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Rome Marathon 2013
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I saw people obviously not in the race running too, one girl ran it from about 15 mile to the finish, I could tell she hadn't run the previous 15 because she had no number and was far too clean and fresh. One guy running with his son about 11 years old in non running kit. Didn't like the fences at the finish but I suppose that's one of the reasons for them. I've seen my videos but the download speed is rubbish in hotel
This is my eleventh day in Rome now, going back tomorrow, and one thing that's struck me is that Italians don't seem to be very on signs, they expect you to be a little bit psychic, hasn't been bad as I'm on my own, but I did keep thinking what a nightmare this could've been if I'd brought my daughter for instance.
As for the walking across in front of runners during Rome's official marathon there's two points, one, the organisers shouldn't have let it happen, there's a lot more barriers in the flm. Two, I've met some really nice Italians genuinely impressed, people who work at the hotel have gone out of their way to chat in a supermarket, even though they can barely speak English and I cant speak any Italian, they didn't have to they could've ignored me or just nodded. On the other hand, walking around the streets I've seen some right stuck up pretentious arseholes who barge past you, jump queues and generally look at you like shit in their dolce whatever's, sunglasses, scarves and coats when its 17c... so I wasn't really surprised when some thought crossing the road, and blocking someones once, maybe, experience was more important. But you get people .Ike that everywhere, so its up to the race organisers...
...is it just me, I'm quiet, but are Italians particularly noisy? They talk really loud on the phone, had to tell one git last night to shut up as he was shouting so loud on the phone next door. Even now I can hear them all jabbering away...
I had to shout shut the fuck up a few times after 20 odd miles, they come shouting up in my f ing ear and carry on shouting as they passed as if I'm invisible!!! sorry guys but at 20ish miles I'm not a polite brit anymore...
tbh I've never seen so many rude people in my life...
I'm back to Milan tomorrow for a stop over before heading back to the frozen north...mmm I'm drooling thinking about greasy bacon and fried eggs..5 more days
Lardy/ADG - yes, Italians are noisy! I used to think people were arguing but they're just loud. Rome was exceptionally busy on Sunday it's not normally like that. However some Italians can be rude, allergic to queues and not very considerate. Others are kind, caring and helpful, like you said Lardy it's like that everywhere. Glad you haven't tried driving over here, that IS a nightmare
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If you fancy doing another Italian marathon I'd recommend Venice - you've got 14 steep little bridges in the last mile or so but the crowd support is fantastic and helps you up them.
I have to say I find the Italians far more polite than the people I meet at home, including the driving,
Rome was BRILLIANT!!! It was only my 2nd marathon and I came in almost 30mins slower than my first (chafing issues...and got sick off my gels!) but WOW!!! I am amazed that they managed to pull if off despite all the drama in the days leading up to it...yes the roads are crap, yes Italians are different (do they EVER not talk?!) but I had felt SO welcome both at the exhibition (we got kicked out on Friday as we kept talking to the NB guys and they were trying to close for the evening) where the young people helping out were lovely and funny, plus in the city in general people were super friendly, and the FOOD...don't get me started!!!
I have to say that fellow runners were rude, selfish and inconsiderate. I am used to running alpine races (here in Switzerland) where people are friendly and very helpful, especially when someone is suffering...I was disgusted by some of the runners in Rome acting as if they are going for olympic gold and pushing and shoving...and I guarantee the Italians were the minority in this case. Sad really. I have seen this in other 'road' races which is why I tend to stick to the trail/alpine scene...totally different mentality!!
I wore my Mizuno Mushas in the end and I think my feet where the only part of me which weren't sore
Hope everyone is recovering well!
Any gripes? I thought the drinks stations would have benefitted from being on both sides of the roads earlier on ??? a bit of a Gatorade scrum at some points! Like others, the tourists darting across the roads made it like a game of Frogger in places (check out my 70s/80s cultural references eh?). Not sure what they can do about that though. I noticed a couple of un-numbered runners next to me as we circled the Coliseum a the end ??? they were yanked off the route before the finish line (though they were shouting at me for some reason!)
