Marathon de Paris

This week was the Marathon de Paris.  Kelly, Mike Krieger and my brother Brad all ran it together three years ago, each with some sort of injury.  So the three of them were ready to get their revenge on the course this year.  We also had our student, Madeleine, running her first marathon.  Her sister, Mary Claire, was supposed to run it, too, but succumbed to injury in February.  So another student, Hillary, decided to run the first half with Madi.
Kelly and Mike have been training in Paris together the past couple of weeks.  They have been running in the Bois de Boulogne and past the Eiffel Tower.

Mike in the Bois de Boulogne

Mike at the Eiffel Tower

The posters for the marathon encouraging the runners started appearing in the Métro the last couple of weeks.

And Kelly and Mike continued to carbo load at cafés with hot chocolate and a croissant after their runs during the week.

Kelly at a Café

The anticipation was building.  The weather was looking good for the big day--low 50's, cloudy and breezy.  That is it was looking good for the runners--not so good for us spectators.  We got the runners ready and off to the Arc de Triomphe by 7:45 am.

Hillary, Madi, Kelly and Mike Wait for the Métro to the Marathon

Mike at the Arc de Triomphe

We had spent the day before mapping out our spectator strategy for the race.

Hillary and Madi

The Support Team planned to meet the runners in three spots along the way and then be at the finish.  We also packed Gatorade and Pepsi for the runners.  Our French friends, Dominique, Marie-Jo and Christelle Forgon from St. Quentin had left their home at 5 am to drive to Paris to be part of the Support Team for our runners.  Madeleine's family, the Hettingers, arrived, we loaded up on croissants and pains au chocolats and started out on the Métro to meet Sande, Mike's wife, Ranae, Brad's wife, and Shari and Travis, Brad's and Ranae's friends, at Mile 5 1/2.

Kate & Mary Claire with Dominique and Christelle

Marie-Jo, Andrew and Sam

Kyle and Barb on the Métro

We found a good spot near some drummers to wait for the runners.  All the runners (except Mike) had cell phones so we could tell them where to find us and we could track their progress.  We noticed the drummers had earplugs.  We didn't have earplugs but being near the drummers made it easy for our runners to find us.

Girl Drummers

While waiting for our runners to come, we saw some interesting costumes on some of the over 40,000 runners of the Marathon de Paris.  There was a long purple caterpillar running for a cause we could never quite figure out.

Purple Caterpiallar

Clown

We anxiously awaited the arrival of our runners.  Dominique even went in the middle of the street so see if he could get a better view.

Waiting for the Runners

Marie-Jo, Barbara, Sam, Drew and Dominique

Dominique among the Runners

The first runners finally arrived with smiles on their faces.

Brad and Kelly at Mile 5 1/2

We quickly resupplied them with Gatorade.  Doesn't the guy in the blue tank top behind Brad look a little jealous watching Brad get his Gatorade?  By the way, this was Gatorade brought from the US by Brad.  We never could find Gatorade in Paris.

We saw Mike and then Hillary and Madeleine run by.

Hillary and Madeleine

We decided we were frozen and needed some hot chocolate to warm up and walked to a nearby café for refueling.  It also gave us a chance to have our hearing return after being next to the drummers.

Barb, Sam, Kate, Drew, Mary Claire and Kyle at the Café

The course looped around through the Bois de Vincennes after Mile 6 so we were able to walk a couple of blocks after the hot chocolate to our next meeting spot at Mile 12 1/2.

Support Team Walking to Mile 12 1/2

Unfortunately, we were right near the aid station.  Water bottles, banana peels and orange slices were constantly thrown in our direction.

Clown Running Through the Debris

Mike was the first to appear at Mile 12 1/2.  We handed off his supplies but unfortunately he refused to take his cell phone.  This caused a few problems when it came to the end of the marathon.  This would be the last time that Mike stopped and saw the Support Team.

Mike Reaching for his Supplies

We even saw the purple caterpillar runners again.  And then spied Kelly--still looking strong.

Kelly at Mile 12 1/2

Brad came running in next with a smile on his face.  He was also looking strong.

Brad Gives the Support Team a High Five

Brad Refueling

Brad even took a minute to chat with the Forgons.  He was enjoying his second marathon!

Brad Chats with the Forgons

Hillary and Madeleine came running up next.  Hillary was almost finished with her half-marathon and they were both looking happy.

The Support Team Greets Hillary and Madeleine

We had to hustle to get to our next rendez-vous point at Mile 18 1/2.  We took the Métro about 20 stops to meet the runners on the Right Bank of the Seine near the Eiffel Tower.  Once again, there were some interesting runners in costumes.  See how intently Ranae is looking at the runner, trying to figure out what that guy is wearing?

Indian Runner

We glimpsed Mike running by but he was on the other side of the street and in the zone and he didn't see us.  Kelly came next and informed us that his legs were cramping--not a good sign.

Barb Shoots Kelly's Picture

He refueled with another Gatorade and a Pepsi and told us it was 50-50 whether he would be able to finish with the leg cramping.  He was so frustrated because he had felt everything had been going so well for this marathon.  He put in his headphones and tried to get in the zone to be able to finish the race.

Kelly with his Pepsi

Brad came up soon after and at least he was still smiling.  And then there was Madi.  She said it was hard to have Hillary leave her after 13 miles.

Brad at Mile 18 1/2

Madeleine at Mile 18 1/2

Now things were getting a little tricky for the Support Team.  The runners still had to run through the Bois de Boulogne and it had looked to us like it might be faster to walk to the finish than to find a Métro that got us near the finish.  The Métro was also getting very crowded.

Where are we on this map?

We walked about halfway to the finish when we realized we were running out of time to see Mike, who was in the lead of our group of runners.

"Mom, it's cold and this is taking too long!"

Some of us took the RER when we saw a stop nearby but Sande and Ranae were afraid there wouldn't be time and they took off in a run.  As we came out of the RER near the finish, we glimpsed Mike run by on the other side of the course.  He ended up finishing in 4:05.  Unfortunately, Sande and Ranae had missed seeing him.  Sande took off for the finish to try to find Mike since he had no phone and no Métro ticket and no plan of where to meet.  In the meantime, we positioned ourselves to watch for the rest of the runners to come through.

Brad came next and then we finally saw Kelly.  Andrew and Kate jumped in with him to help him finish the last kilometer.  Near the end, the officials pulled the kids away, and they were worried whether their Dad would be able to stand up on his own.  And Madi was the last to finish with Sam and Mary Claire running her in.

Madeleine and Mary Claire

Kelly was the first to make his way back to the Support Team.

Kelly Appears, Still Able to Walk

Kelly and the Family

Kelly and Kyle

Brad also found his way back but there was no sign of Mike.  Sande decided she had better go home in case he had returned to their apartment.

Christelle, Brad, Dominique and Marie-Jo

Then we heard that Madi had found Mike after she finished the race and we finally had all the runners together.

Now that they had stopped running they were getting cold in the wind.  Mike put his yellow Finisher t-shirt to good use.  We headed home on the Métro with four very tired runners.

Mike and Kate Riding Home

We all went back to our apartment and the Support Team enjoyed a victory dinner together.  It was a day to celebrate with friends and family and we were all a little tired--not just the marathoners!