Unfortunately my friend Ju couldn't join me as we had planned because she woke up with a bad cold. So I went on my own. The weather was perfect for running - cool and cloudy. We lined up on the Pont d'Iéna by the Eiffel Tower.
This group's sign has a butterfly and the words "Les Elles" - that's a pun, as elle 'she' sounds the same as aile 'wing'.
This group of four was dressed like commandos (one can only hope they weren't going commando as well) and were holding up sheets with their names, not clear why.
There used to be more men in drag doing the race, but they have started cracking down on that. I did see one guy in a blond wig, who must have jumped in after the starting line.
There were musical groups along the way to entertain us, a couple of which were even Indian to go with the theme of the race:
I don't usually take photos of strangers' children but this sign ('Go mommy!') was too cute to pass up:
At 3k, they let us know how many calories we had burned, and added an English exhortation, because c'est cool, l'anglais:
After the 3k mark I stopped taking photos and concentrated on making it to the end of the course. I was mostly walking, but I still ended up finishing inside of an hour, which made me happy. It's a great feeling to do one of these races, you really feel the sense of accomplishment no matter how long it takes you to cross the finish line.
You can see the pride, for example, on the faces of this group of geese:
Here I am... it only took me three tries to take this photo of myself.
And a group of butterflies waiting for their medals:
Et voilà. Now I'm going to sack out for the rest of the day.
11 comments:
I can't believe the "Here I Am" didn't have the obsessive asterisk and the French translation nearby.
That race looks like a lot of fun - nothing too serious, love it! And congrats for finishing in good form!
Hmm, it looks like a fun atmosphere but isn't it a little condescending to tell you how many calories you've burned?
missexpatria - too true about the asterisk! I wonder why it wasn't there, given that it was an ad. Anyway, it was a fun morning, thanks!
Jonnifer - no kidding, huh? At least that was the only km marker it was on. I suspect they were just trying desperately to come up with amusing things to put on the signs.
Hey are you running next year? Let's do the group of the bloggueses!!!!
I was there too - I thought you'd be just walking around not taking part at the course.
Wans't it cool?
Did you see/heard the guy yelling "les filles les soldes c'est par là" between 3k and 4k?
But I would have liked a chocolate medal... :-)
Hey, congrats for doing the race. Great photos too. Too bad you hadn't tell me, I would have come and cheered on you like last year.
Btw, dou you know that the French word for asterisk is asterisque and that most people ended up not pronouncing it right and now say Aterix? Great shiboleth to spot poorly educated people.
JD
Oups, I meant Do you... and Asterix.
JD
Jussara, that would be excellent to have a bloggeuse group... let's keep that in mind! Hopefully I'll be able to do more running next year, we'll see.
I did not hear the guy yelling about les soldes... now I'm trying to think of a good comeback...
I love La Parisienne, it's somehow much cooler that it's all women and the guys are on the side cheering.
Chocolate medal... now there's an idea. I think you should take this up with the organizers. Chocolate theme next year!
JD, I wish I had told you too, I don't know why I didn't.
Next time when I do it I'll have to organize things better. I can't believe I didn't even see you when you came last year, we have to come up with some way to be visible.
I guess we had the same problem rooting for Mk and Tn when they did the half-marathon... some people solve this problem with helium balloons. Will have to think about this.
Oh, and the asterisk... that's funny.
Good thing. And about the calories burned: it is one of the gimmicks of NikePlus, so it probably is some sort of advertising thing.
Those were stork costumes, not geese!
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