Sun, Mar 23, 2014 - 42K - 04:21:17
2014 Rome Marathon 04:21:17
My memories of the Rome marathon are: alternating rain and sunshine, cobblestones, unexpected hills, and a solid running energy which allowed me to get my 7th best time out of 21 marathons. Standing in the starting area, we all got absolutely doused with a rain shower, fully soaked, shoes and everything, then five minutes later the sky opened, sun came through, everyone cheered and the race began. From the beginning of the race it was clear that this was going to be a "cobblestone race" and I was very attentive to where I stepped, especially going downhill, and later in the race at 40K I saw a man running past me hit his foot on a cobblestone and went flying forward landing on his side and back and sliding down the street, then got back up and kept running. The other surprise were the hills. I thought the Rome marathon would be quite flat but there was a long incline up to 35K which was actually nice since the last part of the race was quite a bit downhill including the last kilometer which enabled me to keep up my time at the end, but I could never work into a sprint at the end, but instead kept the constant pace that I had kept throughout the race. I passed Pete at 24K and thought he would catch me again at some point but he never did so this was the first time that I ran faster than he did in a marathon. In all it was a solid marathon for me, I ran hard throughout and got a respectable time, and have beautiful memories from it such as running up to the Vatican through a refreshing rain shower, running the last kilometer down the Via Nazionale hill, and running towards the Roman Colosseum into the finish line. I would say as long as you don't mind running on cobblestones, I can definitely recommend the Rome as a wonderful marathon experience. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FINISH: