Paris Marathon 2019

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  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    I also ran the Big Half on Sunday. A new PB for me of 1:36:17, which is a great boost at this point in training. I was glad that was a tailwind for those final few miles and not a headwind though!
    Balstan - I'm still running in Sacouny Kinvara's. They've changed over the years, but I've never had any issues with them. Just switched over recently to the new Kinvara 10's, which I was wearing in London at the weekend. I'll be running in those for Vienna next month.
  • Place Vendome is cobbled, right?
  • Webby4216Webby4216 ✭✭✭
    @Baldstan - my bib number has changed to 18117, why did they change peoples bib numbers?

    I'm running in Nike Odyssey React's, just changed over from Brooks' as I didn't get on with my last pair of those. Just over 100 miles in those now and been very comfy.

    Hats off to those who ran the Big Half, or any other run/race on Sunday! Windy to say the least. I was on a cut back week so only had to do 10 miles but that was enough in those conditions. Got blown to a standstill at points.

    I see they have officially published the new route on the website.
  • Great - I dropped the medical form at my doctors last week, they rang me this morning and said they won't complete it. I was asked, very patronisingly, if I realise it has to be done privately? Which I know isn't the case. Ironically I have just had an NHS medical check done there having turned 40, so they all have all that data on their system relating to my height, weight, cholesterol etc etc but they still won't do it. Any ideas?
  • phronesisphronesis ✭✭✭
    Great - I dropped the medical form at my doctors last week, they rang me this morning and said they won't complete it. I was asked, very patronisingly, if I realise it has to be done privately? Which I know isn't the case. Ironically I have just had an NHS medical check done there having turned 40, so they all have all that data on their system relating to my height, weight, cholesterol etc etc but they still won't do it. Any ideas?
    Ignore the admin team and just make an appointment with your GP and ask them to complete it. Mine did for zero cost after I was told by the office it wasn’t possible. 
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    I run in Saucony Guide and On Cloudflyer and haven't decided yet what to race in - Saucony are my usual go-to, but I'm really taken with my Cloudflyers.

    Sorry about the high cholesterol reading @baldstan, I hope it was a one off! I'm getting my medical cert signed tomorrow then I'm hopefully good to do. 

    @get_down - I chuckled when I received my 10 week training plan - less than 5 weeks before the marathon?!
  • Am a bit nervous that if I make an appointment (which on average you have to wait 2 weeks for at my doctors) and then get told no in that, then I only have 3 weeks to sort something else out. Am thinking I should ring round other local doctors, find one that will do it, then move practices!
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    @Suzanne Taylor 2, why don't you speak to the reception first to see if its something they can do? Then at least you'll know without waiting the 2 weeks for an appointment.
    I had to email the admin team, they made me a 20 minute appointment with my own doc (who is impossible to get an appointment with usually!) and I have to pay £30 (it was £35 last year, so proof they're just making it up perhaps?!)
    In a pinch, there seem to be online docs who'll do it, but they're expensive!
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    Sorry @Suzanne Taylor 2 I've just seen your earlier response that admin said no. Why do they make it so hard?!
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    Regarding medical certificates if the worst comes to the worst you can easily sign it yourself. The only thing it needs is an address stamp, which you can buy cheaply on the likes of Amazon.
    Over the years there have always been some people who have had nightmares getting GP practices to sign certificates. These certificates are required for any French race, I believe it's the same in Italy, but since it's uncommon in the UK some GP's seem reluctant to put their signature to them even if they conduct a medical.   
  • Webby4216Webby4216 ✭✭✭
    I'd agree with Eggyh73, if it comes to it I'd sign it yourself and get a stamp made up. I can't believe they check any of the details in reality, that'd be a heck of an effort for the organisers with the amount of runners.

    @StephA - I have a pair of On's I really like as well, Cloudflow. Have used them up to a half before but my ankles were grumbling a bit at the end so I think maybe their minimalist nature and slightly less cushioning than other shoes might not be best for me for a full marathon. I really do like the On's though, love them for the shorter distance races.
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    @Webby4216 I've used my On's up to 15 miles and they felt great - took me a while to get used to them but love the feel of them now. Still don't know if I'll use them for the marathon though...

