Paris Marathon - The Race

Hi & welcome to the DareToTriLife race report for the 2011 Paris Marathon. An outstanding experience and some lessons learned. First and most important you need to meet my sister Rachel who posted the big news on this trip : she nailed her first 5k run during Saturday's Breakfast Run in a simply stunning location.

Rachel : "Dominating the Dojo"

 Rachel's "couch to 5k" experience, which started after Christmas, was not without drama but she planned it well - took some professional advice & had outrageously pink shoes. Little sister was simply inspirational in her determination to complete the distance. Not sure if she'll stay with running but she set herself the task and she delivered. Respect ! Thursday's trip to Paris via Eurostar was really smooth and very impressive - very easy check-in at St Pancras and with only 10% of the CO2 emissions of a flight. Truly low carbon travel. If you have opportunity to take the trip then do so. 2 hours and you are delivered refreshed, on-time and unstressed to Gare de Nord - right in the heart of Paris. Also you can purchase French Metro passes in St Pancras - so no queuing or language issues when you arrive. The weather throughout the trip was warm, dry and sunny - probably too warm on the marathon if I'm honest and the slower your time the worse it became (24C by 2pm). Hotel Duret (here) was perfectly placed for the race start, finish and local Metro services - it was very comfortable with free WiFi.

St Pancras - Home of Eurostar

A short 6k "recovery run" with some sprints through a local park on Friday morning, then a day spent sightseeing from a "hop on - hop off" bus and an evening's cruise on the Seine. Paris is simply breathtaking whether in daytime or at night. The "City of Light" has one amazing scene after another in never-ending procession. I'm sure a lot of this is to do with Baron Haussman's "free hand" in demolishing and clearing huge swathes of the largely medieval layout of the city in the mid 19th Century.

Paris - "The City of Light"

Haussman, under the patronage of Napoleon III, rebuilt Paris with the grand neo-classical designs that we see today. It makes for a fantastic city break. If you have the chance - save up and go. I'm ultra-serious about saving up ... it's very expensive - in fact it's officially the world's most expensive city to live in. This is, after all, the city of the £4 coffee. But if you expect this (and re-mortgage your house to cope) then you can cram a great deal into a very few days. A 5 day Metro pass is approx £28 - but then you don't need to think about transport ever again. Admission to the Invalides (includes Napoleon's tomb) is about £9 and the Eiffel Tower from about £13. Most of Notre Dame is free as are the wonderful gardens at the Tuileries. Same goes for the Arc de Triumph. We took a Seine boat trip and while it's very predictable and touristy thing to do we really enjoyed it. Paris is a river town after all. The city actually gets it's name from the prehistoric period where the section close to Notre Dame (which is on an island in the middle of the Seine) was a settlement of the Parisii tribe. This riverscape section of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - so don't be mean or elitist, take the tour and enjoy it.



On Friday we scheduled lunch to coincide with Registration in the Expo at Porte de Versailles. As Uncle Ben was sponsoring the "pasta party" it was rice rather than pasta ("they are, how you say, Crazy these French") - but good all the same and the cheapest meal we ate all trip. Banana's from Guadeloupe and Martinique very much in evidence.

The "All Rice" Pasta Party

I think this is interesting : Guadeloupe & Martinique, despite being north of Venezuela, are severally one of the 27 regions of France and considered an integral part of the Republic - even returning Deputies to the Paris National Assembly. They are legally a part of the European Union and for each the currency is the Euro. This seems much in contrast to the UK's approach to former Dependencies. The Expo itself was substantial - with it's own triathlon section (for the enlightened). All the major shoe manufacturers were represented with Garmin and Polar etc etc. All you could wish for and more. There was an important Guide booklet given to us at the Expo. I did check out the course details and for the 1st time noted that there was only 1 energy drink station - all the others would be water / oranges / and ... banana's. This should have prompted me to think but it didn't. All my long runs have been based on energy drinks taken out of sequence with gels. I had the required gels - but none of the energy drinks. I should have immediately dropped all and bought a Camelback and hunted down some Gatorade - but I didn't. Would I regret that ?

