2nd – 3rd – Post run and return home

Waddling back to the hotel (long live subway stations close to the finish line and hotel!) I had a much needed shower before crashing on the bed and promised not to move for the rest of the day. That lasted until around dinner time where I met up with my parents to go out for dinner. They had the excellent idea of going for dinner at a café just across the street from my hotel.

After a mediocre steak and delicious dessert we parted ways; my parents wandered back to their hotel and I waddled back to mine. After a good night’s sleep and a late hearty breakfast I got my stuff together, checked out and left for the airport. Here I did my best to get my money’s worth of food in the lounge before getting my flight home with no unexpected episodes along the way.

Overall this ended up being an ok trip. I signed up for the run mostly on a whim, Paris in and of itself isn’t a city that has a special attraction to me, it was solely because of the run and the size of it. Would I still have signed up for it had I known about the frustrations I encountered along the way? I don’t know, honestly, but it is definitely not a run I plan on signing up for again. No need to go through that again.

Full album can be seen here.

2nd of April – Paris marathon

Every time I checked the weather forecast it seemed like the prediction was to be just a bit colder and windier than last time. When leaving the hotel I had planned on running with a long-sleeve with an inner t-shirt, but when standing around in the standing area I realized that while it was chilly and the wind didn’t help, the course was placed in such a way that we would be protected from the worst wind for most of the run (the wind was from north and the course was west/east) so I ended up taking up the inner shirt and shoved it into my bag together with my jacket, handed it to the bag check before heading to my starting corral. 

In the beginning the start seemed enormously confusing to me, but I realized they were being quite clever about avoiding the usual chaos you often experience when sending off an entire wave at a time. Champs-Élysées where we started is split down the middle, and when the wave was set off they took maybe 20 meters of runners alternately left and right with a few minutes between every group. It took longer to send off the wave, but there was so much room to move around on the course meaning in the end, despite the extra waiting, it was a much more comfortable start. 

One thing is reading about the course and looking forward to it, it’s something else actually experiencing it in person and realizing that it is a quite nice course. I got to see a lot of sights along the way I hadn’t seen on my walks though the weather could have been a bit more scenic; it started around 8-ish degrees but felt half that due to the wind, and for maybe only 5km of the entire course we were directly affected by the wind. 

Running along the Seine.

Photo taken by Marathon Photos.

The water stations were set up at every 5km and had water bottles, fruits (bananas, raisins and coconut pieces) and sponge cakes! I grabbed a piece of cake at the first station and realized that while they were good they dried out your mouth especially if you were already lacking fluids, so I ended up mostly staying away from them. They also had them past the finish line so I stacked up on them there instead. The following 100-200m after the stations there were lots of containers for all the bottles which meant there were surprisingly few bottles lying around on the street and sidewalk like you’d normally see when people get rid of them. Kudos for that arrangement!

With that said…

People wanting to cross the course often just did and seemed to expect the runners to yield. Saw a couple yell at a runner who bumped into them because he didn’t have time to avoid them when they stepped out in front of him. I ended up yelling at two crossers; I am sure they didn’t understand my colorful Danish words, but like dogs that hear how you say things and not the words themselves, I am sure they knew exactly what I meant. 

So many runners had brought their phones and were making calls, video calls, taking photos and selfies and were on social media. And of course, tending to all that was more important than not being a nuisance on the run. Onlookers would jump into the course and film a family member or friend for a bit (or just generally) before jumping back out. Absolutely no problem at all with non-runners getting in the way because their filming is more important.

Passing a walker at the Eiffel Tower.

Photo taken by Marathon Photos.

There were so many runners that ended up walking along the way for parts of the distance, and some of them quite early, too, relatively speaking. I am used to seeing runners walking for bits during a half- or full marathon, especially during hills, but here it was far beyond anything I had previously seen. Added on top of that the course got narrower towards the end which made it harder to keep running at my own pace, especially when people who were together were walking and insisted on walking next to each other taking up valuable space. That became a fairly large problem for the last 10-15 km of the run which felt quite significant which forced me to zigzag a lot and not just go at my own pace.

Photo taken by Marathon Photos.

