"Having only run one marathon in the past
with a total number of 140
runners, the appeal of the Paris Marathon
with over 30,000 participants is
quite obvious. I decided in early January
that the Paris marathon was going
to be my second marathon. I trained hard
for the following 3 months and was
really looking forward to April 4th. The
weekend itself was a great
experience that I will always remember.
I arrived at the Expo on Saturday, where I
received my race number and a
very generous gift pack. The pasta party
was really well attended. On the
day itself I arrived at the start line
approximately 45 minutes before the
start and I was amazed by the crowd of
people already at the start line. On
other thing that struck me was the number
of supporters who really helped in
relieving pre-race nerves. I made my way
to the yellow section as I
estimated I would complete the race in
3hours 15minutes.
The race began at 8.45am and I found it
very difficult to get to the pace I
wanted to run at because of the large
numbers in the race. I really enjoyed
the first 5 km running along the Champs
Elysees etc The water/food stations
were really well stocked and very
accessible particularly after the halfway
mark. The last 10km of the race were
particulary difficult, I can't
remember it that well as I was struggling
to maintain the pace. The support
for the final 2 kilometres was incredible
and something that really helped
me to complete the marathon in 3 hours 6
minutes and 44 seconds.
One of the things that disappointed me was
I didn't notice the beautiful
surroundings that I was running through,
as I was busy focussing on the
race.
I really enjoyed my first Paris marathon
experience and I will be back."
Diarmuid O' Leary
Contact: coeur.de.fond@wanadoo.fr - Adresse: 83, rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011 Paris
Association Loi 1901 N° 00144484P Agrément Ministériel Activités Sportives N° 75.SVF.09.09
© Athletic Coeur de Fond - 2004 -