The 2021 Rome Marathon
Date: September 19, 2021
My Time: 4:30:48
By Dr. Sidy Diallo
One Race, Two Finisher Medals
The medal of the 2021 Rome Marathon features tellingly the city’s cobblestones, and like all those who had registered for the 2020 edition, I also got the finisher medal of the canceled race.
My Time: 4:30:48
By Dr. Sidy Diallo
One Race, Two Finisher Medals
The medal of the 2021 Rome Marathon features tellingly the city’s cobblestones, and like all those who had registered for the 2020 edition, I also got the finisher medal of the canceled race.
A Barefoot Marathon on Rome’s Cobblestones
If Abebe Bikila can do it, we can do it. After cheering in 2008 and 2009 on the 40,000 or so participants of the Chicago Marathon, including a friend and colleague at the French Consulate, I fortunately came to the sound and rational conclusion that if they can do it, I can do it. So I ran in October 2010 my first marathon.
Eleven years later, I ran barefoot the 2021 Rome Marathon to honor the 61st anniversary of Abebe Bikila’s barefoot marathon in the Italian capital (September 10, 1960—September 19, 2021). I had planned to celebrate the 60th anniversary, but, as many of you may know, the marathon was canceled. Contrary to what many would expect, the cobblestones were not a problem, because the human body is designed for barefoot running on any terrain (grass, sand, rock, concrete, gravel, etc.), except on ice.
Therefore, if Abebe Bikila could do it, it’s because we can and should do it to prevent pain, injury and fatigue, while saving a lot of money on food, alcohol, tobacco, sneakers, and staying fit and healthy with a robust immune system, instead of spending money on harmful consumption and seeking solutions to pandemics, obesity and other comorbidities in gris-gris, magic potions or powders, etc.
The “sanctification” of the 1960 Abebe Bikila bears testimony to current humans poor understanding of Homo sapiens, who emerged by the way only 200,000 years ago in East Africa. Bikila just did what humans should do and the way we have to. Sadly, he was afterwards persuaded to run with shoes, and he ended up suffering two serious injuries that forced him to stop running. Alas, like Bikila, too many shod marathoners are suffering injuries. Moreover, the hard experience they endure keeps fueling the wrong belief that marathoners are exceptional men and women.
Find out comprehensive explanation—and motivation to run the way we should—in my book Running Barefoot for Human Survival. The book is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
If Abebe Bikila can do it, we can do it. After cheering in 2008 and 2009 on the 40,000 or so participants of the Chicago Marathon, including a friend and colleague at the French Consulate, I fortunately came to the sound and rational conclusion that if they can do it, I can do it. So I ran in October 2010 my first marathon.
Eleven years later, I ran barefoot the 2021 Rome Marathon to honor the 61st anniversary of Abebe Bikila’s barefoot marathon in the Italian capital (September 10, 1960—September 19, 2021). I had planned to celebrate the 60th anniversary, but, as many of you may know, the marathon was canceled. Contrary to what many would expect, the cobblestones were not a problem, because the human body is designed for barefoot running on any terrain (grass, sand, rock, concrete, gravel, etc.), except on ice.
Therefore, if Abebe Bikila could do it, it’s because we can and should do it to prevent pain, injury and fatigue, while saving a lot of money on food, alcohol, tobacco, sneakers, and staying fit and healthy with a robust immune system, instead of spending money on harmful consumption and seeking solutions to pandemics, obesity and other comorbidities in gris-gris, magic potions or powders, etc.
The “sanctification” of the 1960 Abebe Bikila bears testimony to current humans poor understanding of Homo sapiens, who emerged by the way only 200,000 years ago in East Africa. Bikila just did what humans should do and the way we have to. Sadly, he was afterwards persuaded to run with shoes, and he ended up suffering two serious injuries that forced him to stop running. Alas, like Bikila, too many shod marathoners are suffering injuries. Moreover, the hard experience they endure keeps fueling the wrong belief that marathoners are exceptional men and women.
Find out comprehensive explanation—and motivation to run the way we should—in my book Running Barefoot for Human Survival. The book is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).