Until I get the photo thing understood I'll just have to post a few photos...so, I was saying...the first 2 kms were great because, besides having to dash around the tourists that had invaded the course, I was pretty much by myself. Then around 3km I met up with the tail of the race. For the next 10km it was a question of trying to get around every walker or slow slow runner in the group. There were a lot. At 5km we had our first refreshments and then a HUGE traffic jam because there was a ...turn in the rode. Like a 90° turn had us waiting in line for about 5 minutes to get past it. On the rest of the route I found:- Some cancer organization that decided to have 10 runners carry a banner that crossed the course. You couldn't get passed them and they jammed up a huge part of the race. I was finally able to weave my way around them but...who gave these idiots permission to do that? I assume no one.
- The Beaujolais marathon carried a wooden wine keg on wheels for the entire race. They also insisted that they had the right of way and would yell at anybody blocking their path. Then they'd stop, rest, switch places and continue. I was able to ditch them at 30km.
- All the water and refreshment stations carried half liter bottles of water that would get sipped from and then THROWN on the ground. I was aimed at twice and struck. They also serverd sliced oranges and bananas WITH peels with no place to throw them so everyone threw them on the ground. I was able to keep my balance but I saw a few nasty spills.
I finished in 4h41'16". What makes me upset the most was my attitude in the last k's. Usually I'm happy happy happy, but I was just ready to get back to the hotel. l learned a lot from the experience however so go me...Piero miraculously was able to spot me in the crowd in the last 100 metres. I don't know how he does that.
We had a beautiful group dinner in a gorgeous restaurant that evening. Then the next day Piero and Evan and I took a long, long walk around Paris. It truly is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your marathon, Julia! Sounds beautiful (though the management does sound annoying).
I think blogger always puts photos at the top of the post during editing. I usually upload all the photos I'm going to use, rearrange by dragging them around, then write my post around them.
Post a Comment