Finished, and Still Among the Living!

So we both finished today, and all is well. I had a great run, was on track to meet my goal of 4:15 up through the 30th kilometer, but at that point it became clear that I just couldn't keep up that pace all the way until the end. So in the end I finished with a time of 4:23:36, but I'm not disappointed in the least because it's still 11:33 better than I did last year! :-)

Carl sadly didn't have it so easy - the poor guy (AGAIN!) came into this race with an injury that wasn't healed, and this time it was even worse for him than last year. I'm pretty sure he was in significant pain for the entire race, but he perservered and didn't give up when I'm sure most people (I include myself here as well) surely would have done so. He finished with a time of 5:23:26, and I'm very proud and impressed that he managed that under the circumstances. He did great, and I REALLY hope he'll be healthy for his next race and be able to run the kind of time he deserves to have!

Okay well I'm completely exhausted so will sign off now, in the hopes of perhaps squeezing in a nap before dinner. Thanks everyone for all of the encouragement, kind words and positive thoughts you've sent our way!

Paris Marathon, 33rd Edition

While sitting on a rather long metro ride to get back to the hotel after the expo this evening, I was reading the small guide they printed with information about this year's marathon. In it was a page of statistics, some of which I found pretty interesting and thought I'd share with you.

• This year there are 37,000 runners registered, which is 2,000 more than last year. A whopping 82.5% of them are male, leaving only 17.5% women! I have no idea why that is; I think the distribution is much closer to even in the US, but here I think that percentage breakdown is about the norm. Perhaps European women just aren't into distance running as much as their American counterparts, but who knows for sure?!?
• Of this year's registrants, 69% are from France and 31% other countries.
• The country with the biggest representation besides France is the UK with 5,078 runners registered. Belgium is #4 with 716 and the US is right behind at #5 with 708. And in case you're wondering, Carl and I were classified based on our residence, so we're counted as representatives of Belgium. Allez, Belgique!! :-) **FOLLOW-UP: It turns out I was wrong on this point. Since we paid with a US account it turns out we were actually counted in the tally of Americans.
• When the first Paris marathon was run in 1977, there were just 87 finishers - last year there were 28,844!
• The fastest times ever run on this course were 2:06:33 for the men, 2:23:05 for the women. If all goes perfectly I hope to be able to reach the halfway mark around the time the male record holder crossed the finish line. Kind of puts that in perspective doesn't it?

As I write this I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel, because the wi-fi connection doesn't reach into the rooms. I've seen a number of runners pass through, either going for light jogs or carrying the little "goodie bags" they give out when you pick up your race bib and t-shirt. I struck up a conversation with one of them, a guy from Denmark named Claes, who extended us an invitation to stay with he and his family if we ever want to visit Copenhagen - seriously! Marathoners are a friendly bunch, and there's definitely a "fraternity" of sorts shared among those who have conquered this distance. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll join the "extra special" group of crazies who have willingly subjected themselves to this torture more than once!! Kidding of course. ;-)

Look for the post-race update tomorrow afternoon!

Paris - Part Deux

In two more days we're off to Paris to run the marathon for the second time. We're both excited and nervous, although having an idea of what to expect certainly takes the edge off the nerves a bit. For me this is also going to be the last marathon, at least for a while. The training is just so time consuming and hard on the body that I've decided to stick to the (comparatively) shorter distances of half-marathon and below.

I'm feeling good going into the race, except for the fact that I'm just now getting over a moderate case of food poisoning. I should be totally fine by Sunday though, so I'm not too worried about any negative effects from it. Carl, on the other hand, has been battling a calf strain for almost 3 weeks, and is just getting back near 100% now, so we'll have to wait and see how it holds up. Send some healing thoughts his way, I know he'll appreciate it!

We're off to Paris early Saturday afternoon and will return Monday, so it's a short trip compared to last year. That was a necessity though, because Carl has to get back to work and I have my new job starting next Tuesday as well! We should have wifi access at our hotel so I will do a blog update on Sunday afternoon (like last year, by 4 PM CET, which is 10 AM Eastern) to let everyone know how it turned out. Hopefully it will be all good news!!