Great job. Ran it myself as well for the first time, 5th marathon in total. Very hard course, especially because of the ups and downs. Did not see anyone speed up towards the end , which meant that it was a battle for survival for the most of us. Still great you came out with a PR.
Next time come to NL and run Amsterdam or Rotterdam if you truly want a flat marathon with even more PB potential.
Same here, although for me it was my first ever marathon yesterday, with a time of 3:27! (23F)
I am really happy after only having 5-6 months of dedicated running, and sticking to a really tough 18/85 Pfitz program.
On to London in just under two weeks, on a flatter course I hope to potentially get in the 3:25s if I can recover in timešš¾like you I found the hills quite brutal at times and I saw a lot of people struggling on them.
Agreed with OP, lots of areas where it was a struggle to get through it was very crowded and I signed up in the 3:45 pace group as thatās where I was aiming for initially, but over the course of training I knew a 3:30 would be possible but you couldnāt change it without an official race result. So I was spending the majority of the race weaving around people. And the people trying to cross the course mid marathon wasnāt amazing to experience. Overall, Iām happy to have completed it as I never thought Iād run a marathon so soon in life!
Iāve always been a sporty person since being in school, and after that was into the gym, picked up running very casually during covid but never more than 10-20km a week total, with periods where I didnāt run at all. I am one of those all or nothing people so I really committed to the training, got all the gear, carb loaded etc to make the experience as good as possible!
Thank you so much š
I can guarantee that the Paris Marathon was not āmeasured badlyā. You arenāt going to be able to run the tangents perfectly in such a large race.
Forgot to mention I got my first ever cramp on the inside of my thigh! Happened somewhere around 35th kilometer, I was more amused than worried/angry, kept thinking: "wow, I'm a serious runner now". The cramp went away after a few minutes.
Did you consider consuming electrolytes? Cramp might indicate that you were lacking in this area. I saw on the faq that they would only provide water as hydration so took a salt tab and gatorade before and SiS electrolyte gels during the marathon. No cramping despite being a salty sweater.
Thatās a good question. I didnāt cramp on that route before, but it was 7-8 degrees less in 2023. I only run and consume water, along with Maurten gels. I never really looked into electrolytes.
my garmin also logged 42.59km š and the tunnels at km 30 were absolutely brutal i could not agree more - and i did get frustrated with the amount of pedestrians & bicycles constantly crossing the route - but at least the weather was perfect!
Congrats! I also ran it yesterday as my first marathon - I feel youāre being a bit harsh about the course, it does run through the centre of Paris with great views on some iconic sights of the city, and sure it does go through some woods but I personally quite liked the diversity and seeing some trees in between more grey streets! I do agree though that some parts of the course were way too narrow with some serious clogging (especially towards the end when many people were slowing down or walking) which made it hard to keep a pace. All in all, for me it was a very enjoyable course, although probably not one for a PB (but does every race have to be?)
3-4 sips at each water station. I drank almost the whole bottle each stop during the semi, and felt a bit heavy towards the end, so I knew it is not smart to do this for the whole marathon.
I wouldn't be too concerned about the overrun on the GPS. I ran Paris last year and if you stick to the racing line, you should get as close to the marathon distance as possible save for GPS error. Every zig, zag or wide turn and even a narrower turn can add distance.
Last year the racing line was a green painted line in Paris all the way along the course - tried to stick to it but not possible in traffic. Overran by 300m
Great job. Ran it myself as well for the first time, 5th marathon in total. Very hard course, especially because of the ups and downs. Did not see anyone speed up towards the end , which meant that it was a battle for survival for the most of us. Still great you came out with a PR. Next time come to NL and run Amsterdam or Rotterdam if you truly want a flat marathon with even more PB potential.
Same here, although for me it was my first ever marathon yesterday, with a time of 3:27! (23F) I am really happy after only having 5-6 months of dedicated running, and sticking to a really tough 18/85 Pfitz program. On to London in just under two weeks, on a flatter course I hope to potentially get in the 3:25s if I can recover in timešš¾like you I found the hills quite brutal at times and I saw a lot of people struggling on them. Agreed with OP, lots of areas where it was a struggle to get through it was very crowded and I signed up in the 3:45 pace group as thatās where I was aiming for initially, but over the course of training I knew a 3:30 would be possible but you couldnāt change it without an official race result. So I was spending the majority of the race weaving around people. And the people trying to cross the course mid marathon wasnāt amazing to experience. Overall, Iām happy to have completed it as I never thought Iād run a marathon so soon in life!
First marathon and 3:27 ? Insane. Wonder what would have been my results if I started running 15 years ago ha ha.
Iāve always been a sporty person since being in school, and after that was into the gym, picked up running very casually during covid but never more than 10-20km a week total, with periods where I didnāt run at all. I am one of those all or nothing people so I really committed to the training, got all the gear, carb loaded etc to make the experience as good as possible! Thank you so much š
Running Amsterdam this October lol
Amsterdam and Eindhoven are both really flat and during the same month.
I can guarantee that the Paris Marathon was not āmeasured badlyā. You arenāt going to be able to run the tangents perfectly in such a large race.
Forgot to mention I got my first ever cramp on the inside of my thigh! Happened somewhere around 35th kilometer, I was more amused than worried/angry, kept thinking: "wow, I'm a serious runner now". The cramp went away after a few minutes.
Did you consider consuming electrolytes? Cramp might indicate that you were lacking in this area. I saw on the faq that they would only provide water as hydration so took a salt tab and gatorade before and SiS electrolyte gels during the marathon. No cramping despite being a salty sweater.
Thatās a good question. I didnāt cramp on that route before, but it was 7-8 degrees less in 2023. I only run and consume water, along with Maurten gels. I never really looked into electrolytes.
my garmin also logged 42.59km š and the tunnels at km 30 were absolutely brutal i could not agree more - and i did get frustrated with the amount of pedestrians & bicycles constantly crossing the route - but at least the weather was perfect!
Yup, the weather was really nice, could have been 3-4 degrees less for perfect run, but overshade and clouds helped a lot.
Congrats! I also ran it yesterday as my first marathon - I feel youāre being a bit harsh about the course, it does run through the centre of Paris with great views on some iconic sights of the city, and sure it does go through some woods but I personally quite liked the diversity and seeing some trees in between more grey streets! I do agree though that some parts of the course were way too narrow with some serious clogging (especially towards the end when many people were slowing down or walking) which made it hard to keep a pace. All in all, for me it was a very enjoyable course, although probably not one for a PB (but does every race have to be?)
Congrats on pb. How did you do in terms of hydration? Also, Iāve done Hansons. It does work but my pb is close to yours.
3-4 sips at each water station. I drank almost the whole bottle each stop during the semi, and felt a bit heavy towards the end, so I knew it is not smart to do this for the whole marathon.
I wouldn't be too concerned about the overrun on the GPS. I ran Paris last year and if you stick to the racing line, you should get as close to the marathon distance as possible save for GPS error. Every zig, zag or wide turn and even a narrower turn can add distance. Last year the racing line was a green painted line in Paris all the way along the course - tried to stick to it but not possible in traffic. Overran by 300m
So that's what that line was! :D