For the first 30 minutes of the movie I enjoyed the sweeping shots of the beautiful city of Rome and closed my eyes and listened to the Italian. I understood the Italian without looking at the subtitles at all. I do still understand Italian! Yeah! And then for the first time about 40 minutes in, it hit me- the movie was about the Rome Marathon. In 2012. OMG, that was the year I ran Rome!
For the rest of the movie I kept my eyes peeled for shots of myself. I figured it was a total long shot because there were thousands and thousands of people running the race. BUT then I saw myself. On the big screen at the movie theater. HOLY MOLY. I yelled out loud "hey that's me." Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.
There is a shot of the former high school teacher from New Jersey near the end and he is really struggling. And there I am chugging up the hill past him. Now that I think about it, I totally remember that happening. It was somewhere between miles 15 and 20. We were way out in the suburbs with no crowd support. It was hot and it felt like we were still so far away from the finish. I was struggling up this long, slow incline and there were all these scooters with camera guys and even a big long boom thing with more cameras on it. I remember being totally annoyed because they were in my way. "I'm try to run a marathon here jerks. Get your stupid scooters out of the way." I had no idea they were filming a movie. If I had known I would have wiped some of the sweat off my face, tried to look less like I was dying, and stuck around longer so I could have been in the movie for longer.
Even if I hadn't been in the movie, I still would have loved it. How amazingly cool to have a movie about an event that I ran. When they showed the featured runners coming into the finish at the Colosseum, I cried. I remember so well trying to make it up that final little hill and then finally crossing the finish line.
Viva la Roma!
Did you see the movie? What did you think?
Ahh! That is so cool that you randomly saw yourself! How fun that you went in not knowing it was about Rome AND the year you ran!
ReplyDeleteI didn't see it. But I was watching another movie about athletes and saw a friend of mine by chance! Fun!
How much of the Rome marathon was on cobblestone? I have always wondered that!
Probably between 1/4 and 1/3 is on cobblestones. It was hard at the beginning because it was so crowded you couldn't see the ground. I was afraid I would fall on the cobblestones. Then, the uneven surface was really hard again at the end when my feet and legs were really tired.
ReplyDeleteBut you would totes recommend running it, right?! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh absolutely, especially for anyone who loves Italy. The course passes so many amazing things in Rome that it almost doesn't feel real. For a big city marathon (and considering how many things in Italy aren't organized) it is well run (just don't expect any food at the end!)
DeleteI need to go back and run it!!! I wonder if it's hard to get in to. And ha! I can find food at the end. I LOVED the food there.
DeleteYes do it! It wasn't hard to get into at all. I registered about 6 months before. There was food in the city at the end, just not any race food.
Deleteoh wow!! I totally would have screamed "That's me!" too!
ReplyDelete