Paris Half Marathon

Life has settled back into some semblance of normal and I received all my pictures and stats so let’s talk about marathons!

 

Last weekend, I was in Paris and found time in between socializing and winning dance competitions to run a half marathon.

Other than needing to rely on my French friends to get me to the expo because I had NO idea where Parc Floral was, it went off without a hitch.

 

The morning of the race, I woke up, downed two shots of espresso and a banana and headed to the starting line. There was a moment of panic with my and my friend because we were standing at bag check with out back packs and it was 15 minutes to get to the start.

We made it though! And with the sounds of Barbara Streisand, we were off!

I wanted to run with my friend Vivian to challenge myself a bit, but there were 30 000 people running this race. I cannot stress to you how different it was from any other marathon I have ever ran. (And it was not just because I was running by Notre Dame..)

 

With that many people, I could NOT settle into a proper rhythm. I would hit my stride, and then there would be another person right in front of me so I would need to slow, sprint, slow down.

I was frustrated because I was signed up in the 1:40:00 category and I really knew I could do that, but with the people in front of me, I did not quite get the time I was hoping for.

The first 10 km were great, I had a wonderful playlist, it was a beautiful day, and other than dodging people, it was a simple run. This was ok until about 14-15 km where it started getting hard. The last 2 km were awful. I did NOT have the time on my feet for this half. I have been traveling and enjoying life, but because of that, my athletics are going to suffer. At 20 km, I thought I was done for some odd reason and I had pushed myself too hard. The last bit, I was moving very slowly..

(I love how marathon photos are ABOUT as flattering as a passport photo)

However, I crossed the finish line at 1:53:02 and gratefully accepted my finishers medal and walked towards the exit. I stretched and then headed towards the bag area…or so I thought.

After wandering for 5 km, I asked for directions in broken French and realized I needed to retrace my steps. So I technically did 30 km. 🙂

Anyways, here are pictures of me, happy and exhausted:

 

 

To celebrate, that night a group of my friends and I went out to Opera street and ate a HUGE dinner together and I went back to my friends apartment and CRASHED.

 

I was definitely sore after this one. Lack of hydration, training, etc led to some painful muscles, but I had a super quick recovery. I am going to chalk this one up to the fact that I do not eat dairy, wheat or gluten. I am beginning this week with a full workout schedule and that would have been UNHEARD of this summer. This way of eating is definitely working for me!

 

But now it is back to my little Newcastle city to try and get some studying and reading done. It has felt great this weekend not to go too far away – the farthest I went this weekend was to the Lake District to see the Wordsworth Museum with some classmates.

What was the most annoying race/workout that you have ever had?

I am going to have to say this marathon. Even though it was great, the sheer volume of people threw me off!