the Colosseo. Since I knew I was not going to improve on my marathon time, I stayed way in the back of the last corral, with the fit-walking participants and in front of a crowd of some 80,000 4K participants who I was afraid were going to run over those of us just in front of them.
My 3rd consecutive Rome Marathon and it still has not lost its charm. The organization is great, lots of international runners, lots of drinks and food, even for slow participants. This time around, I noticed the groups of supportive locals who were applauding and shouting "Forza!" and "Bravi" most of the way; there also appeared to be more course control by volunteers and carabinieri. There was a record number of people running barefoot including one Japanese gentleman who carried a huge flag. I started with small strides to control stress on the legs, and was surprised to be able to make the half marathon marker in 2:54. Unfortunately, the fact that I just finished the Ft. Lauderdale marathon 4 weeks ago finally caught up; after about 14 miles my legs decided they had enough and started to cramp up. I mostly walked the next 8 miles and had the novel experience of fighting the urge to try to catch up with the people in front of me so as not to aggravate the strained muscles and become a DNF (did not finish) statistic. But I gave in to the urge the last few miles and was again surprised that I was able to jog much of the way and passed a few people. The last 5 miles were actually quite enjoyable, as I had snatches of conversations with fellow slow runners/walkers, as we all encouraged each other to keep going. I passed an elderly gentleman gamely chugging along. He had something printed on the back of his t-shirt that everyone has an impossible dream and completing this marathon is his (or something along that line). I saluted him and we chatted briefly as I passed, he's from Los Angeles, doing his very first marathon -- said that he needed to see a psychiatrist for wanting to put himself through this. I told him that I should be the one seeing a psychiatrist instead for repeated self-abuse! But I told him there was only 3 miles left and he should make it before the time limit of 7:30. For myself, I tried to jog down the last stretch since I resolved to finish below 6:30. My chip time was 6:22:50 -- I'm happy to take that :)
It was rather painful walking back to the B&B to change, then catch the train back to La Spezia. Which did not happen since I got on the wrong train and ended up in Milan instead! Had to stay overnight in Milan before catching another train back to La Spezia the next day. I was thinking of quitting marathons after completing my 10th, but am now having 2nd thoughts. There's the Berlin Marathon in September which has great reviews especially for its organization! Am going to take a few weeks of rest, and then try to train harder for Berlin. Maybe I will hit below 6 hrs next time. And then there is the Goofy Challenge at Disney World next year.
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