Vege Athletes on tour: Marathon de Paris 2015

Our goal was 39 edition of the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon. It was 7th marathon for Remi and 6th one for me, but actually it was the first time for us both we’d participated in such a big running event. Marathon de Paris is the biggest one in Europe. Also, a new participation record was established this year: 41342 runners including 18000 international competitors represented 150 nations. 25% of the runners were women.

Vege Athletes Agata&Remi meeting Scott Jurek

Our trip begun on Friday evening. We stayed at my friend’s place in Versailles. Next day we went to Paris to visit Salon du Running, where we had to collect the bibs. The Expo was quite chaotic: we had to wait in so many queues! First to enter the venue, then to present the medical certificates, then to collect the bib. Besides that there was something wrong with Remi’s bib, so he had to queue to the information desk in order to solve the problem and get a new bib. But it wasn’t the end of queuing! We had to wait for the pasta party tickets, then for the food, to the toilets… I must say that organisation of the expo was quite annoying and the food at pasta party was really disappointing. Also, the prices of running stuff were ridiculously expensive. 

Fortunately, there was a highlight of the expo: we met Scott Jurek at the Brooks stand! He’s such an inspirational vegan ultra runner, an author of a book “Eat and run”, which is in my opinion one of the best books about running ever. Meeting him was a real pleasure and made visiting Salon du Running really worth it! 

We spent rest of the day on walking in the centre of Paris and dining in cafés and restaurants.

Sunday, 12.04.2015. We woke up early in the morning to have a good breakfast and a calm travel from Versailles to Paris. The city was already full of runners walking towards Champs Elysees and Arc de triomphe. There were over 40000 runners, many with their support crews, friends and families, but contrary to yesterday’s Salon du Running, everything was perfectly organised: bag deposits, toilets, information, start areas. There were several start groups, depending on target time. 

Start of the 39 Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris

Remi started at 8:47 and me at 9:00. I was high and excited by the atmosphere of the marathon! So many people in one place, driven by one passion, running full of history streets of Paris, cheered up by hundreds of people excited by this great event. It was really incredible to see so many marathon runners gathered in one place, because of their love to this sport. All of us different, but driven by the same passion...

My goal was to keep 5:25min/km pace, but as usually having fun was even more important. Surprisingly, the route was not that flat as I had expected.  Around the km 25 we run through a 1km long tunnel, where the air felt really heavy and at the end of which there was a bad uphill.  I realised then that keeping the pace would cost me too much, so I decided to drop my speed and run the last 17km in the comfort zone, enjoying myself and breathing in the atmosphere. Still, I think that it was a good decision.

There were drink and food stations every 5km. Before the race I was afraid that they could be crowded, but they turned out very long and well organised: water was served in small bottles, which were so comfortable to take with; there were also bananas, juicy oranges and dried fruits. Also, every few kilometres there were sponge and shower stations. Weather was quite hot that day: sunny and around 23 degrees, so it was really nice to feel drops of cold water on my back from time to time.
Support of the audience was amazing: we passed by so many bands, musicians, drummers, dancers and other people cheering up the runners along the course. They made the marathon a true celebration and I really felt like doing something amazing and kept smiling despite the fatigue.

And the route itself! I’m sure everybody would love to run along Champs Elysees and Seine River, passing by beautiful squares and parks, museums and the famous Eiffel Tower! Even if I'm rather a trail runner, who enjoys calmness of Nature, being a part of the Marathon de Paris was one of a kind experience.

I reached the finish line in the time 4:11. Remi’s result was 3:14 and he was waiting for me, having a massage and eating oranges and bananas in the refreshing zone. We received the Finisher’s t-shirts and medals and walked slowly to the train station to get back to Versailles. After the shower, short rest and a couple of delicious French cakes, we spent rest of the day walking in the gardens of Versailles with our friends, dining and relaxing in beautiful weather.

Next day we had to wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get to the airport. We had some sleep during the flight to Finland, but I had to go to work straight from the airport. I was at home at 19:15 in the evening, after a 9km bike ride, so exhausted, but high on great memories. What a wonderful trip it was! We're going to continue collecting the Europe's biggest marathons for sure.