Paris Marathon Race Report
We arrived in Paris on Thursday. Had time to get our bearings, dinner, then off to bed. Friday we headed to the Expo. It was good sized. There weren’t any lines and picking up our numbers, bags, etc. was quite easy. We then wandered through the exhibitors. Bought a couple of marathon shirts. Lots of other marathons and nutrition supplements. We stopped by the Mizuno booth and discovered that the shoes cost 75% more here than in the states. Dinner at Pizza Pino on Champs-Elysees with a group from Philly doing their first marathon. Friday, took it easy and had a short run along the Seine to shake the legs out. Cooked dinner in the apartment – pasta with meat sauce.
Sunday – race day! Up early. Breakfast of oatmeal. Get everything ready and off to the metro. Two trains later we emerge to see the Arch de Triomphe. Make our way over to bag drop-off. Get in line for the porta-potty. For the men, they have portable urinals they can step up to to take care of business. The morning is cool, clear, and windy – a mixed bag for the race. Back to the Arch de Triomphe to meet Tom Coyne and his group from Philly. Then, we head to get into the corrals. This proves to be a challenge. There is high fencing (10+feet) and we can’t find an entrance. We see people climbing the fencing. We finally find an opening and make our way through. We wait for a few minutes and the race starts. We are running down the Champs-Elysees! It is a downhill start, so it is hard to keep the pace down. We go through the part with the shops, then into the park area. Around the Place de la Concorde and onto the Rue do Rivoli. Lots of shops to look at, past the Louvre and up a hill (I think) to Place de la Bastille. After that, things start to get blurry. I do remember passing by Chateau de Vincennes (and got a picture of it). Then through Bois de Vincennes – a park. I get passed by a guy on stilts in the park. Yes, he did the marathon on stilts. Big stilts. I think most of this part has been uphill because it seems like we are going downhill for a long time. Back through Place de la Bastille. I get passed by two guys pulling a wine cask for the Marathon de Beaujolais. There is also a guy in a black and red Spanish-type dress ahead of me. We finally reach the Seine and the back of Notre Dame comes into view. Along the Seine for a while then into a huge tunnel (I think this is under the Louvre). It is hot. Will the tunnel ever end? Finally, out of the tunnel and the Tour Eiffel comes into view. A few more tunnels. A few more ups and downs. Great views of the Tour Eiffel. Most of the way there has been good crowd support. I’ve heard “Allez Peeeennnneeeyyy” quite a few times which has been great! I like the way they draw out the vowels. After we pass the Eiffel Tower there is a mile or so of crowds then its like, “See ya’ in a few miles. Good luck in the forest. All alone in the forest. But, we’ll be here when you get back!” And, off you go into the forest with almost no crowd support for miles 20 through 25 or 25.5. It is nice to get some shade, but sometimes you get hit with the wind and get chilled. This is where you see people dig in or give up and walk. Lots and lots of walkers. “Where is the damn finish line?” “How did I drop 2 minutes on that last mile? There’s no way that happened!” Finally, the gay support crew re-appears (they were early on and a lot of fun – yes, a rest stop full of gay people playing “We are family” and just having a huge party. I get “Allez Peeeennnneeeeyyy” from a few of them. Gotta love it.) “Where is the damn finish line? Its gotta be around here somewhere!” The crowds are back. One American yells “the finish is just around the corner!” Through another roundabout and there it is – The Finish! YIPPEE! Uphill finish. I have a little left so I pick up the pace to the finish. Pass the photographers . Under the banner. Stop the Garmin – 5:17 (good for me – a new PR). Now, I look up Ave Foch and see how far (uphill) I have to walk to find John. It is a L-O-N-G way. Get my shirt and a poncho. Thank goodness for the poncho because the wind is chilling. I walk up to the people with the medals and find an old man with a bunch. He holds it out, and I duck my head. He smiles, puts it around my neck and give me a kiss on each cheek. That was very cool! Then, trudge up the hill past the massage tent (with a HUGE line – no way am I doing that). Past all these other tents. Out to where families are waiting. Have to weave through all the spectators waiting for family and friends to the meeting area. I finally find our letter and wait. John finds me, tells me about his race and mixes up my recovery drink. Drink it, photos with the Arch de Triomphe in the background, then off to find our way back to the Metro.
Other things: I was able to hold my pace of 12:00 pretty well the whole time. I was under it for a vast majority of the way until in the 20-something mile range. The rest stops were every 5K. They had bottled water (which turned out to be good for refilling my water belt but a pain because you were kicking bottles for a while after each rest stop and I saw one lady trip and go flying on one), oranges and bananas which sucked because by the time I got there, the rest stop areas were covered in orange and banana peels which are all VERY slippery. The bottles and peels made the rest stops obstacle courses. The rest stop with Powerade was not half way but at about 10K to go. There was so much spilled Powerade my shoes were sticking to the ground so it was like running through wet cement. Hearing all the different languages from other runners and spectators was fun! The spectators were, for the most part, into it. There were two ladder trucks from local fire departments who had put their ladders over the course and had firefighters on them cheering us on. Lots of bands and drum corps. This was very cool. Some really weird groups providing support like the gay group. There was another group in purple clown-like jumpsuits and neon green wigs. There were two “Des Trompes de Chasse” which I think are horn groups like you hear at English hunting parties (I have a picture of one of them). For the most part, there were always things to look at to keep you interested.
Talking to John (who finished in 4:15), it sounds like we ran two different races. The spectators were not cheering as much when he went through. The rest stops were not as big of a mess for him as they were for me. So, I think the experience depends on your pace, too.
Would I recommend the Paris marathon? Honestly, I’m not sure partly because I’m not sure about doing a “destination marathon” again. We spent the couple of days before preparing, not really doing a lot of sight-seeing. Sunday was all marathon all the time. Monday we were so sore that sightseeing was a little challenging. We are better each day, but only have a couple of days left. I think if you are going to do it, leave plenty of time around it to sight-see accounting for your physical and mental condition. If you have the time and want to say you’ve done the Paris marathon, then do it. It is cool to run down the Champs-Elysees, by Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. We definitely saw a lot of the city that we would not have seen otherwise.
Comments
Congrats, Penny!! Now you need to go back and sight see!!
Wow, Penny. Great in every way. Congrats on a nice PR, and taking us along for the trip, at least in our mind's eye.
Congratulations! And what a fantastic place to run a marathon!
Great Job Penny! Congrats on PR! Enjoy your downtime
Now I want to do the Paris marathon sounds great
Way to go Penny, you are an international marathoner. Remarkable how races are different and great tips on preparation. Thanks for taking us along. Great report !