Rome Marathon, 27 Mar 2022
On Sunday 27th March I took to the streets of Rome for my second attempt at the marathon distance, this time as part of a big city event! In my first marathon last October (virtual London) I completely messed up my nutrition and hydration and suffered with the consequences. Being the person that I am, I obviously had to enter another one to improve on this and allow my legs to show off their true potential!
The course in Rome was pretty flat (396ft elevation gain), extremely scenic but had the challenge of 6km worth of cobblestones! The weather on the day was perfect- a cloudy 12 degrees to start but rising to 19 degree sunshine by the end of the race. The start of the race was next to the Colosseum which was seriously epic. It has been an extremely long time since I had done a big city race of any description and it was really exciting to be amongst the masses finding our way to our respective start pens. I was surprisingly placed very near the front and positioned myself by the 3:10 pacers. The Italian national anthem was played followed by some music from Gladiator and after learning some Italian in the form of a 10 second count down, we were off!
The first 2km was chaos. You had to wear a mask for the first 500m before flinging them off, there were cobbles galore and everyone was jostling for good positions on the road! I kept my eyes on the pacing balloons and allowed myself to settle into a nice rhythm. There was a nice group of us ticking off the miles; we passed military bands, steel drums, beeping cars and amusing banners. Before I knew it we were at the 20km point near the Vatican City where I first saw my mother spectating. Spotting her was a lovely boost of morale! We crossed the halfway point in 1hr 33, the pace was starting to bite a little, but I was very much still able to keep following along. I was slightly behind on my nutrition and hydration plan due to some chaotic water stations and not wanting to lose my group but it was much better than previous attempt! At 30km we hit the very top of the course by the Olympic stadium. I saw my mum again before heading up a small climb, turning and heading back towards the city centre for the final 10km. This was the point my legs just couldn’t keep up with the pace anymore. I dropped back from the group and tried to settle into a slightly more comfortable rhythm. I knew I could keep it going if I just held back a little and I had a pretty good time buffer to get in below 3:15.
The final 5km was predominantly cobbles through the city centre. I was advised that the cobbles would particularly hurt on tired legs- and oh so right that was, it was a killer! I sadly couldn’t admire the Trevi Fountain/Spanish Steps as much as I wanted to due to trying to keep forward motion with my legs seriously hurting. Despite some awesome cheering from my mum and a city full of spectators, the final 2km was the longest 2km of my life! When I saw the finish line approaching, I dug in deep and although being very much on the edge of throwing up and legs giving way, I strode out and ensured I got across the line within my goal- final time being 3:13:30!
I burst into tears as soon as I crossed the line. I was very much overwhelmed with the emotion of it all and so proud to have achieved my goal. I had a very wobbly walk through the finish area which required multiple sitting stops and a few volunteers with wheelchairs keeping an eye on me! But I managed to make it through and be re-united with my mum at the end! What an awesome experience.
It was the most phenomenal day out and I honestly enjoyed every minute of it (except maybe the last 2km ha). My legs are now very broken with DOMS like no DOMS I’ve ever had before buttt it turns out I was 18th female overall (out of 938 in the “competitive” category) and I have finally managed to bag myself a championship qualification time for the London marathon in 2023!
Thank you to mumma Powell for being the best support crew ever and being the one to look after me on Mother’s Day! Looking forward to Team Powell making a joint London marathon appearance next year! Thank you to my Obs&Gyn work colleagues for being super supportive and helping me get through the past month COVID free (which has been a mega challenge)! Thank you to my awesome housemates Hatty; who was meant to join me in the race but sadly due to COVID and injuries wasn’t able to make it (yet still flew out to Rome to join for a wonderful pre-race lunch!) and Lara for Daph-sitting back in the UK. Thank you to everyone else who has supported me this year and sent such lovely messages.
Finally, thank you to Tim for getting me race ready and having every faith in me. A few years ago, I wouldn’t run for longer than 1 hour let alone race marathons! I’ve made my body do a few crazy things this month and pretty early in the season… so it’s time for a little break to physically and emotionally recover before my next challenges later in the year.
Megan Powell