passion for running and prayer?
ROME PRAYER RUN
October the 5th 2024
CHOOSE YOUR DISTANCE: 7 km or Half Marathon 21.1 km
REGISTER NOW!
Free t-shirt for registrations before September the 24th.
Run
Run around the ancient Roman walls
Pray
Bless and intercede for the city, the church and the people
Build
Bring more of God's kingdom here on Earth
WHY
Why running?
Why around the walls?
perché pregare?
Running teaches us a lot regarding life for which is also often used as a metaphor in the Bible.
Indeed, life, as it is for running, requires from us perseverance and dedication to reach our goals; running teaches us to keep going in spite of struggles and it teaches us that often we feel arrived at our limits often before we have actually arrived to our real limit; running is made of ups and downs, painful moments and lighter ones; lastly, running, as life, it is not for its own sake but it moves toward a price and a future glory. Rome Prayer Run wants to be an opportuniy to reflect more intentionally about these important aspects of life.
Around 1400 BC, the people of Israel were in front of the fortified city of Jericho. It was the first city they faced in the process of conquering the Promised Land. And at that time, God commanded them not to attack the city with their forces and weapons, but simply to walk around the city walls. The people followed that command from God and the walls fell down without the people even touched them. At that time, God fought and conquered the city in a surprising and miraculous way. (here the entire story).
Our battle today is not against “flesh and blood” like at the time of Jericho's story, but our fight is against “spiritual powers”. The walls we want to see falling down are not the physical city walls, but walls have now a spiritual significance. Therefore, as it happened for Jericho, Rome Prayer Run wants to be a symbolic act inviting God to conquer the city of Rome in a surprising and miraculous way.
There are various ways to pray: aloud or silently; alone or together with others; reading, meditating or listening to music; prostrate on the ground, kneeling, standing with open arms or running. And the truth told over and over in the Bible and in the lives of thousands of believers throughout history is that there is power in prayer. Prayer transforms people, moves situations, heals wounds, nourishes the spirit, listens to God. The Rome Prayer Run is an opportunity to experience prayer in all its aspects with the sole constraint of running.
During the Rome Prayer Run we want to pray for a spiritual awakening that leads more and more people to know more deeply Jesus Christ, Savior and Son of God.
Below is the prayer route of the Rome Prayer Run 2022.
COURSE
Everything you need to know about the course
The majority of the path of the Aurelian Walls (III AD) is still present nowadays and Rome Prayer Run follows this path for a total length of a half marathon (21.1 km). The terrain is a mixed of pavement, clay court and cobblestones. The course crosses a few intersections and deviates from the original walls because of the present road system. The first arrival of the run is set after around 7 km at a panoramic view point.
The starting point is placed at Porta San Giovanni and the course turns anticlockwise. The first section follows quite accurately the walls till the park Villa Borghese where there is the first panoramic view point and the intermediate arrival point at around 7 km: the Terrazza del Pincio overlooking Piazza del Popolo.
The course then takes the track on the river (right side) where the walls are not visible anymore nowadays. At the Ponte Sisto the course passes through the district of Trastevere going up to the second panoramic point at around 12 km from the start: Fontana dell’Acqua Paola . The course then moves towards the river and entering the district of Testaccio finds the walls again which lead to the arrival at Porta San Giovanni.
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