If you’ve seen the Tour de France you know that towards the end of a stage the spectators get really close to the participants and leaving almost no room for them to navigate. Same goes for the Paris marathon. But as opposed to the TdF where alle the cyclists generally go at the same speed the runners here move at wildly varying speeds – slow and fast runners and all the walkers – which meant that parts got very congested and it felt like you could barely get anywhere at times. Some of the already narrow streets had maybe 5-6m available, but you lost 1-2m due to the spectators who wanted to get close. For a run at this scale with 50.000+ runners it felt borderline ridiculous and highly frustrating. I have never bumped into as many as I did during this run. The worst parts when going through a couple of roundabouts where would have had beautiful 5+m to run on, but there was maybe 2m left for us after the spectators had gotten their share. I had a very close call at one point; running on the right side I saw ahead a small group as part of the horde along the course talking, one of them a boy as tall as up to my chest. Everything is fine until I am maybe 3 steps away he steps right out in front of me, showing off his complete lack of situational awareness. His mom (I assume) sees what is about to happen so she grabs hold of him but can’t do anything before I reach them. I have nowhere to go – with the congestions I can only go one way: forward. Coming up to him I’m reaching out in front of me and when he’s within reach I basically push/toss the little crotch goblin aside while twisting around him and continuing my run, trying to ignore the absolute idiocy of some people. 

Before reaching the 30km mark I could se realistic chance of beating my PR, but not far past 30km things started getting a bit sore. I was actually feeling quite good throughout the entire thing, relatively speaking. While the beginning soreness was a potential issue, it was not nearly as big a risk compared to the previously mentioned congestions on the course. While the soreness in my legs maybe could have killed my chances of a new PR, the constant zigzagging and slowing down and speeding up definitely didn’t help. 

Only a few meters from the finish line.

Photo taken by Marathon Photos.

I ended up not beating my PR, but I did end up below the goal of 4 hours – but only just: my finishing result was 3:59:28. I was 24655 out of 50782 total (top 48,55%), 21040 out of 37698 men (top 55,81%) and 3093 out of 5294 in the M1H group (men born 1979-1983, top 58,42%). I was actually a bit surprised by the relative result – I had assumed I would have placed a bit better – but clearly all the faster ones managed to stay ahead of the walkers, or were French and had learnt to navigate the obstacles along the way effectively. 

30th of March – 1st of April – Paris pre-marathon

I was met with the Parisian hospitality long before even leaving for Paris; I had sent a mail to the hotel with a question about my stay and I (naturally) wrote in English. Also, my name is very not French and therefore my mail address is similarly not French. And yet the response I received was in only French. How accommodating. (Apparently there is a law saying that all business-related communication has be done in French which explains it, but still).

The early flight to Paris went without a hitch and getting a ticket for the train I headed towards the city at 1100, having a fair bit of the day available though costing me my morning sleep. Getting off at the central station (Garde du Nord) I walked the rest of the way - ½ an hour – to the hotel where I managed an early check-in. For the record; it’s easier for the staff to accept your reservation if you actually enter the correct hotel. Sigh.

A short break later I left the hotel and went up to Sacre Coeur to have a look around. A can see the church from the hotel window and it was only half an hour’s walk, albeit uphill most of the way. It’s a nice-looking church but I might have missed something as I feel it and the location has been talked up more than reality could live up to. 

Mirroring reality.

From there I trotted down past the Louvre and followed the Seine until I reached the Eiffel Tower. It has been closed off for security reasons (I assume) so if you want to get close to it or under it you have to go through a security check which I didn’t feel I could be bothered to do. From there I headed further south to get to the runner’s expo where I managed to pick up my bib for Sunday’s run and with great difficulty finding the small table where they were handing out the reserved bibs for Saturday’s 4k morning run. Fun detail I noticed; the Medoc had their own booth where the representatives looked more like middle-aged wine farmers than runners who were handing out (small) glasses of wine.

The Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Taking the metro back to the hotel I had another short break before going out for dinner getting onion soup, confit de carnard and apple pie. Delicious!

