Marco Vitali is not a professional athlete. He is a 41-year-old secondary school teacher from Turin, and for the past five months he has been doing something extraordinary: training for the Rome Marathon. Since January, he has been running 70 kilometres a week — before school, after school, and on long weekend mornings when the streets are still quiet.
His coach, Federica Russo, says his progress has been remarkable. "His times have been improving steadily every week," she says. "He has been training with real consistency, and that is what makes the difference." Marco has been following a strict nutrition plan and has been going to bed at 9:30pm every night — a significant sacrifice for a man who used to enjoy late evenings with friends.
His body has been adapting to the demands of the programme. His stamina is noticeably stronger than it was in January, and he has lost 6kg since he started. He has already run three half-marathons as part of his preparation, and his times have been getting faster each time. But it has not all been easy. His legs have been aching every morning, and he has been working with a sports physiotherapist since March to manage the strain.
This week — just three weeks before race day — Marco has been reducing his training load. This technique, known as "tapering", allows the body to recover and store energy before a big effort. He has not been sleeping well, however. The nerves have been building. "I keep waking up at 3am and thinking about the race," he admits.
But Marco is not worried. "I have been working towards this for five months," he says. "My body is ready. Now I just need to trust it."