    I've just spent a bit of time looking at the new route - through Place Vendome which will be interesting (more cobbles...), but then a bit narrow up to the Opera house (I love the Opera house so hoping there will be a photographer to snap that in the background!), but a couple of sharp turns off and on to the Rue de Rivoli, only 1 pass of the Bastille, a bit more along the river and about a mile less in the park of doom.
  • Webby4216Webby4216 ✭✭✭
    @StephA I think my ankles are a bit funny anyway, don't think it's the shoes. My physio remarked the other day that they are 'loose' and asked if I turn them very often. So I blame my own body rather than the shoes for that one!

    Will be my first Paris marathon so won't know any different re: the route but less of the Park of Doom sounds good!
  • FRG2FRG2 ✭✭✭
    I struggled to get my certificate signed last year, having had no problem the year before. They declined (surgery policy, apparently) and I argued that a private doctor could only sign if they were to release my records to them... suddenly the doctor who had signed the previous year did so again (not my GP), and I collected it.  Then, a few days later, the surgery phoned to say they definitely couldn't do it...
    All this to say maybe make an appointment with your GP or sympathetic doctor and ask them face-to-face. They shouldn't have a problem, unless you have a particular medical condition which may affect your performance.
  • With all this chat, I am handing mine in today!! I would have left it until a week before otherwise, so thank you all for all the warnings!
  • Webby4216Webby4216 ✭✭✭
    Baffles me why it's really needed in the first place. I guess it's to cover the organisers in some kind of insurance requirement I would assume.

    What's a 'contraindication' for running? Leg falling off? Some would probably argue choosing to put yourself through 26 miles isn't good for your health :smiley: the wife certainly would!!
  • baldstanbaldstan ✭✭✭
    I wonder if there's any evidence that having a medical certificate reduces the risks of runners suffering something like sudden cardiac death? I doubt many doctors would do enough tests to pick up anyone at risk. And although my GP has taken the opportunity to check on my general health, which I'm grateful for, most don't seem to, even if they charge for signing it. If French races aren't 'safer' than British ones then it seems it's not really about protecting the runners it's about protecting the organisers.

    Thanks for all the information about shoes. I might try the On's, but probably wait until after Paris, I don't think I've got enough time to get used to them beforehand. Perhaps I'll try on the Kinvara 10s Eggy and see what they feel like. I've tried changing the lacing on my current pair and they're not so tight that way. 

    And well done Eggy and k83nd0n on your PB's. Amazingly I got one too, 1:35:32, which was two and a half minutes off my previous best. Perhaps having the wind behind us part of the way cancelled out running into the wind. And all those cobbles in Docklands were good preparation for Paris. Not sure if there are cobbles in Vienna too, Eggy?
  • baldstan said:
    I wonder if there's any evidence that having a medical certificate reduces the risks of runners suffering something like sudden cardiac death? I doubt many doctors would do enough tests to pick up anyone at risk. And although my GP has taken the opportunity to check on my general health, which I'm grateful for, most don't seem to, even if they charge for signing it. If French races aren't 'safer' than British ones then it seems it's not really about protecting the runners it's about protecting the organisers.
    Purely risk-shifting, I'd say, probably following a law suit by a bereaved family. Essentially it's a waiver. Echo all the advice above: make an appointment, don't tell them what it's about 'til you're in the room with the Dr, they'll find it much harder to say 'no' face to face.

    On shoes: I recently invested in those Nike 4% things. So expensive I'm wondering whether just to wear one at a time...

