Paris Marathon!!

Justin, Chris, Claire and I all finished the Paris Marathon on Sunday! It was Chris and Claire's first marathon, which is always special, but they both did really well with performances to be proud of. Chris ran a 3:25 in his first marathon - wow! Justin's race was equally impressive, considering that even as of that morning he was planning to walk the whole race. He hurt his foot back in February and was in a boot for weeks and still hasn't been cleared by the doctor to run. He didn't want to come all this way to not finish, especially once we found out that we wouldn't get t-shirts until the finish line! He decided to walk, but Chris and I both said he wouldn't be able to hold back. We started the race together and ended up running together the whole race! Justin and I finished in 4:54, which is slow for both of us, but given the circumstances it was a time I was happy with.
The course took us past many of the best sights in Paris and was a great course overall. We were in parks for about 8 miles, which was kinda boring, but other than that there was always something old and pretty to look at! I took at few pictures along the way.
Chris and Claire in their official "trash bags" before the race:

Justin ready to run with the Arc de Triumph in the background:

Justin and I in front of the Eiffel Tower around mile 18:

The finisher medals were disappointing, especially for such a big and expensive race! They looked just like the t-shirts. We aren't sure if it is supposed to be like a Tour de France yellow jersey or what.

Here are my thought on the race itself:
The Good:
- The course. It was beautiful, mostly flat, and in PARIS!
- Food on the course. At each water stop, they had bananas, oranges, raisins and sugar cubes. Although wet banana and orange peels are slippery and dangerous, it was nice to have real food during the race! They gave out bottles of water, which was nice since there were only aid stations every 5k. I carried one with me most of the way. I realized late in the race that I was way over hydrated, though, so that may have actually been a bad thing.
- The weather. We got lucky. It looked like rain for a lot of the race, but it never did. We have decided that the meteorologists in France have NO ability to accurately predict the weather, so we didn't know what to expect. It was cold and windy at times and I would have enjoyed a tiny bit warmer, but certainly can't complain about the weather we had.
The Bad:
- The water and food stops were a mess. They were only on one side of the road, some were cutting the fruit up as we got there, and the course was covered in fruit peels and water bottles.
- Cobblestones. Lots of them. Especially problematic when wet and covered in oranges.
- Crowds. Back where we were in the pack, the course was pretty congested the whole time. The second half of the race had a lot of spectators that crowded onto the course, narrowing it to a few feet at times.
- Port-o-potties. There were not nearly enough, especially at the start and the early miles of the race, and they were all disgusting. I feel like I can pass judgement on "all" the portopotties because I used quite a few of them! Men (and some women) were using the bathroom all over the place. It was gross.
Overall it was a great race and we had a wonderful time! I would recommend it to anyone that wants to run a fun destination race and maybe even for a fast race because of the flat course and mild weather.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad