Paris, August 8-12, 2024

Written By Gary Wong

#MPTParis24

Date: March 7, 2024
Subject Line: Ton dossard pour le 42,195 km du Marathon Pour Tous Paris 2024

Subject Line, Translated: Your bib for the 42.195 km of the Marathon Pour Tous Paris 2024

Me: OMG OMG I think I think… is this real!?

Body:

Félicitations Gary !

Tu as gagné ton dossard pour l’épreuve du 42,195km du Marathon Pour Tous Paris 2024

Body, Translated:

Congratulations, Gary!

You've won your race number for the 42.195km race of the Paris 2024 Marathon for All.

Me: Holy shit, it’s real. I’m in!

And that’s how I found myself taking an absolutely unplanned trip to Paris. In August. During the 2024 Olympic Games. To run the same fucking marathon course as the Olympic athletes.

Before we get to the fun on Parisian soil, let’s talk about how I got there. I booked a fairly solid 66K round trip redemption in Economy with Air France using Flying Blue Miles which also included a transfer bonus at the time from one of my points currencies (I lose track of which one after a while). Of course, weeks later, I would see a 55K fare on the outbound segment in Business (the important one to have a lie-flat in) but missed out because I didn’t figure out the least painful way to cancel/rebook without stranding miles in Flying Blue. Which was silly because I hardly need an excuse to fly with Air France to somewhere in Europe. Not to mention this was a flight departing at 1 am so it would have been really nice to have a bed to sleep in. Oh well.

Cut to the afternoon of Wednesday, August 7, when I receive messages starting that this flight would be leaving closer to 3 am. Which, yikes, now I REALLY wish I had rebooked into Business Class. I tried everything I could to rebook to an earlier flight but the one that had seats available was leaving in an hour and I was still home at the time so that was a non-starter. I even tried to get to the airport to change to one of the flights that left between 10 and midnight. No dice.

In the end, I resigned myself to killing nearly four hours in the Air France Lounge - yes, I have enough self awareness to know this is beyond a first world problem - waiting for my increasingly very delayed flight to depart. Whilst continuously gorging myself on some decent lounge food and alcoholic beverages, I checked to see what the price of an upgrade to Business Class. First few times I checked, it was well over $900 (I won’t even mention how much in miles) but over the course of the evening, it eventually dropped just once to just over $800 which, for a flight that wouldn’t end up taking off until nearly 3 am, was totally worth paying for the bed alone. With less than a handful of open seats left in the cabin, I didn’t think it’d drop any further and bit on the upgrade. Good thing cuz that bird went out without a single empty seat in Business.

I haven’t done a trip report that included flying in Business with Air France so let’s dig a little deeper into the experience. This was actually my first (as of now, still only) time flying on their A350, let alone doing so in Business Class. Even better? I got their latest product which includes a privacy door and the whole thing just looks so sleek with the clean white and dark contrast throughout.

With takeoff not until nearly 3 am, I was fairly impressed at how quick the meal service was on this flight (not always the case with them) with champagne coming out at 3:15 am, my tray with starters at 3:39 am, and the main at 4:04 am. By 4:24 am, I’d made my bed for the night with a glass of cognac bedside. Night night.

I managed to get nearly four hours of sleep which isn’t too bad when the bird spends barely six hours in flight. By the time I woke up, we were already over France and, less than 30 minutes later, we were on the ground at everyone’s favorite airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). I’d transited through it many times in the past but this would be my first time actually leaving the airport on the ground. It was really nice just looking for the airport exit transit signage instead of which terminal 2 and which gates to transfer to next.

The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad

Despite leaving over 90 minutes after scheduled departure, we managed to arrive only 38 minutes late, which says as much about how much time gets blocked for JFK flights as it does about how much time we actually made up in the air. Of course, one can assume that had we left one time, we’d have arrived maybe an hour or so early. The timing would be key because I had somewhere to be not too long after I arrived in Paris. By the time I got to my Airbnb and got myself in a presentable state, it was already time to hustle to the first stop on my trip - the Stade de France for Athletics, Session 14. Just check out the list of events for the night:

W	1500 Metres			Semi-Final
W	Shot Put				Heptathlon
W	Long Jump				Final
M	Javelin Throw			Final
M	200 Metres				Final
W	200 Metres				Heptathlon
W	400 Metres Hurdles	Final
M	110 Metres Hurdles	Final

I may have been sleep-deprived but the excitement in the place that started with the medals being awarded for the morning session that rolled into the beginning of the evening session’s events and built with each successive event brought me back to life. It probably helped that this was an alcohol-free event, as was the case for all the events of the Games (at least for the general public from what I saw - may have been a different story for the high rollers).

Highlights of the night included seeing Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan set an Olympic Record in the Men’s Javelin Throw, American Tara Davis-Woodhall take Gold in the Women’s Long Jump and run to her Paralympian husband in the stands to celebrate, and seeing Americans Grant Holloway and Daniel Roberts nab Gold and Silver in the Men’s 110 Metres Hurdles. But the absolute standout moment of the night was seeing American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set a new World Record on her way to capturing Gold in the Women’s 400 Metres Hurdles. Just an incredible night watching the world’s best track and field athletes compete.

That was Night One of the trip - what was in store for Night Two? How about Beach Volleyball, Session 39 which featured the Bronze Medal and Gold Medal matches in Women’s Beach Volleyball… in a stadium with the an absurdly beautiful, most stunning backdrop!? That’s what we got Stade de la Tour Eiffel, a beach volleyball court and stadium set in front of the fuckin’ Eiffel Tower. Just amazing.

The Food and Drinks

It’d been nearly a decade since the last time I was in Paris and the restaurant where I had the best meal of my last visit was no longer (RIP Spring) so, really, this trip was a blank canvas for me to work with, dining-wise.

I hit up two Michelin ⭐️ restaurants and both were absolutely wonderful and I’d totally recommend both, especially for lunch as that’s where you get the best bang for your buck. With that said, the best meal I had on this trip was at Maison where a seat at the counter for their €85 multi-course lunch was just a treat. Food was wonderful (the most important thing) but it was the service, both behind and in front of the counter, that elevated the visit. Also, it’s just always a joy watching a busy kitchen where everyone working in it knows what their roles are and executing at a high level.

It’s Paris so you damn well better be sure I got me some pastries. Alas, this trip was too short and too crammed with activity for me to do a true bakery crawl but the standout bakery on this trip was Boulangerie Utopie, with croissants so good, I stopped in there twice. Also, they had a solid baguette that I may or may not have accompanied with supermarket charcuterie at 3 am on the couch in my Airbnb. Nope, sure didn’t. (I did)

No trip of mine would be complete without some tipples and I am hear to report that Paris continues to be a wonderful place for a drink. There’s obviously all of the wine wherever you dine - Septime La Cave was an especially good place to pair the wine bar experience with bar food - but it was a better craft beer city than I recall it being in 2016. I enjoyed both breweries I visited with Paname Brewing Company offering canalside seating whislt watching Team USA take Gold in Women’s Basketball and Gallia Paris having a wonderful outdoor space with pillow-cushioned seats - a wonderful Sunday afternoon unwinding and relaxing after a taxing Saturday (over)night.

Closing out my last night in Paris was a trip to the aforementioned Septime La Cave, followed by a quick cocktail at The Honey Moon which was fine but there’s not much cocktail artistry when they’re all being served from taps. The final stop of the night at Moonshiner though was a treat - you start by walking through a pizza joint to the back and then you’re led into a speakeasy. Maaaany cocktails were had here - all of them delicious - and the service was top-notch. Service so good that it extended past my visit as one of the bartenders actually chased me down a few blocks away to return the charging brick I had left on my seat. Like I said, incredible service.

A Marathon For All

Taking it back to the beginning and why I ended up unexpectedly in Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games - Marathon Pour Tous (Marathon For All). The organisers of the Paris Olympics announced that they would be holding a marathon for non-Olympians to run, on the same course that the Olympians would run. At the time, I don’t think anyone knew what that meant - would we be actually running it during the Olympics or would it be sometime before or after the actual Games? It seemed crazy to do the former but that’s just exactly what they ended up announcing would happen and it didn’t stop at that - they announced they’d hold it between the two Olympic races which meant this was gonna be a night marathon.

