Uditore parkrun / Palermo Marathon
14th/15th November 2015

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Official Results

Uditore parkrun (14th November)
Sarah Wanden - 29.18
 
Palermo Marathon (15th November)
Sarah Wanden  - 4.23.17

 

Rebecca and I landed  in Palermo late on Friday night and after some walking and navigation arrived at our hotel and went straight to sleep.  Up early on Saturday morning I found I had a sore throat which was both annoying and disappointing. We made the most of the pretty good breakfast buffet (they had cake!) and headed to the Uditore Parkrun about 4km away (by cab as we didn't want to get lost and miss it) this Parkrun is relatively new - just six months old and had a record of 19 runners last week. Numbers swelled to around thirty due to the marathon being in town. The run was four laps of a little community park situated near a huge roundabout. The temperature was around 20 deg and overcast. The plan was to gently plod around and save our legs which we duly did, despite me feeling I wanted to charge off (thanks Bec for keeping me in check) Once finished we had a chat with a few runners including the Parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt who just happened to be there before heading off to the marathon expo by bus.  The expo was a small affair with a few stalls and many many local runners. We learned that of the approx 2000 entries only 300 were to run the marathon, the rest being half-marathon runners. 

Feeling a bit sweaty post park run we headed back to the hotel to freshen up.  A few hours and a shower later we wandered down to the port for some very agreeable wine and pasta followed by a Local delicacy 'cannoli' which was a pastry filled with I think almond cream and a couple of strategically placed cherries!  Back to the hotel we hit the prosecco which is always a great idea before a marathon. An early night followed and soon enough race day was upon us. At breakfast we met a fellow runner from Austria who kindly offered us a ride to the start in his taxi, much nervous chatter ensued and we were soon back at the stadium.
Excitement built and we were soon on the start line. I do wish I hadn't looked at the course, as we crossed the line all I could think about was the journey back to the finish line at the halfway point and back out again.... 

The route was gradually downhill for miles and miles, almost enjoyable and the odd corner contained supporting locals. Many runners had the French colours painted on their faces and I often heard cries of 'viva la France!'  At three miles in I was drenched and knew that this wasn't normal, I figured I must have had a touch of man flu and hoped it wasn't going to hamper my progress.  At 20k I felt a bit yuk and the idea of just doing the half became more and more attractive... At 21 k I had made my mind up and as I ran into the stadium I began to unpin my number and look for a race official. I was drawn to the water station and had three large cups of electrolyte drink and watched as the half marathon runners finished their races....I was feeling guilty and a bit rubbish and began to rethink my decision, just then a man who must have been 75 plodded past me and on towards the full marathon route. Dammit, how could I not continue? If he can do it I sure as hell could... Number in hand I restarted my garmin and slowly trotted out of the stadium and onward.  I have to say the second half went better than the first, I chatted to some runners and we spent 5k running by the sea which was nice. The last 10k was a pretty long hard mainly uphill slog and as I crossed the finish line my first thought was 'no more untrained marathons' 4.23 of very hard work, 4th in age cat. The winning runner did 2.44 which kind of tells you how much hard work this was.  I hobbled around near the start and cheered Bec in, she did a wonderful sprint finish and we collected medals and goody bags. Taking the bus back to the hotel we decided on an early night. Monday was pretty good wandering the streets of Palermo in the sunshine, exploring the many piazzas and trying new food and drink. I particularly liked the affogato and garlic chilli pasta. Sicily didn't cease to impress and amaze, from the stunning architecture, the crazy traffic, the wonderful fresh food and the friendly locals it really is a unique destination that's well worth a visit, even better with a good friend!

As I write we are on the bus to the airport, there has been an accident and we are stuck...currently the 45 min  journey has taken 90mins. I wonder if we will catch our flight?

Part two...

And here I am a day later... We missed the flight due to a huge lorry fire, I do hope there weren't any casualties. Bec and I got on the case enlisting help from her brother and my daughter. By the time we arrived at the airport we had accommodation booked and new flights for the following day. The accommodation was amazing, a small b&b in a nearby town called Cinisi with a little in-house wine bar.  Arriving we soon crashed and were up for breakfast bright and early for our epic day of travel...

8am leave for Palermo airport, 10 am fly from Palermo to Rome, have lunch, 1.30 fly from Rome to Heathrow. This is where things got scary. As we came in to land I was gazing out of the window at rain sodden Tarmac and all of a sudden the plane sharply pulled straight back up with a huge whine of the engines, up we travelled until well out of the runway space. Straight away I assumed it was the strong winds as we had been suffering from turbulence all the way in. Imagine our total surprise (and shock!) when the captain informed us he had approached the runway only to find there was another plane In the way! A cold shiver ran down my spine. We were up in the air for what seemed like ages before a second attempt was made and eventually we landed safely, it felt so damn good to step onto terra firma. 

Arriving a day late at the wrong airport set the scene for the next part of the journey. Thankfully Becs other half collected us from Heathrow and dropped us at Stansted, during the rush hour, in a storm... As you can imagine this wasn't a speedy journey but all the same the help was very welcome. After some time we arrived at Stansted and tried to leave the car park....over staying the short term was to cost £200!! This was about to be the final end of a long and expensive straw when a very nice man informed us over the intercom that he was opening the gate and letting us out! Fantastic . We hit the road with renewed vigour for about five minutes and then realised the strength of the storm, wow this was heavy going. Becs car was taking some controlling. The girl did  good and kept calm despite the storm trying to whip the steering from her arms. At one point the car was hit by flying debris and we both yelped.  Finally today's journey ended around 13 hours from when it began, it seemed that everything tried to conspire against us.....oh yes, and we ran a marathon...

Sarah