Rome Marathon 2009.
Dear Supporters and Sponsors
It is with great pleasure that I can report my success in Rome. I completed the course in 4hr 22min 8 sec. I managed to complete the run without walking which was rather satisfying and ran a fairly consistent pace. If you are one of those fantastic sponsors that pledged money upon completion of the task then feel free to give via credit card from anywhere in the World simply following this link. It really is made very easy for all to give. www.justgiving.com/phillmoore All money raised will go towards the charities that Sophie wanted to support. None of the money raised goes towards the teams costs, these costs have been born by the team.
The start was at Rome’s historic Coliseum and after a ‘42km 195m’ lap of Rome we finished back at the Coliseum. There were approx 20,000 runners this year and the streets are small. We were all bunched up from the start till about half way, with the odd stretch of wider road to make some ground up. This was a bit frustrating to find myself running on top of others for so long, but once we start to spread out it was much better. Mind you by the time I had space I felt I was well and truly settled into a pace and could not manage a significantly faster pace. Maybe it was a good thing as I might have gone too fast at the beginning if I’d had the space to run, who knows.... The bad news was that I hadn’t been able to declare a time or projected time at the point of entry so when my bib number was issued I was lumped into the group that went last! I found myself in with the 5hours plus group and really wanted to be nearer to the 4hour pace runners. Fighting my way through the crowd before the race was a good move as fighting my way through once running proved very difficult.
The temperature on the day was pleasant at about 10®C and there was a breeze, it was sunny too. It started cool but soon warmed up and a good part of the run was along the river. The temperature was never uncomfortable.
On another note I found I did hit a psychological wall due to my Nike+ device losing about a mile during the run. Finally I heard those magic words – Congratulations you’ve completed a Marathon. Only thing is the Finish line was nowhere in sight! Just at that point I passed a drinks station and wondered why an earth anyone would need a drink a few hundred meters from the finish! I’d assumed that my Nike+ might be out, but not that much! I didn’t take a drink and pounded on to what I thought would be the end as I rounded the next bend. You can imagine my dismay at finding the 25mile marker around the next bend and thus just over a mile to go...!!! It was rather soul destroying to be honest.

Once again thank you so much for the support, your emails and your concerns, your prayers for my knees, which have been fully restored and so far have not given me any pain! Mostly though thanks for the financial gifts your all pledged to raise money for this fantastic organisation.


Lastly I want to quickly mention the Dentist with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen who came to offer me some advice. He said that I should fill my running shoes with Vaseline otherwise I wouldn’t get round the course because my feet would blister..... It was a good tip, maybe – but not one I followed. Some of you out there might find it more helpful than I did, hence I’m posting it here.
Phill

Hello Friends and Supporters.

It’s well overdue this update and I feel very guilty that I’ve neglected this post.

I’ve been through a difficult couple of weeks on the training front as shortly after my 35km run I had severe pain in my knees. My initial thoughts were to rest and see how I felt after a couple of days. The pain wasn’t that bad when going about normal life, but excruciating when I tried to run. I gave it another day or two then ran after I took some Volterol. I didn’t feel a thing, but were they healed or was the pain being masked by the excellent Volterol? I decided to run without Volterol two days later and could only manage 1km....Houston we have a problem!

I went to the Dr who said I’d worn something out and it would heal , but over time and I should not run any more. Well until he said I could. Thing is I was now only two weeks away from the big day. I had Electro therapy and drugs and lots of prayer. Finally I went for a 5km run and after a slow start got settled in at a comfortable pace. I went out this week on Tuesday and Wednesday (the following two days) and felt good.

So on Saturday we will fly to Rome and collect my bib number – then eat some home grown pasta from the Worlds pasta capital. Sunday morning at 0600 we will eat breakfast and then prepare for the run at 0900.

Sunday 1st March 2009

OK HI everyone, following this must seem a little stagnant at times, but that doesn't mean I am not training!

At 13kms my iPod froze up making me very cross, I wondered if my running data would be OK. As I clocked up another kms the iPod did call it out, but that’s all it was doing!

Yesterday was one of my long runs before the taper off period, 35kms and I have to say it was hard. at 24kms I was cruising and enjoying the fact that I had no aches or pains and felt like I could go on for ever.....at 25Kms I needed to seriously revise the feeling and started to find my legs hurting a little. I pushed on and the time seemed to elongate and those 5kms to 30kms took forever.

I had to walk a bit around this time and as I felt ready started to jog alone a bit more, but this was interrupted by the need to just walk....

Finally I made it home and completed the training distance of 35kms! My time was slower than I hoped for but I can do it again and get faster I hope.....