All in all, a great experience. Hoped to do more sightseeing/Vatican???ing on Monday, but the downpours put me off. Well done to all those that knuckled down with the training over the winter???the race itself was the fun part!
Where to next year? London would be good ??? but I???m enjoying the European excursions each Spring???
Alex - excellent time, well done! I reckon you're about the same age as me! Vienna 2014??
Frogger is legendary and completely sums up what it was like! I'm on for Manchester next April I think - it's my home town and takes in all the roads and areas I grew up in. Not quite as glamorous as Rome but there's no place like home...
Legs are once again back to normal. Just popped into my running club to show off the medal before they all headed out for a club run - I felt like a celebrity! Need to get myself sorted with a new pair of trainers before I go out running again - think I killed them off in Rome.
I did have my name on my top but it was a white vest with blue name on front and blue charity logo on the back - no green on me! Also - I think you were quite a bit ahead of me - I came in at 4.17
Got chatting to an Italian lady in the toilet queue - as you do, she said of the 16,000 runners only 2,000 were female, it sounds daft but it felt male dominated, The drinks stations were certainly interesting, learnt after lots of getting shoved at the first few, go to one further down and just wait for a clearing.
The spectators certainly took their life in the hands crossing the road as like someone said at mile 20 you are not stopping. God bless VLM for stopping the spectators.....
Was good to see you Marathon Molly you lifted my spirits, then a bit further down the road saw my other half and was lifted again. Glad you did your goal of under 4:15, I slipped a bit and was 4:20 but no complaints as with that course, all these cobbles and the lack of crowd support consider it not bad.
So glad others got longer distance mine showed 26.7.
My reward after all my efforts we walked to the top of St Peters on the Monday - ouch, if anyone else was wondering why took so long to get down on the Monday it may have been me as was not going down these 302 steps all that quickly - much to the amusment of my other half. He took to making hurting noises everytime I went downstairs for the rest of our stay in Rome.
Legs still sore now, well earnt rest for me and then train for Berlin - look out for me in Berlin Molly - I'll be in the same top but there will be more of us as going out with friends. And good luck for Manchester fingers crossed you do well there.
Personally I loved the whole experience. Great atmosphere and organisation. The race went well for me and i came home in 3:40 which i was over the moon with. I wore a Union jack top and the crowd support was terrific. I thought the organisers went out of their way to make sure the runners were cared for and i dont really have any negatives about the race. Loved the start, and later on running through the narrow streets, the cobbles were insignificant in my opinion andloved the finish around the colosseum. Cant wait for next year!
I recorded the extra distance too - we cant all be wrong, lol.
Rome will always be the Marathon of cobbles for me. The first batch had no impact, so I thought, but by the end my right knee was starting to ache and my anklles hurt - never before.
However, I think I worked twice as hard as any other marathon swerving all the pushchairs, scooters, pedestrians and cylists. Quite inceredible what some people deem a good place to cross a marathon course. I had a middle aged couple walk out in front of me and stand there giving each other directions. Several shouts of 'excuse me' made no differenc and I just plowed straight through them - crazy!
Found some of the quiet, unsupported, desolate course pretty tough mentally. It was a bit like a never ending treadmill in places and I was almost glad to see the random road crossers as we got back into the thick of it.
However, amazing run to the finish, nice heavy medal (Mutley would be proud) and generally speaking, friendly people.
Wouldnt do it again but what a weekend to be in Rome. Paris next - lets see what that holds! lol
Congrats everyone.
x
"Wouldnt do it again" lol, sums it up for me!
Back to my local, Halstead next, only an 8 mile trip for me!
...and they measure the course correctly.
