Paris Marathon 2019

Carol4Carol4 ✭✭✭
This thread has been rolling since 2005-2006 times and renews itself every year. We're a friendly, supportive bunch. Many people keep coming back to run the same marathon and there are always new 'faces' on the thread. So join in, introduce yourself. We've always got lots to talk about and sometimes it even has to do with running and Paris. Welcome

Paris Marathon official website

ASO Challenges website - you need to have an account with ASO to register for the race. I believe it is now Timeto

Medical Certificate

You will need a certificate signed and stamped from your doctor, download the certificate from the Paris Marathon website. http://www.schneiderelectricparismarathon.com/us/registration/medical-certificate

Some doctors do it for free, others a minimum consultancy charge. Take it with you if you have to see the doctor between now and the race.

Travel

Eurostar is a personal favourite to Gare du Nord as you arrive in the centre of Paris. Tickets available begining of October.

EXPO

If possible arrive on the Friday as the Expo is extremely busy on the Saturday. If you must go to the Expo on the Saturday, don’t worry, others have and they survived.

To get to the Expo. GARE DU NORD, take Metro 4 direction Maire de Monterouge, change at MONTPARNASSE, Metro 12 to PORTE DE VERSAILLES.

You will require; ???

ID ???
Medical Certificate ???
Convocation (Confirmation slip, printed off the ASO website, available 2 weeks before the race. ASO will send you an email reminder)
You will be given your bib, a ticket for the bag drop and 4 safety pins. Also a basic goody bag; plastic bin liner, sponge, water bottle, bumbag….

Saturday Evening

We have our own meet up at a pasta restaurant, numbers are confirmed a couple of weeks before the race.

Race Day

The Arc de Triomphe. Metro station Charles de Gaulle Etoile. RER A. Metro lines 1, 2, 6

Bag drop.

You can take any bag to the drop zone, attach your ticket to the handle. Allow 15 minutes to walk from the Arc to the bag drop and back.

Group Photo.

Our second meeting point, at 8am we have a group photo. Facing the Arc with back to the Champs, we’ll be by the right leg. This gives the fast runners time to get to their pens.

There are limited portaloos in the pens and urinals. Some go in the side streets and even in the pen. It happens, if you get caught short you’ll understand.

Start Area

The Champs Eylsées is in the shade, it can be very cold, bring throw away clothes to discard in the pen. Wait until last minute because there are staggered starts.

The pens are split in two, each pen goes one after the other then one side of the pen, then the other. Last pen leaves just after 10 am.

The Race

The course is fairly flat however start is downhill for 2km, it is easy to get carried away and start too fast. There is a small climb at 32km depending on your race, you’ll either not notice it or it will seem like Everest. Save Energy, not time.

There are makers every kilometre and mile.

Water stations every 5km. 33cl bottled water.

There are two sports drink stations one at 28km, this year it was Isostar in small cups.

You start on the Champs Elysées, down to the Concorde, pass the Louvre, around the Bastille, around the Bois de Vincennes back along the Seine, Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower, up to to Roland Garros and the Longchamps race course, around Bois de Boulogne and finishing along avenue Foch with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. The support is great and your own supporters can cheer you on 3-6 occasions along the route. In the two woods (Bois), the support is sparse but generally there is a great atmosphere.

Sunday night

Come to the pub, 3rd meet up, wear your medal with pride. No matter your time, you have earned that medal. Everyone will be sharing their race stories. Please say hello, tell us your pen and bib number, perhaps a little about yourselves. If the thread moves on or life gets in the way, doesn’t matter join in when you can.


This thread has been rolling since 2005-2006 times and renews itself every year. We're a friendly, supportive bunch. Many people keep coming back to run the same marathon and there are always new 'faces' on the thread. So join in, introduce yourself. We've always got lots to talk about and sometimes it even has to do with running and Paris.
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Comments

  • Carol4Carol4 ✭✭✭
    Hi All. I feel a fraud starting this thread but I watched it with interest last year as I was planning on running the Paris Marathon in 2019 and I was trying to read as much information as possible. Eggyh73 advised me to start a new thread. I am from Australia and this is my first official road marathon. I love the idea of having some support and pasta night (night before) and beers and burgers after or should that be French Champagne.

    Please all join me to offer support and have a fun time <3 :)
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    Oh, new thread!

    I won’t be in Paris this year, but will hang around here and try and answer any questions people have.

    It’s a great event. Keeping the meet ups going is a great thing. I’ve made some great friends over the years in Paris. 
  • Thank you Carol for starting the new thread. I hope your training and your race goes well. Paris was my first marathon and because of the help and support on this forum I had a great time. I think I've picked up more useful advice and reassurance from this forum than all the books I've read about marathon running. 2019 will be my third Paris and I'm going to be using the thought of lining up for the start below the Arc de Triomphe to get me out on all those winter morning runs. I've put myself in the Yellow start, Bib No. 11515, with the idea that I'll get out early before it gets too hot (and so probably guaranteeing a cold wet race).

  • Carol4Carol4 ✭✭✭
    My bib number is 29096 and I am starting in the purple in the hope I will be finished before it is too hot. I am visualising a warm sunny morning. Blue skies, big yellow sun and spring flowers. I am looking forward to meeting everyone who decide to join us on the thread. 
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    Thanks for starting the 2019 thread Carol! Paris was my first marathon this year and I'm coming back in 2019 as I injured myself this year and although I finished, it wasn't the Paris marathon I wanted, so I'm coming back for another go!! Its a beautiful place to run a marathon - lets all pray for slightly cooler weather for 2019!!
  • Carol4Carol4 ✭✭✭
    Steph I hope there are no injuries for all of us. I am from Australia and will be training through our summers which are hot and high humidity and I am concerned about being cold at Paris but I guess once we start running I will warm up or at the very least the nerves will 
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    Carol4 - The odds are in your favour weather wise. I've ran Paris five times. The first time it was a cool day. The other four times have all been varying degrees of hot.