As you can imagine, with only 20 thousand-ish spots available to the general public, this was gonna be a tough entry to score. They created a system where aspiring entrants could sync their miles, garnering them points, with 100K being enough to get into the lottery. They created an app with challenges that earned you chances for specific draws for a number of spots. Over the next few years, I did both, hoping for my chance to win. No dice. By the time they did the lottery in January 2024 and didn’t hear anything, I figured that was it and put it out of my mind.

Now you can understand my absolute shock and giddiness when I got that email in March that said I had won a spot. My guess is that they did a second drawing after folks from the first drawing declined their spot which was understandable considering the logistics of planning a trip to a major world city during the insanity that is a citywide, world-class event. Me? I had zero second thoughts about taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to run the same Olympic marathon course that Eliud Kipchoge would run, trip logistics be damned.

Fun fact, this would be the fourth time Kipchoge and I would run the same marathon. He set a world record each of the first three times we ran the same race.

This was my first ever night marathon but not my first every night race thanks to a 10-mile one I ran in the middle of the night in Bangkok earlier in the year (that trip report is coming soon!). This one started at 9 pm so it was both easier and more difficult to prepare for. I didn’t have to get up around 2 am like I did in Bangkok but I also didn’t want to just go about my day and roll into the race so I had to force myself to nap, even through the start of USWNT playing the Gold Medal match in Women’s Football. When they sealed their victory around 7 pm, that was my signal to head out to the start of the race.

Getting to the start line was… a struggle. Just absolute chaos in that part of Paris with a lot of pedestrian traffic and people getting pushed into barricades. Eventually, we got some help from local police as they waved runners through the crowd so they could cross the streets necessary to get to the start area. Once we got there, we were treated to yet another gorgeous Parisian sunset along the Seine.

Waiting for the race to start, it was a party-like atmosphere with loud music and light shows but if you thought that kind of atmosphere would just be at the start and finish lines, you’d be dead wrong. The whole damn race was one giant party, with DJs, smoke machines, and lights all along the course. Marathon Pour Tous was a night marathon and Paris 2024 was gonna deliver with nightclub, but make it running.

This was still a race after all and at this point in time, I was still holding out hope I could run a BQ at some point in the fall so I wanted to use this marathon to see where my fitness was at. This was, after all, an insanely difficult course with a 1 km-long climb going into the 29 km mark that was borderline torture though it was a nice touch to run though glowing rings that made it feel like Rainbow Road in Mario Kart but way less fun. It was not for the feint of heart.

Fun fact, this would not be the fourth time Kipchoge and I would finish the same marathon. That climb destroyed him. Me? I survived it. Ignore the fact that I wasn’t going nearly as hard as he had and it was much lower stakes for me. But, I guess you could say… I beat Kipchoge? No, no, you can’t. I won’t. He’s the GOAT and an absolute killer.

But this medal? I’ve got one and he doesn’t so maybe I did beat him, in a way.

This marathon was not the easiest one I’ve ever run - if I had to rank this in terms of degree of difficulty, I’d probably put this one behind only the one at Mt. Fuji. But was this the most fun I’ve had running a marathon? You bet.

And that baguette with supermarket charcuterie at 3 am? Yeah, that came after I got back to my Airbnb and it was accompanied with the best chilled supermarket rosé I’ve ever had in the middle of the night. A successful night in many ways, in my estimation.

Final Thoughts

I’m gonna level with you - I’d never actually been a big fan of Paris. I liked it enough but I never loved it like I do some other cities in Europe like London or Berlin. I don’t know why that was the case, it just was for me.

That is, until this trip. Say what you will about the hokiness of this next sentiment but there’s something about The Olympic Spirit infusing an entire city with an energy that changes it while it’s there. Maybe it was just what few locals remained being on their best behaviour but it just felt, well, nice being in Paris this time. I’m not sure I’d vault it over the aforementioned cities but I’m willing to put it alongside them but I’d like to do another visit soon to affirm that thought. Heck, even wanting to go back there is testament enough to my 180 on this city.

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Gary Wong
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London, February 14-18, 2025