Running the Rome Marathon

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This is the longest post ever. You have been warned.

I'd been planning on running this race for the last year and training for a good 8 months for this  moment. While it wasn't my first marathon, it was my first international marathon. Finally it was here and I was ready for it to be over.

I barely slept the night before. I was so terrified of not hearing my alarm and sleeping through the race that starting around 2am I was awake every 45 minutes looking at the clock. Around 5:00am I gave up pretending to sleep and started getting ready. I stretched a lot, taking my time and enjoyed feeling my muscles tense and relax. I ate my Cliff Bar what would constitute my breakfast and fuel for the majority of the race. I chugged more water and Gatorade. And most important, I covered myself from head to toe in body glide.
The actual race was scheduled to start at 8:50am, but participants were told to be there an hour before. It was about a 20 minute walk from the hotel to the starting line and by 7am I was too twitchy to wait any longer. I grabbed my ipod, my goo packets, and that was it. The butterflies in my stomach were having a field day as my friend went with me to the starting line. I walked out of the hotel expecting to feel the day warming as it had the last week. What a surprise to find it was chilly and sprinkling rain. I was in shorts and a t-shirt, and it was cold.
It's always better to be a little on the cold side when running, so I didn't think much of it assuming the sky would clear up and it would get hotter as the day progressed. Dan snapped a few pictures and hung around with me until I went into the "participants only" section. We devised a post-race meeting place and off I went.

The actual race part was extremely well organized. You line up according to your running time allowing the faster runners to position themselves closer to the front. Pace setting runners were also set up at every timing interval in matching colored shirts and carrying balloons that advertised what pace they would be running at. At one point they announced just under 20,000 people had registered for the marathon, 8,000 of which were from overseas. That's a lot of people.

Then we waited. The crowd gradually grew along with the anticipation as that hour seemed eternal. And then the rain came. It was bitingly cold, pouring buckets of rain, and the wind was picking up. First a stomach flu, now I was going to catch pneumonia. This was a bad sign. I almost quite then and there as I shivered uncontrollably. It was so miserable.

Everyone was soaked through the skin before the race started. So much for all the body glide. At one point I was cuddling up close to a nice Australian man to keep from freezing to death. That Vatican hat saved me as it kept my head and face relatively dry. Finally they opened the shoots and the race began with the theme from Rocky playing over the loud speakers. I cranked up my ipod and started running.



Even though I was positioned more in the back with the slower runners, you have to move with the crowd flow to keep from getting trampled at the start. Everyone is excited at the beginning and takes off at a faster pace. For the first 3 miles I was running a good 1.5 minutes faster than is comfortable because of the crowd. Once it thinned out I could stop long enough to tie my shoe and then set my own pace.

The men were quite aggressive. As they'd run past me they'd elbow me hard in the arms to push me out of the way. Luckily I'm tall and can stand my ground. By about the 6th man doing this to me I'd had enough and started elbowing them right back. Funnily enough I didn't get elbowed after that. My arms were still really sore for days afterwards from all those hits. Jerks.

I brought along a disposable camera to run with so I could take a few pictures of the amazing route without worrying about ruining my nice camera. A lot of the pictures are fuzzy (because I was running and snapping) but you can get the general idea of what it was like. I of course ran out of pictures before I reached the end. Bad picture pacing on my part.


Water stations were set up every 3k and timing stations were every 5k. Aid stations were also about every 5k in case you needed medical attention. Every kilometer you passed was marked with a big flag. While it did help the distance to fly by faster, the downside was you had to get to kilometer 42. Counting in miles you only had to get to 26. They had separate male/ female watering stations for those refilling bottles. Why? I have no idea. I didn't pay any attention to the designated gender signs. I got a few dirty looks at first, but challenged them with my own and had no trouble. Probably helped that I tower over most Italian men. The rest of the tables were set up with pre-filled cups, sponges, Gatorade, and sometimes water bottles you could grab and run with. It was very well managed and the volunteers were very helpful.

Once I was able to slow my pace down and get in the groove I paid close attention to how my body was doing. At the 10k mark I was feeling really good and enjoying the moment of where I was. The cheer leading onlookers were very sparse, but congested in the main touristy areas. Volunteers along the way were really good to shout out "bravi!" as you passed by. Because your first name was printed on your bib number, strangers could easily shout out your name to cheer you on. It caught me off guard to hear strangers yelling "bravi Melanie! Don't stop!" in Italian. It was always a great boost to be cheered on.

