I'm sure there are a few folk who might read this have done the Paris Marathon. It is an amazing race around the streets of one of my favourite cities.
The marathon is held in April a couple of weeks after London, if I remember correctly. It's a typically huge event with many thousands of runners taking part. We had decided to take a week off with the race being on the first weekend of our holiday. It's always good to get the strenuous exercise out of the way so that the fine food and wine of Paris can be sampled without the fear of messing up the race strategy.
I met up with a few friends that I knew were racing at a pre-organised pasta party on the Champs-Elysees the night before the race. It was a great meeting up with other racers all with the common goal of finishing in their fastest time. The party included runners who we aiming at 2:30, very speedy and others aiming to beat their own 5 hour barrier. My target was a sub 4, exactly the same as Edinburgh the year before.
The pasta party also gave a great opportunity to meet other runners with the same target. I bumped into a welsh lad who had the same ambition. Our running pasts were very similar and we had the same personal bests for 10k and half marathon so it felt like a good combination. In any distance event your mood, energy levels and confidence varies from high to low therefore running with a partner of similar pace is a good way of helping you through the bad patches. It is unlikely that your bad patches will coincide with your partner and thus you drag each other on when times get tough.
Those that know me will describe me as a glass half full type of person, an optimist and possibly over optimistic. I will always respond positively to a question about how I feel on the basis that I genuinely believe that life is, on the whole, fantastic. I feel at a good stage and even when the business went bust it helped me find out a little more about me and inner strength that I never knew I had. So with a runner partner sorted I went to bed fairly confident that things were going to be fine in the morning.
We were staying up by Gare Du Nord, not the finest part of Paris but a really nice, affordable funky hotel. So we got up early, me in my running kit, had breakfast and set out for the underground. Danielle was carrying my post race kit as the plan was to meet up with a few other runners that we had met the night before for a beer after racing. When we arrived near the Arc Du Triomphe the place was buzzing. We were there early, another of my traits as I hate being late, but there was lots of activity as runners we're starting to gather outside the appropriate pen. At the start of these major races your number is allocated on your predicted time so I was in the sub 4 hour pen which included other runners expecting to complete the race somewhere between 3.30 and 4 hours. This prevents the large groups of runners walking down the road with arms interlinked who start at the front of some 5 and 10k's. I suspect it's enthusiasm that drives them to the starting point near the start line but I remember a backlog of running piling up behind a bunch of runners walking the full width of the road at the Edinburgh 10k a number of year's ago.
I waited for my new Welsh pal to arrive popping into the local burger bar to use the facilities (regularly) and couldn't help notice the clouds clearing and the sun beginning to warm the air. This was not good as I was hoping for more Scottish conditions. When he arrived we said goodbye to our partners and entered the pen. There were a couple of pacers at the back of the pen. These guys carry a board with the time they are pacing and groups form behind them of runners aiming for that time.
We decided to do our own thing having worked out what pace was required. The heat continued to build and when the starting gun was fired it was a full on beautiful day. Paris is not a fun runners marathon in that not many race in fancy dress and for some reason there were much fewer women racing than other big races I have done. So the start was pretty straightforward and we got moving along the Champs Élysées which was just an awesome experience.
Once up and running we paced ourselves pretty well passing some of the famous sights of Paris. It's funny but the day after the race Danielle was asking me about the route and I found it difficult to remember some of the sights we saw on the way round. We reached the half way point bang on schedule in 1:58 and I felt strong despite the heat.
The second half started well with the exception of running into and up out of the tunnels by the Seine and up to 32km I was ahead of target. Whilst running I blethered with my Welsh pal and established he was a physio at home. This became invaluable at about 34k when I got a sharp pain in the back of my leg. He got me to do a couple of exercises and we were back running quickly, not running quickly just quickly back on our feet. This utopia lasted 4km until the pain returned but this time it was much worse. My friendly physio went to work but I realised that we didn't have a huge amount of time in the bank and he was possibly going to miss the four hour target so despite his willingness to stay and help I sent him on his way.
I limped on. There is a park towards the end of the race and at one point you can see the runners about a mile ahead returning on the other side of the grass. A few guys took the opportunity to skip the mile and run across the grass to cut out the mile loop. The shouts in French did not take a huge amount of translation as the cheats were howled down. Despite the derision no-one stopped them from re-joining the race and only the cheats, like Lance until his Oprah confession, knew in their hearts they had completed the race unfairly!
By this point it was boiling hot, or relatively given it was April, and people were beginning to struggle. My right leg kept cramping up and the 4 hour pacer went pass me. I tried to latch on but they were going at some rate and were obviously trying to catch up with the schedule as they were going at 8 minute mile pace when I was hanging on for a few minutes. I fell off the back of the group when my leg spasmed.
I past the last mile marker and realised that all I needed to do was put in a six minute mile to do my sub 4 target (no chance!). I put in my best effort but realised it was done and as I turned the final corner I noticed a chap struggling to stand up and staggering along the road. When I asked if he was ok there was nothing in his eyes so I put my arm around his shoulder and we crossed the line together before I dropped him into the first aid station having put his medal round his neck. I'm sure he had no recollection of finishing the race but it made me feel a bit better about missing my target. I had finished in 4:03 - limping, 29 minutes faster than my first marathon but bitterly disappointed with my time.
The top male finisher was Gashaw Melese from Ethiopia in a time of 2:08:03. The top female finisher was Irina Timofeyeva from Russia in a time of 2:27:02. Both amazing times.
Post race I felt a bit deflated but looking at the mad queues to the underground managed to find a bar to grab some food in that was close to the finish. We bumped into some of the people that had been at the pasta party and after a wash in the bar toilet (pretty sure the French were wondering who the strange naked bloke washing in the sink was!!!) we had a couple of beers and some food which seemed to help make things a bit better.
I knew that I would have to go again - a bit like the 4 minute mile barrier that Roger Bannister finally broke through, I had to beat my 4 hour demon to beat.......
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