    On the course: cobbles in Vendome are the large type, from memory, I'm more worried about the sharp turns and crowding. Always good to lose some time in the Parc de Doom though, so swings and roundabouts.
  • KhanivoreKhanivore ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Slightly off topic but I tore a hole in my kinvaras above the big toe after a really low number of miles. Anyone else had this? It’s put me off buying another pair even though I like them.

    is there much difference between kinvara 9 and 10?
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    I've been wearing Kinvara for six years or so now and I've never tore a hole in them! I logged about 800 miles in both pairs on my 9's last year. If you put a hole in them with little use I'd be contacting Sacouny.
    I've only been wearing the 10's for about three weeks, after running in 9's all last year. They feel almost like for like with last years version, maybe a little bit stiffer in the uppers. They're certainly not as slipper like as they were with the 5/6's.
  • RammpantsRammpants ✭✭✭
    @baldstan – my number has changed too. Strange! It's now 31970 and I realise I actually entered myself for 3hr 45min.

    Hillingdon was predictably blowy and also had an evil incline in the middle, but I did under 3hr for the 20miles so hoping for squeaking in under 4 in Paris.

    Well done on your pb and K83nd0n and everyone who's been running this weekend. It all seems very close now! I'm wearing Brooks Vapor 4 and will be on the day.  
  • RammpantsRammpants ✭✭✭
    baldstan said:
    I wonder if there's any evidence that having a medical certificate reduces the risks of runners suffering something like sudden cardiac death? I doubt many doctors would do enough tests to pick up anyone at risk. And although my GP has taken the opportunity to check on my general health, which I'm grateful for, most don't seem to, even if they charge for signing it. If French races aren't 'safer' than British ones then it seems it's not really about protecting the runners it's about protecting the organisers.

    My doc was extremely helpful in doing the cert without question or charge. He didn't examine me, but said he does these certificates all the time, including one for his own brother for a French cycle race.

    The doc was very chatty – he told me that is only French and Italian sports that require this cert and for a long time he assumed it was some kind of work-generation scheme for unionised medicine in France. But he found out that everyone in France is required to have a full medical exam inc ECG in childhood before they're even allowed to do PE in schools. This has greatly reduced their instances of sudden unexplained cardiac deaths.

    I don't know if he's right in that, not sure where the data would be, but it makes more practical sense if the general population all have to do it in those countries. 
  • KhanivoreKhanivore ✭✭✭
    Eggyh73 said:
    I've been wearing Kinvara for six years or so now and I've never tore a hole in them! I logged about 800 miles in both pairs on my 9's last year. If you put a hole in them with little use I'd be contacting Sacouny.
    I've only been wearing the 10's for about three weeks, after running in 9's all last year. They feel almost like for like with last years version, maybe a little bit stiffer in the uppers. They're certainly not as slipper like as they were with the 5/6's.
    Thanks for this - I'll buy another pair and see how I get on. Seems I may as well try to get a cheaper pair of 9's than paying more for 10's.
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    I submitted my medical cert yesterday morning and its already been approved which is a pleasant surprise!
  • KhanivoreKhanivore ✭✭✭
    I’ve asked the GP wife of a friend to do it. If that doesn’t work out I’m going to use the stamp out of my children’s Disney printing set and self sign lol 😂 
  • andyc209andyc209 ✭✭✭
    I've just had my GP refuse to sign - went in to see them and she said if she puts her name to it and something happens... she is not prepared to do so ..... HELP!!!! Anyone know a GP? Would a Walk-in centre be able to do it?
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    If my GP refused to sign I'd just stamp it myself. They barely look at the medical certificate, as long as it's signed and stamped they don't care.
  • Webby4216Webby4216 ✭✭✭
    @andyc209 - agree with Eggyh73, just sign it yourself. Just maybe use a different name than your own! ;)
  • andyc209andyc209 ✭✭✭
    Going to try a walk in centre - felt really angry about the way i was treated - sat in a waiting room full of no doubt regular visitors with yet another cold and the first time in years i need help from a GP i get turned away - maybe if they stop pandering to the Google educated antibiotic hooked regulars they would have more time to help someone who tries their best to keep fit so they DON'T have to use their services.
  • StephAStephA ✭✭✭
    @andyc209 it is infuriating - they aren't even signing to say nothing will happen - just that there are no indications that you shouldn't run - I was prepared to sign to say I wouldn't hold my doctors liable but fortunately, it wasn't necessary in my GP practice. Might be worth a letter to your practice manager - may not help this time around but worth registering your frustration.
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