Fast Tango in Paris...
Wallsend Harrier Tony Carter is currently living and studying in Europe as part of his Language degree course. he sends this report from the Paris Half-Marathon....
Studying in Austria this year has given me many chances to do many things. Something that I was recommended to do is to go travelling so I thought I would travel to a few places and do half-marathons as well. That was why I found myself in Paris on March 7th for my first half marathon. This was one week after the English National Cross Country, from which I had still not recovered
I got to the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on Friday morning after flying to London Stansted and getting a coach to Luton Airport. I spent the next two days walking round the tourist spots to at least be doing something instead of nothing, something I had learnt from the 2007 Cumbrian half marathon. I was drinking plenty of water and eating wherever I stopped.
To get my number I had to go to where the race started at an events centre at Bois de Vicennes in the Vicennes area, in the east of Paris. The whole thing was well organised. Another difference about racing in France is that you have to prove you are fit to race by handing in a medical certificate to the organisers. There were also stands from the sponsors and other running related businesses at the number collection point.
The half marathon itself didn’t take in any of the famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe, but went past Bastille twice and went near Notre Dame. It started and finished at Bois de Vicennes, and had a 20 metre difference in height from the lowest and highest point.
The day itself was cold and sunny which for me was almost perfect, but it was windy as well. I felt that there was one thing that could prevent me from getting a good time and that was my starting position. Those who were able to run under 1hr 20 had to send their entries with proof of time by post, and as I didn’t read this properly and entered online, I had to start about 30 metres behind the start.
So at 10.00am European time on a cold sunny windy Sunday morning in Paris, the race started and after 25 or so seconds I was off. I had the problem of dodging slower runners and I could see people running on the path and on the grass to the left, so I joined them for ease of progress! Quite surprisingly, I ran a 3:30 km split - roughly a 5:30 mile.
The next few kilometres went just as well as I continued running just under 3.30 kms, passing somebody wearing an Eiffel Tower costume before 2kms (don’t ask me why or most importantly how) and many other runners. Soon I was under the 5km point and ran just under 17:20. This was 10 seconds ahead of schedule, but most importantly I was still feeling great and I wasn’t running or breathing hard. It was also great seeing the sides of the road filled with people, some shouting “superb!” and “allez!”
The next 5kms were still steady as I made my way through the field, with all of the splits being around 3:27. The organisers had water as well as small pieces of apples, oranges and bananas every 5kms from 4.5km, 9.5km and so on. At 8km all doubts of a bad race were gone. I got to 10kms at just under 34:30, 30 seconds ahead of schedule and everything was still going great.
I was still catching people up and still feeling great. There was even a child who shouted “allez Tony! Super!” which made me smile. The runner’s name was printed on the race number below the number itself, and someone else would say my name again later on in the race. From the race profile, this would also be the hardest 5kms of the race, climbing 10 metres over 1km, descending another 10 metres over 400ms and climbing 10 metres more over 400 metres with a head wind.
The 15-20km mark is when I thought I might start to struggle, but surprisingly I was still running strong although I was starting to work and shouting “allez” and “continuez” to myself to stay motivated. To be on schedule I had to be at 15km within 52:30 but I ignored this as I was interested in the 16km mark as this was about 100 metres less of 10 miles. I checked my time at this point and I was shocked to see 54:53, where 54:55 is my 10 mile PB. It also felt weird after 18kms to see official race photographers moving closer to me to take pictures, as if I was someone important!
From 20kms to the finish I could see a group of runners ahead, so I thought “go for it”, however three of the four upped their tempo so I was only able to catch one in a sprint to the finish. At the end, I looked at my watch and saw that I’d ran 1 hour 12 minutes 15 seconds. I was well chuffed, and felt I could have kept that pace up until 18 miles if I was in a marathon. I would also find out I finished in 20th place overall, not bad after starting around 3000th at the beginning!
Average km 3.26
Average mile 5.31
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