In Milan dodgy characters guard the ticket machines at the train staions..they try to steal the money off you as you put it in the machine! it's a mad rush to get the change before one of them steals it! Rome we were looking at our tickets when a man started reading them then ushered us to follow him and grabbed a case to put it on the train, I had to practically fight him to get him to leave us alone, no doubt he was after a tip but ffs we knew were we were! Robbers everywhere we just couldn't relax. At the start of the race runners just urinated where they stood, I even saw one take a dump, in the middle of the starters, I know you can get that anywhere but usually they'll go to the side or hide a bit here they just get it out and do their business...
beautiful citys in Italy but I can't say it's a place I'd ever go back to tbh too many thieves, beggars high prices and loud rude people for me...
LMFAO! All in all a great trip then?!
I'm officially changing my race time, as everyone read it as 26.7, when I split my Garmin data tracks to 26.2 it brings me in at 3.57.04, instead of 4:01.39! So NER to Roma!
Well done me, another sub 4! lol
ADG - where do you actually live? if Rome could be that bad, seems you're not cut out for travel, I never saw anything untoward and would go back tomorrow.
I must say I felt totally safe in Rome, though I could just be very naive since Im A country bumpkin and about the worst "crimes" you read about here are things like "man caught driving with tax disc expired by two days"... of course it could all be going behind closed doors and in peoples cellars... mwhahahahah
BTW, well done on your pb EKGO, nice feeling eh?
Thanks, PB was unexpected but just kept grinding out 10 min miles. When I found an extra half mile at the end I wasn't best pleased but it means I can go for more. The marathon distance came in around 4:25 so I know where to aim next weekend at Blackpool.
I know I'm teaching grandma to suck eggs, but if you want my advice it's all pace, pace, pace, consistant miles, same pace all the way. I always go out with a conservative pace and see how I feel at 20. Having said that, my slowest mile in Rome was mile 4 at 10:04 (I think due to my hamstring scare) and my fastest was mile 24 at 8:23, terrible pacing all the way through up and down like a yoyo!
Average pace 9:03
No, pace is still a learning exercise for me, I always thought I'd simply start out hard and die off slowly as it seemed the only way. I'm now going out slower, and finishing better, seems the more relaxed I run at the start I'm left with more towards the second half. The old saying a second gained in the first half is 2 seconds lost in the second is accurate. Maybe towards Sept when I've had a marathon break for a month I might look at trying a quicker one.
Ok, well I can tell you at Rome I ran the first 20 miles at an average of 9:08 m/m, and the last, ahem, 6.7 miles! at 8:46 m/m. Similar on my pb, though that was 4 years ago now, first 20, 8:30 m/m last 6 8:14, both races felt really good energy wise and cardio wise. Previous to Rome I did Luton last year, I went a little crazy at 13 miles ran the first half at 9:05, second half at 8:43, which I paid for with calf cramps by 20 miles.
Definitely do not go out like a rocket. Either keep to those 10 m/m or shave some off but I wouldn't recommend shaving off more tha 10-15 seconds a mile, unless you've really trained for that pace or the last race pace felt easy.
I can honestly say I was held back in Rome by my hamstring, my cardio felt really easy the whole way round except maybe the last couple of miles. But my hamstring may have been my saving grace, had my legs felt fine I may gone off too hard and struggled in the latter stages.
A big congratulation to all who made it through Rome on the 17th. It was my 14th marathon (just one a year), but definitely the toughest of runs ever, by far. I had no training for this one, which explains my experience. But, having run Stockholm, Paris and now Rome, I continue to think that Stockholm is still one of the best. I thought there was way too little spectator support outside of the city center, too little live music/bands playing, and a general lack of interest for the runners, but maybe that was because I was extremely slow this year, and because the center of Rome is just so beautiful that there are more interesting sites to look at then sweaty runners in poor shape! Rome is a fantastic city that I'll continue to return to for the food, culture and historic beauty, but lacks something in terms of marathon ambience, in my humble opinion. I need to find a new run, with more music and bands and better solidarity between runners and spectators, and where the cheering and support happens even in the more remote places outside the city center.
Personally I don't like marathons with loud music, one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy either of the two times I've got into London. From a noise perspective Rome was acceptable for me, I much prefer the peace of a country race.