European Adventure - Day 25 - Paris Marathon

Waking up this morning I was so nervous - and the alarm went off at 5.45am - so could have easily stayed in bed!! I jumped straight out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready - as being in a one room apartment with 4 other people is not the best situation when you are the one getting up early! My plan was to get up early enough to have some oats and a banana for breakfast, and then head to the start while drinking water. Yesterday I had 4 bottles of Powerade to hopefully hydrate myself enough. I decided to wear my 3/4 compression tights, with my skirts sport running skirt over the top and a black Nike dri-fit running singlet. My skirt was great as it had a pocket for my iPhone and also a pocket for my shot blocks and didn't feel like i was laden down with supplies. I also wore my SPI Belt which had my apartment key, more shot blocks and a few other bits and bobs, like my metro ticket and some cash.

Here's me ready in the bathroom - secretly freaking out!

So i jumped on the train at about 630am at the station closest to our apartment and headed to the Arc De Triomphe. I started going in the wrong direction (of all days!), but it actually worked well because I got off at the Bastille stop, and then that had a direct train to the Arc. Once at the Arc I wandered about and then met up with a bunch of folks from an online group I have been chatting to and getting advice from. It was lovely to meet them all and chat for a little bit, and get a group photo.

After our group chat and photo Kirsten (one of the lovely ladies from the group) and I headed to our pen. We both had the same goal of finishing between 4.30-4.59 so thought it could be do-able! :)

We waited around for ages - probably at least 1 1/2 hours, so it was nice to have someone to chat to. The first runners started at 8.40-ish and we didn't head off til 9.45am - so a big delay, but the atmosphere was amazing! There were people out on balconies of the apartments overlooking the Champs Elysee dancing and having a ball - I could imagine a lot of residences were a bit annoyed as it was early on a Sunday morning, but lovely to see a few out there enjoying it all. Check out one of the photos below of the open air urinal! So bizarre to see!

The marathon was quite tough. The weather was quite nice - 20 degrees but hot! I tried to run in the shade a lot but there wasn't all that much to be had.

I hit 10km just over an hour which i was stoked with but of course realised I went out too fast to maintain. I did a toilet stop - I refused to head to the bushes so queued for 5 mins for a loo (bad idea - I should've went to the bush), and that was the beginning of my time sinking down and down!

I hit the wall when we made it to the long tunnel. It was so hot and there were lots of walkers in here. I ran most of it but walked out at the end.. then just kept trying to run each 5km between drink stops. I remember running past the Eiffel Tower and stopping for a picture at 29km and thinking 13km to go - I can do this!

After 30km everything is a bit of a blur - but I remember seeing the 5 hr 30 mins pacer run past me and I looked at my watch thinking "What The".. i knew I was under 5 hr 30 - only just.. but there was no way I was going to be under there.... So I think he was a bit too enthusiastic!

So all in all i finished in 5 hours 24 mins and while I am disappointed - I really wanted to crack 5 hours.. I did finish and I can always try to beat my time at my next marathon! I have the bug - there will be next one.. thinking Sydney in September.. anyone keen?? I am looking forward to seeing the official photos which will be uploaded tomorrow!!! I will post links when they're up!!