Fantastic new PB for Jo in Florence!

Congratulations to Club Captain Jo Zakrzewski who has capped a tremendous season by setting a fantastic PB in the Florence marathon....

The welcome news for the record entry of 10,000 in this year's Florence Marathon was that unlike the rain of the previous 2 years, the forecast was for clear skies. Unfortunately the clear sky also meant that the runners had to contend with a very cold 2 degrees in the starting pens, but they soon warmed up as they ran, finishing in a sunny 14 degrees. Dumfries Running Club's Jo Zakrzewski had put in a solid 7 weeks of hard training to try to improve on her PB for the distance, set in February of this year. The course is relatively flat with a few sharp turns as the route winds it's way around the city's many beautiful sights including passing the Duomo twice and running over the famous Ponto Vecchio. Starting steadily and working her way through the field, Jo found that she made up places on the inclines of the many overpasses, underpasses and bridge crossings on the route, running a negative split to finish as 5th Lady, (2nd V35) and 42nd overall in a fantastic new PB of 2 hours 41 minutes and 21 seconds.

After a quick shower Jo then went back onto the course to accompany her friend who had chosen to run Florence as her first marathon and to give her some support in her achievement.