and then we did a marathon

Wow, I haven't done a decent post on this thing in a while. My apologies to our loyal readers - all 2 of you. But you're worthy, so here I go....

The marathon was, in a word, AWESOME! Here's some of my random memories:
1) Pausing very briefly at about 29 km to lube up Roz's armpit. Chaffing sucks. .... Boy, what kind of image does this evoke? No, Roz's armpits were not hairy at all actually.
2) Passing the scantly clad Italian lady with the hot body at about 30 km or so. See! Being all hot and chisled doesn't mean you can finish a marathon! I felt quite proud the instant my butt jiggled right past her!
3) looking at my shadow at approximately 20 km and realizing that I was in a slight pike position (picture an exaggerated lean forward - that was me!). I tried to straighten up at that point, but realized that that would be much too painful, and reverted back to the original stance. I blame the lack of a trainer!
4) watching the self-described "rude American" man in front of us while we were downtwon - he was throwing people out of his way as we meandered through downtown Rome as quickly as possible.
5) the pleasant burst of flavour of Skittles. An excellent snack choice, if I do say so myself! Roz and I munched on Skittles during the marathon. Forget the $20 pack of goo. Skittles and Mars bars are the way to go.
6) The ice bath after the marathon. You know, I bet that doesn't do anything! Sandy was probably laughing at us! She said it would help with the lactic acid in our legs - whatever.
7) me crying the instant we saw the colliseum. Of course. And then the paparazzi right in our faces the instant we finished! What was that about?
8) being wrapped in tinfoil as soon as we finished. It stuck to my body. Picture that.
9) Passing the soccer field filled with loud men. Bet they were hot.
10) seeing our adoring fans downtown right when it was starting to get tough! Awesome to have them there!

So it's been nearly a month since our marathon, and it still feels like yesterday (I still have proof on my feet).

Now I need another goal/adventure! Any ideas?
T

And then we went to Florence...

After the marathon, we trained to Firenze (Florence to us non-Italians).

When we left the hotel, we had to clown-car it to the train station, and poor Brad got folded into the trunk with the luggage. The train was very exciting, busy and confusing. But, once we boarded, the scenery was lovely. When we got to Florence, we walked to our little hotel down the street. Florence is beautiful! Our hotel was very cute and had a great view of the piazza, a park where locals walked their dogs.
We toured around and sampled the fair in Florence. On one outing, we walked all the way to the bronze replica of the David in Piazza Michelangelo. You can see an amazing view of the city from there. Then, we attempted to blend in and took the bus back to our hotel. We didn't even know how to buy bus tickets, and were quickly found out for tourists.
We also rode the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus around the city to see some of the sites and the countryside. We visited the Duomo, a huge and beautiful cathedral, which is one of the tallest churches in Europe. Spectacular and mind boggling. We also stood in line on a tiny street, that looked like any other street in Florence, for a chance to see Michelangelo's David. The museum isn't particularly amazing, but the David is overwhelming. Fascinating. There are also some musical instruments in the museum, and even an extremely old natural horn! French horn players eat your heart out.
More on Florence later!
R

We are the champions!

Hello everybody, I'm home from Rome!
So, obviously this is Roz. I have returned to Canada, leaving Toni and Brad to continue on with their adventures in Italy. I'll start posting memories and pictures as soon as I can. (PS guys, don't forget to actually pick your bags up in Toronto and switch them to your next flight when you go through customs there, hehe... We barely made our plane back to Edmonton and some of our luggage had to go on the next flight. Oops!)

First, we would like to thank everybody again for all of the support, with training and fundraising. Because of your hands on our shoulders, we crossed the finish line with everything we had. And we had the strength because you gave it to us.

This is a picture of our crazy marathon start! There were 12,308 entrants in the Rome marathon, and 10,034 finished. To read more about the statistics and finishes, check out:
http://www.maratonadiroma.it/eng/home_en.asp
Our official finish time - 06:59:44

The Rome Team Diabetes Canada group fundraised $687,000. Good job everybody!

Okay, now on to the good stuff!
Day 1 - Arrival
So, Italy is far. And Toni had some adventures with the people who check your luggage for bombs and your person for weapons. Luckily, everyone arrived safely in Rome. Where it was warm, muggy, and the traffic was terrifying. Our first hotel was fancy pants, and close to some beautiful parks. The outdoor pool was closed, and they had to tell the Canadians there were harmful chemicals in the water to keep them out. We met lots of other runners and walkers, with varying levels of marathon experience. Everybody was a little bit nervous.

Day 2 - Saturday we did a warm up walk in the parks across the street. The scenery was amazing, the warm up was hot! So, we learned we'd be walking in 20 degree weather in the Roman afternoon. We adjusted our outfit plans, took a trip to the Trevi fountain, and had a dinner the night before with the marathon trainers giving words of encouragement and warning. It was very exciting, and we got pretty nervous. Luckily, I slept great the night before, although many people were up wandering the streets of Rome into the wee hours.

Day 3 - Race morning was pretty scary. Mostly because of the toilets at the starting line. I will never recover, it's probably best not to ask about that part. We held it for the rest of the race. Toni and I pushed ourselved up into the pack of runners who planned to finish in under 4 hours, so we had to jog a bit at the start as they ploughed around us. We actually saw our cheer team, my mom, Uncle Ron, and Brad, standing up above the start line. It was awesome! And then, when the race started, all the men around us suddenly bolted over the barricades to pee on the ancient ruins. There were only 1912 women in the marathon, and 1546 finished. Some of them peed on the ruins too.

The first 15 km of our walk went fast. We saw beautiful downtown Rome, all along the river. Then we walked about 10 km in alternating heat and shade towards the outside of the city, some guys in cars hooted, I'm thinking we looked hot. And sweaty.

About half way we were feeling good and ran into some other members of Team Diabetes Canada, and unfortunately one of our team had to quit. Luckily, Sandy (one of the trainers) was around to run to the next station for help. We continued on, and met an Italian woman running low on water. The water stations started running out and they cleaned up lots of the sponge stations outside of downtown.

When we got about 30 km in, pedestrians started taking over the course. We followed an older Italian man who had the smart idea to bring a horn. He honked us most of the way through the busy, beautiful Roman streets around the Trevi fountain.

Then, when you get to about 35 km, you can almost see the finish line. But you have to loop out and come back! Brutal! We walked to 37 km, and turned the corner to the homestretch. Some Italian police waved us on and cheered. At 41 km we started to run, and managed to jog all the way the finish line. A young Italian guy ran with us close to the descent into the finish area around the Colosseum. I will never forget the feeling of finishing the marathon, and the excitement of seeing our family.

They wrapped us up in gold foil capes and put our medals around our necks. It was amazing. Then we slowly walked to our bus and got a ride back to the hotel. The trainers had recommended an ice bath to help recover. We went for dinner that night with our team, the feeling of accomplishment and success was all around us. The meal was fabulous. Just like our first marathon.