Race Report: Firenze Marathon (Florence Marathon)

Friday, 2 December 2016  |  Favorite Posts, Race Reports, Travel + Adventure

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– Would’ve been a great pic of me holding my 16th marathon medal at Firenze Marathon had I only held the medal facing the front *eye roll* –

Firenze Marathon (or Florence Marathon) is the second largest marathon in Italy, only second to its capital, Rome. I had heard about how beautiful Florence is and, having never visited Italy before, I was simply over the moon about this trip where our itinerary included Cinque Terre (a place in my bucket list! Woohoo!), Venice, and Pisa too. At the same time though, I had never been more anxious for any marathon than this one.

You see, I’m a forward-looking, obsessive, control-freak who always plans ahead for anything, especially my marathons. I always have a program to follow and I stick to it as if my life depended on it. Doing so gives me confidence that not only will I finish the race but I’ll do so without bonking, crawling, or cursing myself the entire time and, most importantly, I’ll cross the finish line with a smile.

For this training period though, I had three bouts with the flu and/or fever, which completely messed up my training schedule. By the time I discovered that all my illnesses were actually due to allergic rhinitis, it was too late. I had missed my 32k run. My longest run was a back-to-back 24k on Sunday and 13k on Monday just 2 weeks before race day. Lord, heeeeelp me. (more…)

My 2016 Race Calendar

Tuesday, 29 March 2016  |  Running + Triathlon, Travel + Adventure

Marathons are such a big part of me that I can’t imagine going through life without running one or two in a new city every year.  It’s what keeps me motivated to train even through the hot or tough days; it’s what gets me excited for the months ahead; and, last but not the least, it’s what makes me absolutely happy… next to my kids, of course.

For this year, I’ve finally set my race calendar.  Just thinking about it (especially Florence…aaah!) makes me giddy like a school girl.  Here’s my race calendar for 2017 (excluding local races I’ll run for training):

May 1: Vancouver Marathon (Photo courtesy of www.runvan.org)

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June 12: VIP Swim Challenge 2.5k (Photo courtesy of Betsy Medalla, Swim Junkie)

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November 27: Florence Marathon

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How about you? Where will you be running this year?