Paris Marathon Recap

The trip started out rocky with back pain and other issues that lead to surgery the week before heading to Paris for the marathon. I thought I was going to be ok to run the first few days in Paris, but unfortunately the pain came back. I reluctantly packed up all my race kit.

I did go to packet pick up to get my bib, but was not hopeful I would be able to run. I had a good chat with Kelly about the race. It was a hard decision because I didn’t want to give up and not try, but I also did not want to get another DNF like Dublin.

Race morning I felt ok, so I decided to give it a try. The state was one of the coolest starts for any marathon I have done, but within 5 miles I was ready to quit. I was just tired and didn’t want to run. I think the stress of the week had got to me. As I was getting ready to quit I asked myself what hurt causing me to quit… the answer was nothing. I was mentally quitting.

I chose to take the rest of the race easy. I walked when I wanted to, stopped for photos and just enjoyed the course (other than the dead rat).

It was not my fastest marathon by far, but I enjoyed the course and race experience probably more than any other marathon.

Friday in Paris

We took off Friday morning to Versailles.  It was a nice walk down to the RER and then 30 minutes to get out there.

We just took a walk in the gardens and didn’t go inside as the line was massive!  I can’t believe that people would stand in it!

Here are some photos from our morning walk.

After the gardens we went for some lunch at a little pub we found.  The food and beer were really good.  I am still not really sure what I had, but it was lovely.

Todays wonder around Paris

We took a walk along the river this morning to get to the botanical gardens.  It was a lovely walk- quiet and peaceful.  We made a stop for lunch at a seafood place.   It was a really cute place and the food was lovely.

From there we went to the botanical gardens and were a bit disappointed to see so little in bloom the spring.  But it was a nice park in the middle of the city.

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Paris

Richard and I both arrived in Paris yesterday.  Richard by plane and me by train and headed to our little apartment in Paris.  It is in a really nice little neighborhood.  We then went off for a late lunch at a local restaurant.

After a little nap (and some work) we went out for an evening stroll.