Paris Marathon 15/4/12

tHE vAGGABOND

Race Website

No thread for this, so I guess I'm the only one in the village doing Paris this year?

Going over with GF for long weekend and running it on my own. Not doing it for a time, just for the experience of doing one of the biggest races in the world [in terms of people] in one of the best cities in the world so don't care about mixed reviews in the past at all.

run44

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

Race Website

No thread for this, so I guess I'm the only one in the village doing Paris this year?

Going over with GF for long weekend and running it on my own. Not doing it for a time, just for the experience of doing one of the biggest races in the world [in terms of people] in one of the best cities in the world so don't care about mixed reviews in the past at all.

Fair play Vagga, seems like it would be a great one! And not a bad place to relax afterwards either!

jahaco

Quite a few of us from Dublin running it. I've run it 2x before a while back and enjoyed it. Just hope we don't get the 30 degree temperature that was last year's experience. The start and finish on the Champs Elysees is amazing and there should be a good ambience with 40,000 runners, with many from outside of France.

central park

Did this last year and hope you don't get the high temp we got! It's a fantastic event and you'll love it. Just watch out for pickpockets on Champs Elysee afterwards. My friend had her bag nicked!

SharkTale

On route myself to Paris for the marathon too, hopefully all goes well between now and the big day,

clear thinking

Watch out on your hydration, they tend not to give out isotonics until km 40 so get the GF lined up at stategic points with some lucozade.

tHE vAGGABOND

10 days to go...

Tick, Tick, Tick

Marthastew

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

10 days to go...

Tick, Tick, Tick

best of luck for the next 10 days and the race itself.

I ran this last year and while it has a lot of things that could be improved on, it is an amazing route and you will really enjoy it and hopefully you don't get the heat we did last year.

Bonne Chance:D

tHE vAGGABOND

No fear of it being too Sunny on Sunday morning...


(BBC/Met Office) - Mostly cloudy, max. 11°C/52°F, 26km'h/16mph northerly wind.
(Meteo France) - Cloudy chance of rain, max. 12°C/52°F, northerly wind.
(Weather Underground) - Mostly cloudy, 4-11°C/39-52°F, 16-32km'h/10-20mph northerly wind.
(The Weather Channel) - Cloudy with showers, 5-11°C/41-52°F, 27km'h/17mph northerly wind.

jahaco

Will pack a sweater!

Marthastew

From Science of Sport website;

Stanley Biwott has won the 2012 Paris Marathon to kick off the spring marathon season, and it has started the same way that 2011 left off - with a course record 2:05:11  (unofficial, from TV times).  Biwott, who came into the race with a 2:07:03 PB, broke clear as early as 29km, when the group thinned dramatically and he was left with a solo pursuit for the finish line.

tang1

Any word on Lorraine Manning or Alan O Shea??

BobMac104

Alan o shea 2 21. He seemed to be on target by half way. Sorry to hear this.

BobMac104

Manning came home in 2 46. Seemed to abe behind from early on .

Fair play to both of them for giving it their all.

tHE vAGGABOND

Fantastic race, really enjoyed the whole experience.

Don't get why others have given it such mixed reviews (but that said maybe they sorted out many of these issues this year!)

tHE vAGGABOND

My race report....

Pro's and Cons for those thinking of doing it next year- now its been a few days..

Pro:

• Must be a strong contender for the most beautiful race in the whole world
• I liked the huge and interesting nutrition tables [but others did not I think]
• Unlike Dublin [which is crap in this area] I had very little problems [for me anyway] with space and contention on streets, despite 40k people taking part
• I did not follow a pacer, but they were done well, with permanent signs on them, not crappy balloons.

Cons

• Longest queue in history of the earth to get into expo - but I went peak time to be fair, so own fault a bit.
• Lack of signs for bag drop at start - but I did not get off at right metro stop, tried to be clever, so own fault again a bit.
• At end of race there is a huge finishing chute with lots of good stuff - but at end of that there is a horrible choke point, where familys and friends are on one side, basically not letting folks out, so I was stopped standing still there, waiting there for 30 mins or so to get out.