About the 13K mark I slowed down to walk for a minute to catch my breath and make sure I didn't feel like throwing up. Just as I slowed a voice from behind me shouted "run! run!" I immediately stared running and looked around expecting some dragon or gladiator to be chasing after me. This little blonde New York Ukrainian woman ran next to me and said "don't stop running. Slow down but don't stop running." I smiled and ran with her for a little while. This was her second Rome marathon. Eventually she picked up her pace and ran ahead, looking back to make sure I didn't walk. I waved and kept going.

At 16k I again slowed down to check my body when I heard a group of men shouting. The shouting got louder and I realized it was directed at me. These men, pushing a gladiator in a chariot, were running at me and shouting to run faster. So I ran faster. They then burst into a series of cheers where the leader yelled out, the remaining responded, and then they sung. It was quite funny and entertaining for the majority of the race.

The weather was still cold and raining off and on. My shoes were sopping wet the entire race. Just shy of the hallway point was one of the highlights of the race. The route led you running up the street towards St. Peter's. Talk about chills and a motivation to run faster. The crowd was great and it was an unforgettable moment. I still felt great.

The scenery was distracting enough to make the running monotony bearable, and so were some of my fellow participants. The rain continued on and off, and at one point I had to stop to wait in line for a port a potty. Little tip - always carry some Kleenex on you. These facilities never have tissue. The men had it easier - they'd run off into the bushes or a wall to relieve themselves. So tacky by the way.

The route was much flatter than anticipated, and running on the cobblestones off and on was not as bad as I had anticipated. My leg muscles stiffened as the kilometers increased and on occasion I had to walk out the stiffness. Yet I still felt fantastic. I was waiting for that wall in my mind to hit hard and I'd burst into exhausted tears. When I passed the 30k mark (18 miles) my initial mental reaction surprised me. It was "I'm in the home stretch - I've got this. Easy." I remember thinking "this isn't normal" to feel so great but I continued to run with it. At 35k an apple has never tasted so amazing and been so energy boosting.



6k from the finish line brought the route through some heavily hit touristy areas. There was lots of shopping, restaurants, not to mention the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. The crowds cheered us onwards and the tourists needed to be shot. They could care less about the barriers and had no problem jumping over the bright yellow tape to cut off runners on their way shopping. That was obnoxious and frustrating.

3k's left and I was ready to be done, though my body still felt great. People were dropping like flies around me at the medic tents and the pouring rain came back in full force. Perfect timing as we were running on cobblestones. How I didn't fall and break an ankle is a miracle. At every turn I kept thinking there would be the finish line. Instead it was just another turn around the Spanish Steps.


I eventually rounded the last corner and saw the real finish line in the distance. 4 men dressed as gladiators stood lined up next to it, nodding as I passed. The volunteers were stationed a few feet later and placed a medal around my neck while saying "bravi." They then wrapped a tin foil blanket around me (it was still really cold and I was sopping wet from the rain and sweat. I looked like a drowned animal) and another little bag of granola bars and water.

My legs were definitely sore and I was in a daze of having actually run the Rome marathon. The shocking thing was that I still felt great physically. I met up with my friends and hobbled over to the Coliseum to get a picture or two with the gladiators. I hate how wiped out and awful I look, but then that's what normal people who've just run a marathon look like.

We made the trek back to the hotel where I could shower, change, and feel human again before going to dinner. I was starving. The only injury I had, other than aching leg muscles, was a blister the size of a quarter on the side of my toe. Otherwise I was relatively unscathed. As the night wore on the act of sitting and standing was more and more difficult. You have no idea how much you work those quadriceps muscles in every day life until you're sore and feel them in every movement. Going up and down was so painful. As this was our last meal in Italy, dinner was monumental. I ended it with pizza and lemon gelato.

That ended the Rome Marathon Experience for me. It was amazing and I'd definitely do it again, though next time under better circumstances. My overall time was 5 hours and 30 minutes. I accomplished an amazing feat and was so glad I took the rare opportunity to do this. And it was in Rome. How many people get to say that?

Tutte le strade portano a Roma!