Interior of the Dome at The Invalides - Napolean's Tomb

It's now Saturday morning. So having been in Paris all of 1.5 days if we we're gonna eat breakfast we'd have to run for it ! The allure of the Breakfast Run was ... free coffee. Using the trick from Barcleona of sticking my metro ticket under my trainer insole we set off and made the venue in good time. Rachel was very nervous about her début but as always the gathering group was very friendly and very inclusive. Runners are of all ages, abilities, shapes and sizes. In a mass-event like a marathon with 30k+ runners it's as far away from a "club" runner mentality as is possible - which is great as far as I'm concerned. This is more about celebrating a lifestyle choice than refining athletic skills - although there's a place for that too. The Paris Marathon Breakfast Run is a very non-threatening and encouraging environment - people were glad to be there and the weather was excellent with blue skies. But you have to run one to know this so Rachel's nerves were understandable. A few folk were in fancy dress - a gang in Hawaiian grass skirts, a spiderman - some milkmaids etc.

A taste of Hawaii - in Paris !

The 5k route was run over closed roads and in-front of the Eiffel Tower - so that's a lovely memory for a family member attending in support of a marathoner. It was low-key, no-fuss and a worthwhile final workout ahead of the main event. It also ended in exactly the same place where the marathon would end - which was a nice touch for those taking part. There was coffee - but what I'd consider to be "breakfast" was notably absent - no bacon, smoked salmon or scrambled eggs - just coffee, those banana's again and a sponge finger. . Hey folks - it seems even the French don't eat enough salmon !

Moulin Rouge - I didn't go (honest)

For the rest of Saturday we rejoined the Hopping On/Off Bus and took a route south then north of the city centre. To the north is a slightly seedier district characterized by the Moulin Rouge and other "entertainments" it's an area of the city which includes the Sacre Coeur. To be frank we were getting "all cultured out" by this stage and glad to wander home in search of a pasta restaurant.

Sadly the expected Pasta joint was closed and we ended up with a sea bass some French beans and a salad. I think this was a mistake. Despite emergency sandwiches, isotonic drinks and fruit bars I think I should have had a few more dense calories. Having said that there were no "digestive" issues on the run so perhaps there's something to be said for the lighter meal. I know I'd go looking if I had the time again. Loaded up 6 gels onto the race belt. Layout clothing options, check the on-line weather forecast. Sip isotonic drinks. Fitful sleep. Apprehensive. Excited.

Race Day. Up promptly thanks to Stephen's Tweet - he's back "in the world" and will deliver an outstanding sprint-triathlon PB in Fife later that day. Meanwhile I munch on sandwiches and down an isotonic drink. Hotel kindly makes a coffee and adds another £4 to the bill - nonetheless the buzz is welcome. Add metro ticket and €10 under the trainer insole - just in case of emergencies - and meet with Rachel in reception. She's bouncing - I'm terrified. We have post-race clothing to drop off at the finish and already there are folks on the street heading in that direction so, like sheep, we follow dutifully.

Arc de Triomphe on race morning

The connecting avenues are a sea of marathoners in their plastic thermal wraps ; control of the Arc de Triomphe wrests from chaotic vehicles to walking runners making their way to their designated start at the Champs-Élysées. The atmosphere is upbeat and fun. Club groups are having their photos taken under the Arc de Triomphe and the positive mood is matched by the weather : warm morning sunshine and blue skies. Commentary in French and English counts down the start for the wheelchair race.

So here's the deal : you are seeded by your estimated target time and I had aspired to 3h - so you enter a side pen to join your group. I said my goodbyes to Rachel and entered the race start only to find I was in the 3h:30m section - so a battle took place to move forward. Eventually I came to a halt at a barrier and was content to stay with the 3h 15 group. It's a ChampionChip race so your own race time only starts when you cross the "Depart" line so no worries. The announcer calls for a moment's silence for the wider "family" in Japan - nice touch and it was well observed. No time now. The wheelchair athletes have left and it's moments now until the start.    

You will have seen the Champs-Élysées many times if you follow the Tour De France. On the last day the Tour returns to Paris and while the Yellow Jersey has been decided the "King of the Sprint" title may remain available. I think 6 laps are contested by the Peleton. So we often have this image of the scene ....

While on Sunday it looked like this ...

