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1. Paris Marathon 2010 Pre-Race Info & Registration
2. Paris Marathon 2010
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It was my first time to Paris and there wasn’t really any good information as to where the expo actually was. If you search online, you won’t be able to find the address of the place, but it’s right above the metro station – Porte de Versailles.

How to get there: There are many ways to get there via metro, bus, taxi. I’ll give you directions how to get there by train.

Leaving from Metro station: Charles de Gaulle Etoile
Destination Metro Stop: Porte de Versailles
Metro lines (mo): green M12

There are 2 options:

Option A:

Take ’1′ line – destination Chateau de Vinciennes
Off at Concorde
Take M12 destination Marie D’Issy
Off at Porte de Versailles

Option B:

Take ’6′ line – destination Nation
Off at Pasteur
Take M12 Destination Mairie D’Issy
Off at Porte de Versailles

Once you are out of the train station, you can’t miss it. It’s the building with all the flags. There will be a huge blue banner that says “Paris Marathon Expo”. Anyways just follow the crowd of other runners. If you are really lost, just ask someone. 99% of the people there understand english. The 2010 marathon expo was in the very last building.

Oh, they also gave us pretty cool plastic tank top look alikes to keep us warm prior to the marathon. Race morning is pretty cold so this helped a bit.

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1. Paris Marathon 2010 Pre-Race Info & Registration
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The Paris Marathon is quite large, hosting just over 40,000 runners with 8000 of these sports are reserved for travel agencies and other elite runners. So, keep that in mindwhen you look at the runner registration counter ont he front page of the marathon. To get a discounted marathon rate, register before the count gets to 22,000. The Paris Marathon is NOT a lottery based system. It’s first come first served. This marathon sells out in less than 2 months, so book fast.

After registering for the race there is no info package sent to you. There is no confirmation letter or letter to tell you your bib number. Your confirmation is updated on their website and you’ll see your name in their database. Don’t forget you need a doctors’ note to run the marathon.

The Paris Marathon does send out plenty of email reminders leading up to the race day. If you’re a female runner and interested. I received an email from Asics looking for a female representative of the race. Don’t really know how it worked but you could submit yourself to be THE face of female runners for the Paris Marathon. This is your shot at fame!! lol.

Back to the doctor’s note. You can either mail it in or bring it with you to the marathon expo when you pick up your race kit. ALso before you go to the Marathon Expo, it will be handy if you know your runner #. If you didn’t remember to write it down (like me), the information desk can always help you find your bib number.

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Just going back to the previous note, I know the marathon is sold out for public registration but if you still want to try to get into the marathon there may be a way through travel agencies in your country.   MarathonTours offers gauranteed acceptance if you pay for their travel package and include an extra $195 USD for the marathon.  Here’s their link.   For other countries check out here.

I mapped out the new Paris Marathon 2010 Route. The city is extending their Tramway and required construction on one of the routes of the marathon specifically Boulevard Soult. Here is the new marathon map that I mapped out on mapmyrun. Who said you can’t see Paris in one day.

The marathon starts at the Champs-Élysées and runs by the Place de la Concorde, Louve Museum, Hotel de Ville, Place de la Bastille, Chateau de Vincennes, Notre Dame Cathedral, Orsay Museum, Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais, Trocadero and finishes back at the Champs-Élysées.

Link to the Paris Marathon
PDF version
Google Map Version

Paris Marathon 2010 Elevation Chart

Note:  I mapped out the Paris Marathon according to the street by street directions on their website.  I’m off by 0.4 miles somewhere.

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Now you must be having problems going up and down stairs, walking fast, whole body is aching and feels really beat up.  Here are some tips to help you with a speedy recovery because I know you want to get back out there running your heart out.  On average it will take 2-3 weeks after the marathon to fully recover.

5 Recovery Tips The Minute You Cross The Finish Line

1. Start walking.  Walk 10-15 minutes to get your legs and breathing back to normal.  It will be painful, but continue to walk throughout the day for 15 minutes.
2. Refuel muscles with meals that include carbs, protein and sodium.  For example, you can eat peanut butter sandwich, banana and gatorade.   If you cannot eat after a race, you can opt for recovery drinks such as Hammer RECOVERITE, CLIF SHOT Recovery, PowerBar Recovery, V8, chocolate milk; most available at your local grocery store.  Check out other Recovery drinks available.
3. Drink lots of water.
4. To reduce the inflammation soak your legs in tub of cold ice water or shower your legs with cold water.  Another option to reduce inflammation in your legs is to go for a soothing salt bath.
5. Sleep and get lots of rest.
   

Recovery Tips for Day After Your Marathon

1. Go for a massage or see the chiropractor.
2. There are products such as The Marathon Stick and Foam Rollers that allow you to do deep tissue massages for hamstrings, calves, thighs and hips yourself.
3. Do light hamstring and calve stretches to loosen your muscles.  Wear comfortable shoes, your feet will be sore.
4. Eat enough for recovery but try not to eat too much to gain unnecessary weight.

Recovery Tips Days After Running Your Marathon

1. The worse thing you can do for marathon recovery is to stop exercising.  A few days after your marathon should be an active resting period, but there should be no running.
2. Consider doing low impact exercises such as yoga, biking, walking or swimming which are great to keep your legs an body moving.
3. After week of active resting, you can start to reverse taper your marathon regime.
4. Start off slow and short and gradually get your legs, lungs and brain ready for another season of running.  If you start to feel pain in your legs or knees, stop and rest.  Keep your running intensity low for at least three weeks.