    For us Northern Europeans sods law seems to dictate that we train through winter and the marathon will fall on the first warm weekend of the year.
  • Anyone coming from London, or at least using Eurostar, tickets are now available around that weekend. I got return for £39 each way.
  • Thanks for starting the 2019 thread :-) Where did you all get your bib numbers from? I can't find mine - probably can't see for looking but I didn't find the registration particularly easy to navigate!

    Have booked my travel - Eurostar Friday morning to Sunday evening. Now onto the accommodation
  • Oh ignore me - I think I am 70663 in the pink start
  • Accommodation booked and just had my charity place for London confirmed so my 2 marathons in 2 weeks is now on!
  • Carol4Carol4 ✭✭✭
    Wow that is a huge commitment. I hope all goes to plan. 
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    K83nd0n - Good luck with your Paris/London double. I did that back in 2013.
  • @Eggyh73 ooh - any advice for the gap in between? It's 2 weeks so not sure whether to do light training or fully rest?
  • Thanks @Carol4 main aim is to try to stay injury free
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    @K83nd0n - Some very light running would be my advise.
    When I did it back in 2013 I was carrying a groin injury and really shouldn't have been running one marathon, never mind two, so I suffered a bit in the later stages of London due to not being fully fit.
    Last year I did Beachy Head two weeks after running Budapest and my legs were totally fine. I raced Budapest and then did about four easy paced 5km runs between that and Beachy. I was taking it easy running with friends that day, but despite Beachy being a very hilly route my legs felt completely fine.
  • @Eggyh73 - wow I'm doing Beachy for the 3rd time on Saturday - the thought of doing it 2 weeks after racing another marathon would fill me with terror!! Amazing :-)
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    Good luck on Saturday!

    I think not knowing what was coming was helpful for me at Beachy. I’m not from that end of the country, so only knew the course profile from people talking about it. I spent the entire run chatting with friends. I certainly wasn’t racing that one. It’s a great little event.
  • Thank you. Totally agree - i always donit with friends and the pooch as a "nice day out". Definitely no racing! I'm in awe of those who can
  • How did Beachy Head go K83nd0n? I did it two years ago when there was thick mist for most of the race, but it looked like almost perfect weather for Saturday. Really friendly race with great marshals who were amazingly cheerful and supportive despite the weather that year.
  • Hi @baldstan. It was great thank you - my 3rd year in a row of doing it and although cold the views were perfect (unlike the mist 3 years ago!). I managed to take 35 mins off last years time so my training is paying off but still treated it as a "nice day out" rather than a proper marathon
  • Hello, my first marathon and optimistically aiming for 3:15 (in that group). Missed out on London ballot so giving this one ago. I have done a few halves all sub 1:30 so lets see how I fare. Also coming from London.
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    Miles87 - Welcome to the thread. Good luck with chasing your target time. 
  • Welcome to the thread Miles. We're both in the same start pen, but sounds like you've got a good chance of beating that target time, whereas I'm hoping the early start will simply mean I get a good part of the race done, before it gets too hot. 

    In the past kenno has posted a race list so people in the same pen can look out for each other - and the later starters can get together in a cafe for a coffee and a civilised toilet stop before getting in their pen (there are never enough toilets in the pens). So here goes:

    PARIS 2019 List

    Red pen (Speed of Light):

    Yellow pen (3:15):
    tbc   - Miles87
    11515 - baldstan

    Blue pen (3:30):

    Violet pen (3:45):
    29096 - Carol4

    Green pen (4:00):

    Grey pen (4:15):

    Pink pen (4:30):
    70663 - k83nd0n

    If anyone wants to post what other warm-up races they're doing I'm happy to start that list which Nells has done in the past. Though I can't promise I'll update it as often as she did.
  • Also running and like K83ndon will do London too. Paris will be the focus though as will have lots of family support all lured by a few days @ Disneyland Paris. Running Gran Canaria in Jan, which will be warm, so suppose that as well as some half-marathons will be my warm-up race.  Hopefully in the red pen, but no number yet.
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    Hi baldstan, thanks for starting the race list - I'm in Grey, bib number 60005!
    I hope everyone is doing OK - my motivation is waning so I really need to give myself a good kicking and get some consistency in my running before the training really ramps up!!
  • Thanks Steph, I'll add you to the list. At this time of year I only tend to go out for a run when the weather's good, and try to make my long runs in beautiful places, like Richmond Park or along the Thames, which aren't too far from me. It may not be the best way to get consistent training in, but it means I usually remember my runs as being enjoyable, which makes it easier to go out the next time. I really admire those who can go out in the wet and the dark at 5 in the morning, but that's not me.
  • Hi, I'm in the pink pen - I guess.. 75031 - Andy.

    I'm doing my first marathon.. well since 2002, in December, the Portsmouth one..if I'm ready. Hoping for 5 hours for that.. and hope for some improvement in Paris.
  • @SpeedyGonzales - Good luck in Portsmouth. I ran that one with some friends from the Paris thread two years ago. It's a great little event. The beach sections on the way back hurt like hell right enough.
  • Hi all. 2019 will be my 10th consecutive Paris, which is fun. I've done it a few times with my wife or a friend at their pace (maybe 4 of the current 9?) and the other 5 for myself, usually ending in a desperate fight to the death with the Bois de Boulogne...

    Looking forwards to Spring now, with the Tokyo Marathon at the start of March to get out of the way first!
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