by Randy Latza

Alright, so the marathon was 3 weeks ago, but better late than never!

This was my first international marathon. Let me rephrase that as I am sure there were many internationals in my previous races, this was my first marathon outside of the U.S.A. Tony, a friend whom Mary and I went to college with, lives in Rome and last fall he mentioned to Mary about doing the marathon. He was back in the States during the holidays and we all convinced each other he could do it and that we would go and join him. Tony’s athletic history involves some collegiate lacrosse and playing soccer in high school and recreational playing after college. Notice I didn’t say running; nothing like doing a marathon as your first race!

Normally I would go right into the race details, but I want to mention the registration process first because we had some issues with it. The race website is in Italian, but has 5 different translations, including English, but Mary decided to try and register using only the Italian site. Once you sign up for the race you receive an email confirmation, you then have to attach the email to a members only portion of the race website. You also need to provide proof of membership to your national federation (USATF for us) and all foreigners have to have a physical (the race’s form) completed by a physician. All of these documents need to be uploaded to their site in order to get a race bib.

We constantly had trouble trying to upload the documents. Mary eventually received an email from someone at the race and asked that the documents be sent directly to her and then Mary was ready to go. I was still unsuccessful and even emailed my documents to the same person, but I never received my final confirmation. But, they had accepted the proof of my initial registration and payment so I wasn’t too concerned. When we go to registration on Friday morning (race was Sunday) Tony and I had to go to a specific desk and turn in all of the forms they had not accepted previously and Mary was able to go right to pick up her stuff. The help desk had at least 4 different people and while we were there I heard the volunteers conversing in Italian, French, English, and German so they had their bases covered well. Once Tony and I showed our documents, we received our numbers and were cleared to go. The swag we received included the usual promo giveaways as well as a t-shirt (sizes run very small, I have an XL and it’s tight on my non-bulging biceps) and a backpack. The pack has a clear pocket on the front and that is where you put your checked bag number and everyone has to use the backpack as their checked bag. They are decent quality, too.

We then spent some time touring the expo. If you’ve been to one triathlon/marathon expo, you’ve been to all of them. However, it was neat to see the different types of gels/bars that are available overseas as well as the differences in shoe models by the same companies we have here. They have much more vibrant colors available on shoes in Europe. There were also a ton of displays for different races. Every European country may not have a marathon, but I am convinced they all have 4 or 5 half marathons. Mary spent some time getting her feet analyzed at the Asics display and they gave her a nice printout and folder to take home with the results. I believe the shoes the “expert” recommended just so happen to be the pair she is already using, but it was cool to have it done and it was free, so why not?

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