My McDonald's tray liner was wealth of information. (More about Micky D's later). Besides the calorie content of my Big Mac meal (fries 470 calories, Mac 490 calories -- you do the math).
Anyway, the up-facing liner told me about the Rome Marathon on March 22, beginning at the Roman Colosseum. I'm there, sorta. I took the day off, and just knew I wanted to end up at the Colosseum and its neighbor, the Forum. The race began at 9:00 a.m. and snaked around the city, including my neighborhood. Barricades were set up throughout the area marking the route. I had to negotiate around and through the barriers. A little after 11:00 a.m., I made my way to my usual stomping ground, Piazza Navona, just a a couple of minutes walk away. The piazza was quiet -- a rock band played and people were milling as usual. I bought my daily gelato (strawberry and almond) sat down for a few minutes, waited and watched.
A short while later the first indication of the race was visible. Hand cyclists for those who couldn't run (with handlebar "pedals" that propel), began to ride by to the crowd's applause. It was then that I -- and so many around me -- started snapping pictures.
The first runners were preceded by sirened cars and motorcycles with spinning blue roof-lights. Among the runners was the eventual winner -- #36, Kenya's Benjamin Kiptoo.
By then, the crowd at Navona was thick and energetic.
The runners kept coming, first a few at a time and then came the first woman, marathon winner, #12, Ethiopian, Dado Firehiwot.
I stayed and shot pics for another 20 minutes before going back to the apartment. From the terrace (remember, I'm in the penthouse), I looked down at piazza San Andrea de la Valle and watched runners trickle by (I was near the 35th Kilometer -- almost 22 miles into the race, so the crowd had thinned at at that point).
At 12:30 I began my trek to the Colosseum. I followed the same path, on sidewalks, as the marathoners. Traffic was re-routed and pedestrians had to wait before crossing streets at designated stops. At bigger piazzas along the way, the was live entertainment from around the globe.
The city was jam-packed. If there are 3.5 million people living in Rome, 3.475 million of them were out in the sunshine today. Add the tourists and you get the picture -- the crowd was thick. It was hard to get around.
A a refreshment area, plastic cups, water bottles, apple and orange wedges littered the street, the pavement drenched from the gatorade and water. Passing the Imperial forum and finally ending up at the "Colosseo" -- the colosseum.
I found a shiny mylar blanket given to runners and I snatched it up as a souvenir.
Frustrated at the pace and with map in hand, I decided on side streets as the route for my quarter-mile stretch to the forum.
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