For the first time, I caught an early plane from London to Rome at 8am Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening . A nice surprise, I just made a new lady friend who I met on the coach from airport to the city centre of Rome. Michelle is from Korea and and is a university student of international exchange in Paris. It was her first time she has run a marathon as it was her New Year Resolution , so I gave her some of advice about running a marathon.
Marathon Village I’m very impressed with their excellent service, runner exhibit s and shops. At Registration they surprised us and presented us with a free fantastic free Asics Runn ing bag. There were lot s of good runner exhibit s but its little slight ly disappoint because they didn’t have a Pasta party espeically as you know the Italians are world famous and pasta is what runners eat before a marathon. However, we did go to a very nice restaurant .
9:00am in strong windy conditions. More than 12,000 runners showed up. The start line is placed in front of the 2,000 year old Coliseum. I was shocked to saw loads of soldiers and t was very well organised. You knew exactly where to stand by the wall of each bid number section. I decided to go easy and have a relaxed run because I’ve gained an extra stone and half to keep me to warm when I’ll go to North Pole next month.
It was an enjoyable run 24 km of historic sights right from the beginning to the end. I went past Saint Peter’s, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps and through a lot of picturesque sights, long narrow s treets in the old part of the city. My weak area is the roman stones path which is 80% from start to finish line. It’s bit risky for easy to damage your ankle if you tip over. The marathon ending is in the historical heart of the Eternal Roman City.
Finally, I finished 3 hours 14 minutes – 851st
1st Kiptoo Yego 2:09:57 (PB)
2nd Sanga Kimutai 2:10:03
3rd Kenyan Henry Kapkyai Kimeli 2:10.17
Russia’s Galina Bogomolova won the women’s race with in 2:22.53, the fastest a woman has run a marathon on Italian soil.
I would like to say thank to a couple (Sam & Ella) helped me guide to the Metro afterwards. And also, Congrats to Michelle from Korea that she finished 5hrs 30mins.
Next challenges:
North Pole – 13 to 26th April 08
Half Iron Man – June 08
Oliver Westbury