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