Long Run IN ROME!!

My wife and I got back this past weekend from a 20th wedding anniversary trip to Italy! So I'll have lots to share about that over the next month or so. (Check out a lot of recent posts on my Instagram page to see snippets.)

A week ago Monday, we were waking up in Rome for our final morning there before moving on to Florence, and I got in my "normal" long run to start the week. I had my phone and snapped a few photos along the way:

Early morning light.


Victor Emmanuel Monument and Trajan's column.


Trajan's column and the moon.


Theatre of Marcellus.


A footbridge to Tiber Island that’s older than Christ.


Paths along the Tiber River where I spent most of my run.


Down along the river.


Mausoleum of Hadrian (Castel Sant’Angelo).

Right after that last photo, I upped the effort for my "pace" miles. I usually do 5-6 harder miles, and I fully intended on doing 6 harder miles here (my last long run at home wasn't great, so I didn't want to have back-to-back crappy long runs). But I only held on for 5.5 miles, and they weren't that fast. My "pace" half mile splits looked like this:

3:20, 3:20, 3:09, 3:14, 3:16, 3:15, 3:12, 3:13, 3:11, 3:09, 3:05 = 35:30 (6:27.28/mile)

And then my cool down miles back were SLOW. I sometimes get a split (MAYBE two) that are slower than 4:00/half mile, but I had 6 out of 7 half-mile splits that were slower than 4:00 to finish this run. I was hot and didn't mind just enjoying the views.

A slower (more uneven footing) section of my "pace" miles near my north turn-around.


Cooling down farther to the south.


Crossing a bridge just for the view
(the previous photo was taken behind those trees left-of-center).


Away from the river in my final mile, heading up towards the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II.


A MUCH slower-than-average long run. But in ROME!!
(That purple squiggle denotes Vatican City on the map.)

So I'll be having bits and pieces from our Italy trip in some upcoming posts. I have a LOT of photos to wade through. Had a great trip, but it's nice to be back and with my boys again. :)