2010 Verdi Marathon: a live experience

This post describes a live experience for the February 2010 Verdi Marathon and gives you insight of what it is really look like. Below you can find a translation from the original Verdi Marathon live experience.
Verdi Marathon is in the top 20 of the Italian ranking (number 16) from the number of participants.

I had the first signs that it would not be an easy ride during breakfast: I ate reluctantly aware that I needed fuel, but without hunger. I got a restless night because of the heat in the hotel, of different bed: to be optimistic, I have slept 3 hours at most.
Sunday 28th we had a cool day with 8 degree Celsius at the start with overcast skies and temperatures similar throughout the race. I started with caution since the first kilometers are downhill, it is very dangerous to let your legs going! I immediately realized that it was running as light as usual, to keep the pace I set I had to force and not running naturally. Switching to half as scheduled in 1h 42 min but with an unusual sense of heaviness that I never had before. I realized at the 24 km mark that it was not my most graceful day, I gave up a little and then at 30 km I was sure: let's stop. This is enough for today.
The cold does not help me, as in Florence in 2008, my quads were hurting and I was short of breath, heavy stomach feeling of always there, I've also done some twenty paces from time to time in the last km walk because of leg pain. I got a lot less tired than in Amsterdam thanks to the fact that I was unable to push in the second half and ran to save.

I had already this impression when running other marathons: I like marathons with less than thousands people, volunteers that are less stressed and refreshments always available for everybody, great pasta parties and showers without the crowds. This marathon does not have a particularly attractive location, but has flawless organization, and awesome food around.

I am neither particularly happy nor disappointed today. The marathon distance is not very suitable for me. This is clear, the fact that I always start a marathon without looking for time improvement helps me to still enjoy the long journey to a special day, especially this Sunday, in 3 h 45 min 20 sec.