Caffarella parkrun
6:27am, 9th Jan 2024 | Caffarella parkrun | 1 Comments
Blog by 57.5 Degrees of Pain
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New Year partying in Rome went long into the night, and it had been a big day of celebration for my friend's birthday during the day, but I dragged myself up at 7.30am for the journey to Caffarella Park in the southeast of the city.
It's a fairly easy journey from the city centre to the park, Metro A takes you to Colli Albani station which is a short walk away. You could also run about 7km and take in many of the historic sites on the way. The organisers were there early so it was easy to spot the start/finish area from the park entrance.
The park is extensive and includes a number of historical sites, the course itself passes a couple of Roman remains. I'll need to return and explore further! I was welcomed by one English speaking local (in fact he briefly interviewed me for their social media), there were a couple of other visitors, but otherwise it was all locals in a turnout of 18 with 11 volunteers. After a quick New Year video we were off.
The course is almost all on dirt paths and very flat. There had been considerable rain the previous day so it was quite puddly, but only slippery on the first section in the meadow. The course takes you along a path and downhill on a short road section past a couple of volunteers into a large meadow which you circle twice. It is dead flat and well signed. On completing the second lap you return back up the road section for a short loop around a children's play area and back to the finish.
I paced the run at 'hangover steady', spending most of the event in my own well behind the first finisher and ahead of the third. At the end there was a choice of beer or sparkling water, I stuck to the latter to accompany my panettone before heading back to the hotel for a bit more sleep!
It's a fairly easy journey from the city centre to the park, Metro A takes you to Colli Albani station which is a short walk away. You could also run about 7km and take in many of the historic sites on the way. The organisers were there early so it was easy to spot the start/finish area from the park entrance.
The park is extensive and includes a number of historical sites, the course itself passes a couple of Roman remains. I'll need to return and explore further! I was welcomed by one English speaking local (in fact he briefly interviewed me for their social media), there were a couple of other visitors, but otherwise it was all locals in a turnout of 18 with 11 volunteers. After a quick New Year video we were off.
The course is almost all on dirt paths and very flat. There had been considerable rain the previous day so it was quite puddly, but only slippery on the first section in the meadow. The course takes you along a path and downhill on a short road section past a couple of volunteers into a large meadow which you circle twice. It is dead flat and well signed. On completing the second lap you return back up the road section for a short loop around a children's play area and back to the finish.
I paced the run at 'hangover steady', spending most of the event in my own well behind the first finisher and ahead of the third. At the end there was a choice of beer or sparkling water, I stuck to the latter to accompany my panettone before heading back to the hotel for a bit more sleep!
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