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On 6th April 2025, I ran Milan Marathon for the first time. I love travelling to Italy with my family, and Milan has been on our travel radar for some time. This year, Milan Marathon fell on the first weekend of the school holidays, so we took a late flight on Friday night (after school and work) to start the weekend early. It meant arriving very late in Milan, and we had a few issues with transport getting back to our hotel, but we made it ready to start the weekend.

Milan Marathon was my 166th marathon (plus), and my 123rd time pacing (60 marathons).  It was my 101st Sub 4 marathon.

Family Adventures

We didn’t go to the family run on Saturday as it would have meant a very early start after a late arrival on the Friday. If we had been able to arrive earlier, I think this would have been a nice addition to the weekend. My children are young and not particularly interested in the culture on offer, so this limited the options of what we could do. Duomo Di Milano is an impressive sight, and there are some lovely places to eat and drink nearby.

We mostly spent the weekend finding parks, enjoying the sun, and trying to find some quirky places to eat and drink.

During the Marathon, my family went to the Senses Museum and had a fantastic time. I always prefer them to find something nice to do rather than wait around at the end of the race for me.

After the marathon, I walked to meet them at a “Crazy Cat Cafe,” which was a nice cafe with 9 resident cats, definitely something different and enjoyable for the family.

Milan Marathon 2025

On Saturday, all the pacers met at the expo to collect kit, have a presentation on the stage, and have a briefing. This was a long process, and I was there for over 3 hours. This was more for the organisers to try and ensure that all the pacers were prepared and so I’m happy to be part of it. It was busy and a lot of waiting around. Afterwards we went for a lovely meal near the expo, a lovely find. It was a lot cheaper than some other areas and really nice food and service.

After a meal, I got my kit together back at our hotel and then had an early night. It was a very early start to get to the marathon started. Pacers needed to meet at 06:45, and to ensure I wasn’t late, I left at about 05:15. It meant getting to our meeting point early and very sleepy.

We had a private section and tents for the pacers. It was a simple bench in a tent, but it meant we could leave our race bags together. Simple additions like this can make a positive difference. After getting our balloons on, we made our way towards the start, having some group photos on the way. It was a 08:30 marathon start, so we made our way just after 08:00.

We had 7 pacers running the sub 4 #funbus together and a huge group of runners with us. It felt cold at the start as we stood in the shade, but we knew it would be a hot day.

We had a great group of runners, mostly from Italy and Italian speaking, but there were plenty of other runners from around the world. I was asked to take the lead of the group and set the pace for the team, whilst my Italian friends would do more engagement and encouragement. Throughout, it was more fluid, and we ran well as a good group of 7, supporting many runners along the way.

The course was predominantly flat with only a few inclines, which really are not worth talking about. The ground was good, with a few sections of cobbles. The water was handed out in small bottles every 5km, which was needed on a very hot day.

I personally just used salt tablets and water at each aid station. There were a couple of extra water stations towards the end. Around 33km, I thought I would try some electrolyte drink and pick up some of the food they had on course because I was feeling dehydrated, but I couldn’t stomach it. I then drank some water and immediately knew this feeling well. I ended up being sick and was sick about 4 times, so during this moment, I walked for a bit. I watched the other pacers go ahead, whilst I was bringing up a lot of fluid. But as soon as I stopped, I got back to work. I actually felt better after I was sick, and I used the next km running 8 min mile rather than 9 min mil  to make up the time.

I caught up with the other pacers, and it was clear that the heat was having an impact on everyone. So, I carried on ahead to take the front of the pack and set the pace.

We had maintained between 20 seconds and 30 seconds cushion throughout the race, which is perfect, but not a lot to be complacent. As I led towards the end, I was 25 seconds ahead and held this pace. In Italy, the pacers like to finish together, which I love. At around 40km, they called me to slow down, but I noticed that they were pulling back a little, and the plan was that I hold the pace. I called for them to join me, and whilst I slowed slightly, I knew I could not slow more. I was hoping they would come and join me at my pace to finish with me. After 41km, I was around 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the pace group. I slowed slightly, but at 42km, I was around 30 seconds ahead of the other pacers.

I finished surrounded by a lot of runners and had a dozen at the finish come back to thank me and tell me about their new PB’s. On my watch I finished in 03:59:53.

It is a beautiful finish line, and we got a nice medal and race t-shirt handed out at the end. I am pleased to finish on time, and we managed to get lots of runners PB’s. We worked really well as a pacer team from start to finish, and the course was full of happy runners. It would have been nice to finish together, but I’m proud and grateful for the whole team.