Paris Marathon

Springtime in Paris where else would you want to be? The marathon is the first one of the year for Walk the Walk and it is a beautiful but tough challenge. The route will take you past all the famous sites in this romantic city as well as taking in parks, boulevards and the banks of The Seine. Where else could you finish but at the Champs Elysees. The tough bit is that there is a time limit of 5hours 45 minutes to complete the course so its not for Power Walking beginners.

Well done to the team in 2008 - what a fantastic effort by everyone! Read on to find out what happened....

From a Walkers point of view...

Our team of 20 met at St Pancras on Friday morning as we boarded the Euro Tunnel to Paris. The team ranged from those that had done many marathons with Walk the Walk to those who were doing it for the first time. There is something very stylish about being whisked from the UK to France in just a few hours and making our way through the Paris underground (which on a map looks like a large lump of spaghetti!) to our hotel we felt that we had truly arrived.

We always base ourselves in a hotel which is almost right at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Aside from the wonderful view, it means that it takes very little time to get either to the Start line or from the Finish line - both very important considerations! The afternoon was spent travelling to and from registration where we picked up our packs and sampled the stands at the Expo.

Saturday morning was quite cool but there is something magical about walking through a city as it starts to wake up. My stomach was accutly aware of this as the smell of freshly baked bagguettes wafted into our noses as we made our way to the Breakfast Run. Although we would be walking the 5k (naturally) it was a light-hearted and fun way to start the marathon weekend. It also gave Paris its first chance to take in all of the teams wonderfully decorated bras! Little did Indira know that morning but she would be carrying the UK flag!

The rest of the day was spent having that delicious deabte whenever you take part in one of our overseas challenges...how much do you walk around seeing the sites versus resting and trying to conserve your energy?

As usual the former won! We gathered later that day for our tactics talk and Nina told the team what would happen the next day. Everyone was a little nervous - Power Walking a marathon to a time is always a challenge but everyone had trained hard and had followed our plans. I was confident that everyone would cross the line! We walked round the corner from the hotel to our restaurant where we had our team pasta party. The restaurant really did a wonderful job, mind you with 20 people wearing bra T shirts I expect we drew in quite a lot of business! Early to bed for all ahead of the big day...

As usual the forecasters got it wrong...it was cold but no snow! Starting areas of Marathons are always fun but in typical Galic style this was a rather laid back affair, touched with a large amount of glamour from the ladies in bras! The French, true to form were very appreciative! The Marathon course is a beautiful one as it snakes it way through and around Paris. Keeping to our 4.5mph pace we made good progress and it was great to see the Support Crew at their various locations around the route. Fresh orange slices and water appeared every 5k or so and the appearance of Red Wine (no I am not joking!) at 23 miles was just incredibly funny. I mean where elese would you get that?!

So the Finish Line beckoned and we had all made it! Medals, tears, warmth and food were all worn, shed, eaten and sought! Well done team - even if I did have to crack the whip a few times...! Guy (p.s. I'll see some of you in Berlin in 2009)

And what about the supporters?

Nina writes: meanwhile whilst the walkers were all heading for their sub 5 hour 45 finish, the Support Crew mad e up of husbands, daughters, friends and of course me, had our work cut out to make sure we reached the agreed support points on the route before the walkers did!We met at 8.15am in the hotel lobby with the determined aim to support our team at the 10K, 21K, 30K and 42K points. As Leader of the pack I also had the intention that it should involve a certain amount of pit stops for some delicious hot chocolate and tastings in various little cafes along the way.

Armed with our yellow caps, famous bra T shirts and plenty of flags we were on a mission. No mean feat as we had to negotiate the Paris Metro from one side of the city to the other …and then back again reaching each point at the designated time. I am delighted to say that we arrived at 10K in plenty of time to watch the Elite runners pass and to enjoy watching the main bulk of the race in full flight. We all gave our lungs a good airing and shouted support to anybody that had their name or country on their T shirt. Eventually we spotted the hats, heard the singing and our team came into view looking in great shape and averaging the 4.5 miles per hour  that they needed to achieve . Lots of shouting a few cheeky remarks, plenty of flag waving and in a flash they had passed and we set off for the 21K point.

Now it is important to mention that although the walkers had to cover 10K (6 miles) it was only a 10 minute walk to our next point so we were able to take advantage of a little café on the way and enjoy a short stop, a hot chocolate and a sit down…little did we know that this would be our only stop! 21K, a fantastic all girl drumming band kept us entertained until the first of the team appeared. They had split up a bit, with those in our team that were running out in the front, but there were only minutes between them and everybody still looked in good shape as they reached the half way mark. The day despite being forecast with rain was actually perfect marathon weather, no wind, not too hot and bright spells.

As the last Walk the Walker passed by the Support Crew still in fine form, had to make haste, dashing up and down the Metro to get to the other side of Paris and catch up with the team at the 30K. We had a race on our hands, but we got there just in time to see the backs of two of our team disappearing ahead. Rob and John ran after them to give them support so they would know we were there… albeit just behind them! The rest still split soon followed, this is usually the hardest part of a marathon, a long way covered but not quite on the home run or walk so to speak! Deciding that we would walk from the 32K point to 42K and the Finish line was slightly more complicated than we imagined and the thought did cross my mind that we must have walked a fair few miles that day ourselves. Tiredness and slight delirium were beginning to set in as we used our ‘sense of direction ‘which I am not certain was working correctly...to make our way towards the 42K (incorporating what seemed like many of the back streets of Paris and at one point a vertical stretch of never ending steps which somebody said was a short cut…and we all believed!!) to cheer our intrepid team as they crossed the Finish line.

The Paris Marathon is a beautiful route for the participants and also a lovely city to be a supporter, however unlike London whilst everybody on the street is very supportive it doesn’t attract quite so many screaming individuals at the side of the road…so it was hard to leave our last point with people still coming in but no body to cheer them. We gave each of our team a wonderful welcome home, although they did not all finish together there was only 30 minutes between the first and last person and all finishing in 6 hours and less so a huge achievement and admiration from all your Support Crew.

As for us...I must thank Peter, Rob, John, Jasmin, Emily, Aeriel and Christopher for their good company, we didn’t get to enjoy all the little cafes and delicious treats…but we had great fun, lots of laughter and a day to be remembered…..what a privilege it was to spend the day supporting our team! Big hugs to you all

Foot note – Due to the lack of calories consumed throughout the day we all met at the end and were forced to consume what seemed like large amounts of French fries and tomato sauce …..needs must, but don’t tell anybody!

Press

Well done to Margaret and Sue who got into their local paper!

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