A Marathon Effort

Let me say to begin with: Paris gets cold. Really cold. As I left our apartment on marathon morning it was a mere 6 degrees, and I was looking ridiculous. I hadn’t organised a bag for the official baggage transfer, so I was wearing my running gear, a hugely oversized white plastic poncho for warmth, and a Paris Marathon-branded bandana tube that could be used to warm the neck or rob a bank to equal effect.  As a side note, I have another three of these bandana things; if you’re robbing a bank anytime soon, let me know.

The race started near the Arc de Triomphe on Champs de Elysees. What a beautiful place to run! Off we went: me and 43,000 others. The atmosphere during the run was just electric, with thousands and thousands of Parisians shouting, singing and playing music along the way. There were lots of local French bands playing their music, electronic DJs and a slightly bizarre man dressed in a joker suit yelling out some Lady Gaga.

My aim was to finish in 3 hours 20 mins, but I thought that anything under 3.30 would be pretty good. The only other time I had done a marathon had taken 3 hours 57 mins, so I was keen to take a good chunk off this. The first 20 kilometres were extremely enjoyable - no pain, no discomfort and great sights everywhere. Over the next 17kms the pain started setting in but I got a great lift at the 35km mark from seeing Jess cheering for me and simultaneously being given 3 cubes of sugar! Terrible for my teeth but GREAT for my energy levels! The last 4km were really hard work; I knew I was close but there were lots of people stopping to stretch or to have a rest. It looked so tempting, but thought if I stopped I would probably never start again! I managed to do what felt like a lightning fast last kilometre to finish in 3.20.51. Absolutely stoked!!

Unfortunately, finding Jess afterwards was a bit of a nightmare! We don’t have cellphones to contact each other, and the marathon organisers had decided not to have any signs for the “meeting area” that had been discussed in the pre-marathon guide. Our backup option was for both of us to take the train home separately...but I had dropped my train ticket at kilometre 3. I HAD to find her! After 40 long and very cold minutes searching through literally tens of thousands of people, we finally found each other. I told her that I’d never been so happy to see her. On came the beanie, the extra layers of clothes and a greatly deserved chicken kebab. And then a hot chocolate. And then a chicken wrap and chips. And then tiramisu. I slept absolutely amazingly that night; the only slight problem was needing help to get out of bed the next morning.

A word of post-marathon advice: walking down two flights of stairs carrying a 23kg backpack to exacerbate my excruciating leg pain is not to be recommended. I guess I’ll just consider it to be my reminder of a great achievement!

In full flight

Struggling to stand...but atleast I have a medal!