.. as 32092 runners aspired to conquer the 26.2miles. This many athletes is overwhelming - the "personal space" needed to be safe let alone maintain a target pace demands constant attention. It's therefore very important to start in the right pace zone with runners of similar ability. It is a descent from the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde and as it's an adrenaline-fuelled race start the pace is fairly fast. The avenues start very wide but gradually narrow on the Rue de Rivoli. To be honest I was far more aware of the architecture in Barcelona than in Paris - one's attention had to be on the road and on those runners close by. Despite this I did actually clip someone's heels at one point and sent him reeling - thankfully he stayed in control and no harm was done. It was possible to run on the pavement in some places and that helped the congestion. I don't think this really damaged my time it just took extra focus. Here's the route :

Much of it is surprisingly suburban in character especially after the Place de la Bastile. Crowd support was generally strong and in places the roads narrowed and the noise  from the crowd was overwhelming. At these occasions it was possible for supporters to read the name on your race number and I had a couple of "Allez John" calls - which were great. Also it always gives a buzz when you see the Union flag. The second half of the race follows the edge of the Seine and descends into several underpasses - which means the Garmin lost the signal. Some of these "subways" are quite long - maybe even up to 1km. These looked familiar - again there is a part of the Tour de France where the cyclists disappear unto a long tunnel - I guess it's the same course. The overall course profile (in metres) is below. You can see it's fairly flat throughout. The day became warmer as the hours wore on and a real blessing was being hosed down by volunteer firemen along the route - although I'd forgotten about that metro ticket in my shoe. It was so soaked it choked up a Metro station machine hours later that afternoon. Thankfully sister saved the day.


So how did it all workout ? Well my "take away" feeling is it should have gone better. Looking at the splits I was almost 2 mins ahead of Barcelona (March 2010) after 5k and 4 mins better at both the half way and the 30k mark. Then somthing of a collapse in the last 10k losing 2mins to end up with a time of 3h 13m : 31s. This is approx 3secs faster per km than Barcelona. Yes, I'm a year older but this was a higher intensity training plan and the lead in races have all been suggesting a time closer to 3:10. In truth the last 10k were no fun and just had to be "ground" out. I think there's 2 possible issues. Perhaps not pacey enough long runs : maybe the trail runs were too forgiving and I needed to cover more like 40k than 37k in that longest run. Or the nutrition didn't work out. I think the latter is a definite possibility. I used a gel with every 5k water stop so had used 5 of the 6 by the 25k mark. I expected to skip the 30k gel waiting instead for the Powerade at the 33k mark. As it turned out this was probably too little given what I'd been using in training (gels and sports drinks). The heat may have played a factor too and I was lucky to have taken a cap - which could be filled with water at the sponge stations. But the memory is of low energy in that last 10k and a wearing fatigue - it was almost impossible to raise a short interval of faster intensity. It think the Garmin data below shows the drop off in pace quite convincingly.

A few hundred miles further west Tilly was showing her support by a marathon effort all of her own. 4 circuits of the garden adds up to 26 "puppy" miles - as you can see she left nothing on the course.
So where does that leave this experience ? Well the important thing was to be there when my sister achieved her landmark. I'm delighted by that. The trip exceeded my expectations on every level except the race itself. I think it's a mistake for the organizers not to have had more energy drink stations (although they had loads of water for keeping cool) and they really must make it clear on the website if energy drinks are limited to one opportunity (for the sake of travelling runners). I checked what Barcelona had done and every aid station there provided the choice of water or Powerade. The thing that most surprized me was despite the modest improvement in PB there was a huge improvement in ranking. I placed 815 of 8937 males in my age group and 2116 of 31169 overall. This is a much higher % than Barcelona.

Benjamin Kiptoo, 31, of Kenya won the race in 2:06:31

So after 20 weeks of training through a pretty tough winter was it worth it ? Well Benjamin has nothing to fear that's for sure. But "Yes", of course it was - and the beauty of a nutritional problem is that it can be easily resolved. It was a privilege to take part in such a massive race on such a beautiful day in such a magnificent city. The people we met in Paris were friendly and warm - much different from the British popular stereotype. The city is extraordinary and if you have the chance you should go. I'm not sure I'm sold on these vast fields of runners but the crowds and city-scape is something I will never forget. It was a great and successful trip on every level. Had I got closer to 3h there would have been the temptation to drop this distance. But now... well I've improved, and I just lodged my 6th attempt for London. That would be for 2012  - Olympic year - Hey, Wouldn't that be something......


To Be Continued.