My first 10k run at the La Corsa di Miguel

Wow, it was such a wonderful experience doing my first long distance run at the La Corsa di Miguel run last Sunday. How colourful is this picture below!

Towards the middle of last week, I was worried to be running in the cold winter, especially with the temperatures dropping down to 2 degree celsius just last Thursday. I really didn’t want to choke and die from lack of oxygen. But in the end, everything went fine.

The day before, Claire and I collected our race packs at Stadio Olimpico – the largest and main sports facility in Rome. Looks pretty generous for 10 euro doesn’t it? I especially love the thermal and humidity headbuff and don’t mind going around with it everywhere. But I think we should be paid for going around promoting a swimming pool. Ah well

By the way, Claire was really happy to find out that the S size shirt fits her better. She initially asked for a M but the man at the counter said that S would be better for her and winked jokingly, “Next year a XS!” Hahaha!

On the Sunday itself, Claire and I woke up bright and early and headed towards the Acqua Acetosa train station. As taking trains is such a daunting thing for me (have you seen the number of lines as Termini?) so I asked Cart to accompany us.

Fortunately for us, when we reached Flaminio station, there was only one line. Phew! No need to crack our heads too much wondering which line goes where. We just sit down and wait.

There were loads of people in running gear waiting together and that made me feel more assured that we were going in the right direction. It was quite charming to be in the train – so old school. The vibe felt very different compared to the run we did in the city center – like the Corsa dei Santi or the Maratona Staffetta.

And here we are in Acqua Acetosa! Cart tells me that translated, it means “Vinegary water” Urgh! I don’t think I’d drink their spring water if it literally means that!

As you could see while we were going out of the station, there was a huge crowd at the exit. Turns out that there was a raincoat being distributed and everyone wanted one of course. More freebies! Hahaha! AND participants get breakfast too! I shared a coffee and cake with Cartcart.

I actually snapped this picture below as there’s a man in a bright orange cat suit in this picture. I wonder how he’d feel to run 10km under all that.

But take a look at the sky, look at how cloudy and foggy it is. It didn’t make me feel too confident.

And check out the sitting eagles on top of the entrance to the Paolo Rosi stadium. I don’t know about you, but doesn’t it look very … world war 2?

And here we are posing insouciantly before the race. Clean and fresh.

And then we scrambled to find the start point. There were no signs, and hardly any marshals staff to be found. I thought that the organization was rather bad. In the end, Claire and I saw a group of people and followed them, started running, and hoped for the best.

(Cart went off to play angry birds on his handphone, if anyone is wondering)

And this is our running route. Scenic route around the river.

During the run itself, initially I was a little apprehensive. Because each time I exhaled, fog comes out. It was disconcerting to see. But experience has taught me to keep my mouth closed so that I don’t breathe in cold air. And eventually, I felt warmed up enough to have a sort of conversation with Claire. Woah!

We went around the river and past the Olympic stadium. And there were some sceneries that we’ve never seen before, such as a giant face statue. It was lovely. One funny thing also was each time we went past a banner indicating the distance we’ve gone, there would usually be a photographer near it and we posed for all sorts of silly poses, and then went back to our regular running pose after that (usually the tired look) Hahaha!

And this is us at the end of the race. Ahh … chilling out with hot lemon tea. At this point of time, I just felt like lying down. Haha!

Thank you Claire for asking me to come along. And thank you Cartcart for accompanying us! I really had fun! Next time you come and join us!