Giving your body adequate time to heal is best way for recovery and prevent long term injuries in the future.  Remember to always have fun and enjoy your downtime.

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They changed the course which was great! I loved the building they had open for the runners so we could wait inside to keep warm.  It was great since I had 3 hours to wait.  I guess Starbucks got sick of 20,000 runners hanging in front of their building and using their washroom.  There were plenty of washrooms in the building with flushing toilets and sinks to wash hands!  A sink with soap and running water is a rare treat.   I wandered the building from 6-8 looking for my brother and his friend and finally found them.  I am so proud of that they completed their 2nd half marathon this year.

The course was well marked at places and where it wasn’t there were volunteers to help guide the way.  The KM markers were visible and placed at every 1 km, the Mile markers were scarce and only popping up every 10 miles.  That left me kind of disoriented for most of the run, I kind of have trouble converting km to m when I’m running.  The cheering stations were practically non existent with amateur bands playing on the side of the road.   I didn’t like that part of the race.  Felt like the race organizers just forgot about us and gave us the bare minimums to complete the race.

Great thanks to all the volunteers handing out water, gatorade and gels.  Thanks to the police who took the brunt of all the complaints, I wouldn’t want to be the ones stuck in traffic today.

I tried to make it a strong finish. I just hate the Queen’s Park ending.  You can never see the ending, meanwhile everyone is shouting it’s just around the corner.  How do you see a corner around a circle??  My brother, his friends and my friend were waiting for me.  I was really happy to see them.  Thanks for coming out!! It was a great feeling to complete another marathon, just not too happy with my time.   hehe But I think it’s a great accomplishment.

Overall the marathon was ok.  I wasn’t impressed with the organization or the logistics.  Even picking up the race kit was in a basement conference room of a hotel.  It was small and I thought very unorganized.  For the price we pay for a marathon (around $80), I expected a little more.  I won’t be running this race again.

Good job everyone and happy running.

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To the Toronto Half and Full Marathoners, it’s going to pretty cold that day.  Bring an old long sleeve shirt / pants to keep you warm while you wait for the race to start.  Once it starts, you can throw it aside after you get warmed up.   I have a water belt but I don’t use it when I run.  There is plenty of water and gatorade stations along the course and reduces the weight that I carry when I run.  I do recommend to bring some gels to keep your energy levels up.

Best tip for beginner marathoners is start off slow.  You want a good finish time but running too fast in the first mile will severely impact your endurance and pace for the remaining duration of the marathon.   The worst part would be to slow down in the second half of the marathon.  Run slower in the beginning and gradually increase your pace til you reach a good comfortable and constant pace you can run for about 3 hours.  When you hit the last 3 miles or 5km, you should be going at full speed.

Map of the Toronto Marathon:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/canada/on/-toronto/101125491807174616

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How am I training differently this week? Nothing really changed.  I’m still running my 8-9  miles on Tuesday and Thursday.  I have my swimming planned for Monday and Wednesday, the occassional Ultimate game and spinning.  The only thing I’m conscious of is NO spinning in the latter part of the week.  Spinning really kills my legs for days!

I mapped out the Scotiabank Half Marathon course on MapMyRun because the marathon site provides such a childish version of the course map.

For beginners training for the half marathon I would suggest to run only 3 miles on tuesday and thursday and the next few days are rest days.  Good luck in your half marathon!

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For those who don’t know Terry Fox, he ran a marathon a day with 1 leg. One of his legs was amputated due to cancer and replaced with a prosthetic leg. I was at a Terry Fox meeting where they told his story and it’s really touching. Back in the day, cancer patients were shuffled into a section in the hospital where they were all just sitting around waiting to die. He saw all kids in this room and couldn’t just sit around and he wanted to do something to help them. He started out his run to raise awareness and money to help cancer research. He wore a prosthetic leg but the material dug into his flesh from all the friction, daily marathons AND suffering from cancer himself, he was probably in incredible pain. Of course his family begged him to rest, he didn’t stop running. Every morning he woke up and ran to help those kids he saw in the hospital. His goal was to run across Canada. He ran through Canada’s Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at the age 22.

For more details about the Terry Fox Run and how you can help, click here.

“I’m not a dreamer, and I’m not saying this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to.” – Terry Fox

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Below is a 10 week half marathon training program for beginners.  If you cannot run on certain days you can make it up the following day or week.  You just have to worry about your total mileage of the week.  You should always increase your mileage about 1-2 miles a week ( run 10-15 minutes longer than last week).   About half way thru the weeks you’ll notice a peak and then slowly tapering off of the mileage til your race day.   This will help reduce the chances of injuries before your big race.

Before starting the beginner half marathon training program you should be running for a month at about 10 miles a week comfortably.  If this is not the case, then try to build up your base mileage as much as you can before the race.   This is not the most ideal case to run a half but I understand you do have a personal life, not everything revolves around running…. ok I’m getting a little off topic, but anyways, below is a schedule that you can follow to train for your half marathon.

For the Beginner Half Marathon Training Program (in kms) click here

beginner half marathon training program

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