The following day – Friday – I had a solid breakfast before heading out for the day’s random walk. I headed towards the Notre Dame, but due to the many narrow confusing streets I once again ended up at the Louvre. With a consultation of a map and a bit of directional correction I managed to make my way to the Notre Dame – or at least the remaining shell from the fire in 2019. From there I managed – with a bit of difficulty – to locate the Bastille Plaza before crossing the Seine and getting lost in the streets. After some walking about and confusion I ended up back at the Eiffel Tower and a rain shower. Fortunately, the latter didn’t last long so the walk continued towards the Arc de Triomphe where I had a walk around, or as much around as possible as also this was at least partially fenced off. From there I walked back to the hotel where I had a short break before meeting with my parents for dinner.

Les Invalides; previously a home and hospital for war veterans.

Saturday started off with a 4km breakfast run from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower. It was cold and windy and I forgot my runner’s watch in the hotel room so the day started off very well. It was a short and slow run, nice with a lot of people but I was glad I had put on multiple layers. At the finish we were handed a bottle of water, juice boxes, fruit, tea/coffee, croissant and a pain au chocolat. Balancing all that was almost as hard as finding a metro entrance to get back to the hotel. 

The Eiffel Tower after the rain.

Grave of the unknown soldier under Arc de Triomphe with La Défense in the distance.

Returning to the hotel and having a shower I took the train out to Versailles to have a walk around in the garden. Amazingly large and so much to see – multiple fountains and statues all over the place. There is definitely more than one gardener employed there. Returning to the train station to return to the city my ticket had stopped working despite it still being valid. An employee let me through and told me to get a replacement at a ticket booth when disembarking. What I hadn’t prepared myself for was that when arriving at my station there was no ticket booth before going through the gates (which required a valid ticket) and there was no staff around. So I ended up taking the next train to the next station to try my luck there, and luckily I managed to get to someone who were able to change my ticket to a functioning one. 

The Versailles garden.

Shortly after coming back to the hotel I went out for dinner where I had booked a table. They were surprisingly efficient; I arrived at 1900 and a lasagna and chocolate mousse later I was back outside 45 minutes later. It probably also helped they had just opened for the evening – a trapdoor in the middle of the restaurant was still open from where they were still getting foodstuffs up from the basement when I arrived. 

The rest of the evening was purely resting for tomorrow.

French silliness

With 3 half marathons and 1 marathon planned for the coming two moths one would think that I'll be getting enough running for a lifetime. But I have nothing planned for next year so I've been feeling the need to plan something for then. And with these thoughts churning I saw an ad for Paris marathon next year in April, which sounded very interesting. Also, if I'll be hit by extreme luck and have my spot at London moved this run won't interfere. In any case, London will be taking priority regardless, so I'd happily cancel other plans if I got to do London sooner than originally planned.

So seeing no downsides (apart from the running part) I ended up booking a spot at the Paris marathon. 

30th of March - 1st of April
Flying out to Paris in the early morning which means I will have most of the day in the city. I expect to go to the Expo already on the Thursday to get it over and done with, and as they don't open until in the afternoon on the first day I'll have plenty of time to get there before I'll even be able to get in. Also, on the Saturday (the 1st) I've signed up for the breakfast run which goes from near the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower where breakfast will be served. Other than that I'll spend time checking out the sights and generally just being a classic tourist.

2nd of April
Race day - start and finish will be on opposite sides of the Arc de Triomphe, both near a metro station that will take me directly to and from my hotel at Montmartre. The course will go east and circle around in the Vincennes Woods and return almost parallel (but separate) from the start of the course, before reaching Notre Dame where we'll be following the Seine until circling around the Auteuil racetrack and head back north to the Arc and finish. Apparently this run is second to only New York marathon when it comes to number of participants.

3rd of April
Got a flight home in the early afternoon, so if I can get a late-ish checkout at the hotel it means I can spend the morning relaxing doing nothing before having to go to the airport, resting my legs which they'd probably appreciate.

Historical weather data seems to imply that the weather can be very variable in the beginning of April in Paris. As in one day it can be around freezing and the next day it could be 10°C-15°C. So with two running days I might have to bring all kinds of clothes with me, just in case. It'll be interesting.