We arrived in Rome on the Thursday night, so we had all Friday for sightseeing etc, around Rome. After all the usual registration and pasta parties and everybody selling their wares at the Expo on the Saturday, it was suddenly race day on the Sunday.

We choose to walk to the start as it was a beautiful morning and also because the Metro would be crazier than normal - if that was possible!

From about 7.45am the place was thronged with people – 84 nations represented. Of course I got chatting to a few Paddies straight away.

Somehow as race time approached, we got herded into our corrals. I parted with Claire, as she was taking part in the 4k race.

After waiting in our area for what seemed like an eternity, the race took off in a blaze of noise, screaming Italians, helicopters, and music – a far cry from the woods of Dunsandle!

As is often the case in these races, I was swept along by the masses of bodies and the adrenalin of the moment. It took a while for things to settle down and find a pace. I went through half at 1.36. A bit quick for me but I felt good. The 3.15 pacer passed me at that stage but that didn’t bother me too much. I went through 32k in 2.30 and realised a chance of a PB if I did the final 10k in 50 minutes. The first 2 or 3 k’s of the final 10 went fine in 5 min splits- but as I neared the city centre and the dreaded cobbles, I started to tie up big time. My legs got very heavy and struggled to maintain even a 5.45 split. It took 57 mins to do the final 10k, why? - well that’s something I need to sort out for another day. I finished in 3.27, happy enough overall.

It’s a great marathon weekend away for anyone interested in this kind of thing. Its good value - €40 entry with lots of goodies thrown in. Claire really enjoyed the 4k @ €7 – again with tee shirts and caps etc thrown in. With over 16000 in the marathon and 85000 in the 4k it really is a massive occasion. The Italians don’t do things by halves!