Marathon Pour Tous | @marathon_pour_tous_community, a marathon for all that runs the same course as the Olympians did in Paris 2024 | @paris2024 was, quite possibly, the hardest marathon I’ve ever run. Everything you heard about this course was true - staggering uphills with equally insane downhills, topped with a 10% climb over the course of an entire kilometer at the 28K mark. I’m currently in the middle of training for a goal marathon so this one was essentially a glorified long run. As such, I didn’t really race it but I also didn’t drop it down to party pace. The thinking went “let’s go entirely on feel and see where we’re at after that last horrendous climb.”
I started out strong with the first three 5Ks in the 25:00-27:00 range, knowing two of the next three would be harder with that last one including a 6:00+ km. That hill was every bit as awful as advertised.
But after that climb? Those were incredible - downhill after the ascent and just about flat to the finish with one of the 5Ks dipping to just under 25:00. The final 2.2K had me at a sub-5:00/km pace. When I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch, I was slightly surprised by what I saw.
3️⃣:4️⃣0️⃣:3️⃣1️⃣
I woulda been happy with a sub-4:00:00 and I was hoping to pull off 3:52:00. Sub-3:45:00 was not what I expected after seeing the course. Hell, it ate up and spit out @kipchogeeliud. So, to say I was over the moon with this result is a mild understatement. That said, not getting ahead of myself - still plenty of work to do ahead of #windycityruniii.
Final thoughts about this race - it was so fucking cool, so fucking fun, and at times, so fucking lit. I had an absolute blast with this potentially once in a lifetime experience. So glad I was able to make this trip work.
#MPTParis24
📍Paris, France