Firenze (Florence) Marathon

I ran Firenze Marathon on the last Sunday of November, the weekend after Verona HM & a holiday at Cinque Terre. The Expo Village was located in Viale Malta 10, near Campo di Marte metro station. The taxi greenhorn dropped me at the back gate but thankfully, a very helpful Expo staff Mateo allowed me in & guided me to collect my running bib. The full marathon started at 8.30am under clear blue skies & Temp12°C. The start & finish was at Piazza Duomo. The course brought us through a spectacular city full of history, beauty & art, and four river crossings. We passed by Florence Eye (ferris wheel) along Fortezza da Basso (5km), then into Parco delle Cascine (Florence's biggest public park) the historical city park lined by tall trees (8-12km). We crossed River Arno over Ponte della Vittoria (16km), the oldest & most strategic of wartime bridges in Florence. We ran along the river & across Ponte Vecchio (19km), a medieval stone arch bridge lined by souvenir & jewellery shops. Shortly after, we turned back over Ponte alle Grazie (20km) & Ponte San Nicollo (21km) Water stations were at regular intervals of 5km. Distance markers were clearly displayed. Isotonic drinks, warm sweet tea, fruits & pastries were also served after 17km. At 32km, we ran into Athletica Firenze Marathon (stadium) , before looping back into the city. The last 5km of the marathon brought runners back to the Old Town with its quaint, narrow streets & cobblestones avenues that graced the majestic Piazza Signoria, Piazza Duomo and Piazza di San Giovanni. Runners were greeted by strings of spectators shouting, ' Dia! Dia! Dia! ' for the last 3km to the finish line. The icing on the cake was an attractive, specially designed finisher medal. The Theme of this year's Firenze Marathon was 'We run in Art'. Firenze is one marathon that I'll be most happy to run again.

With a course that looks like it was drawn by a child scribbling with a crayon (full of twists and turns), I figured this course would be slow and well over 26.2 miles. Instead, it was flat and fast and 26.2 exactly! There was a diversity of sites: some of the famous 'standards' but also the lovely Cascine park and a soft, speedy track. One note: it drizzled in 2018 and some of the surfaces were slippery in the rain. I was focused so I don't really remember the spectator situation. I wanted a tour of Florence and ended up with a 5+ minute PR, which counts for Boston (some are unsure about international races, so thought I'd add that).