Few marathons involve chihuauas, couples in ski gear, little kids, orchestras and free cartons of great Italian milk. One such event is the Roma Fun Run, which takes place in the second weekend of March as part of the Maratona di Roma (Rome Marathon) weekend.

In this year’s Fun Run edition, 64,700 runners were supposed to meet at the Colosseum by 9.15 am. At 8:40, your journalist and several other wannabe athletes were waiting to get on the subway when a rumor started to disseminate chaos. The subway stop by the Colosseum had been closed at 8:30!

The reason for this was unknown, and a German tourist attempted to calm the crowd. “If they had closed the subway, somebody would have told us!” We trusted him, forgetting that we were in Italy.

When the runners reached the exit of the subway and found it closed, the panic settled in. Romans started banging on the walls, while tourists looked at them with a mixture of awe and fear. Finally, some policemen indicated that there was another exit.

The surreal problems, however, had only just begun. In fact, the exit of the subway led to a hill which overlooked the Colosseum. But how could you get to the actual race? Some athletes gave up running altogether, and simply started taking pictures of the beautiful panorama. Others instead began the paradoxical activity of running to the marathon in order to run in the marathon.

When we finally reached the starting line at 9:15, we were too exhausted to run. Fortunately, no one else seemed interested in running either (except a chihuaha on a leash) so the first kilometer was pretty relaxing. By the second kilometer the crowd had thinned and some people were actually jogging. A lady cut in front of me and started to run through the park, followed by a brave Italian child who kept pointing at her and shouting “torna indietro, barona!” (get back on course, you cheater!)

Orchestras, drums and cheers greeted the marathoners around every corner, but the few people who had actually run were ready to collapse. Changing tactic, the Italian onlookers egged us on with a disconcerting “Coraggio: Manca poco!” (be brave, the end is near), even though we were only halfway through the race. That said, most everyone was able to reach the finish-line and indulge in the tasty free samples of milk from La Centrale del Latte di Roma, fresh fruits, the historic Acqua Ferrarelle, and yogurts.

Even in this occasion distinguishing Italians from tourists wasn’t very hard. While the latter politely opened and drank from their cartons of milk, the former stuffed liters and liters of the precious liquid into the bags they had conveniently brought from home. Nonetheless, the Fun Run remains one of the most representative occasions of the Italians’ playful spirit, and is an event that can’t be missed.

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-- Contributed by Valentina Nesci, writer, American University of Rome Senior, Italian Notebook Editorial Intern.

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