R O 2 0 0 9

I signed up for the Roma Ostia Half Marathon at the last minute. I love Rome, not so crazy about the half marathon course. It starts out nice: downhill! But then up and then down. And then up again. And it's a straight shot from Rome to Ostia. No curves, no real interesting monuments to see, just straight ahead. Added to this is that the weather, or rather wind factor, plays a big part of the experience. One year we ran against the wind and all posted a PW. The next year we had the wind at our backs and had our best best race. This year when we started the sky was grey. Not threatening rain, but grey and heavy. Oh, I forgot: the thing that makes me come back every year? I get to see my Girls...

The other reason I like this race is because the temps are higher in Rome and you can feel spring in the air. Except that Sunday. The sky started to get darker and darker as race time was nearing. We did our annual pre-race photo next to the bathrooms before the start...

I was really excited to run this year. It wasn't like the last two years where I had back problems and THIS was my clue race. This was a stepping stone for Paris next month. I'd also done something I need to blog about but haven't had time. Since NYCM I've lost 13 lbs. I revamped my eating habits and lost 5% body fat. The girls above? Not one of them said anything about it, but I can feel it while I'm running. I'm lighter and it just feels great to run again. I couldn't wait to start the race.

I usually have a nice finish photo since Piero waits for me at the 18km mark, but this year the wind was so strong and then it started raining, that he and Evan waited in the car. I finished in 2:04:32 with the last two kms striving to run against the wind and rain. I was happy about the time, but even more because I could have kept running after the finish line.

Four more weeks to Paris...I'm really enjoying these last moments :-)