Today is the day! Marathon Pour Tous is finally here -- my first ever night race. I couldn't quite fathom how I would manage all my pre-race logistics, but would take it gradually.
But there's a LOT to do before my marathon. And despite the fact that you really should be doing anything much within the 24 hours preceding the marathon, I wasn't going to waste my time in Paris with just lounging about. And since I wasn't running MPT "for time," it didn't really matter all that much.
So, first up, was getting to the 5km point, right where the course turns through a tight entryway into the front of the Louvre.
Shortly after the 8am start, the initial motorcade arrived at our position.
Annoyingly enough, though, somewhere along the line of my freeing up some room on my phone to take additional photos and videos, I wound up deleting the video of the men passing this spot. It took about 5-10 seconds for the entire field to come into view and go through that narrow entryway -- the longer amount of time was the larger motorcade, including the pace vehicle (which was at about 13:30 by that point), passing our position ahead of the runners.
That said, my hotel roommate wound up getting a spot a bit further up the road (having watched them at the start line, and then run straight down to this area) and took this
video.
Once they were past, it was off to the vicinity of the 40km mark, at Ecole Militaire, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
When I arrived, I scoped out my spot (no one was anywhere near there), and took a quick look at the
final refreshment tables, organized alphabetically by country, that the elite field would have. I chatted for a minute or two with the volunteer manning the Aussies' table -- why bother with this sort of a table with maybe 2km to go. They're not drinking water, and they certainly won't wind up digesting any electrolytes they might have in their bottles. And this is not a table where they would be taking water to splash on themselves to keep core temp down. So, what gives? Turns out many of them will have a last little swish of something sugary and/or caffeinated in this last bottle. Some will even have
flat Coca Cola. Something to give them a last little jolt of alertness for the last push to the finish line.
As it was well in advance of the elites getting to this point, I went back across the road to have a late breakfast, and keep an eye on the few places I was hoping to be have available by the time I was done.
Breakfast done, I made my way back, yet again, to the other side of the road. Thankfully, only one other person had chosen to sit in the shaded bus stop that I had been eyeing, so I joined him. About 15 feet earlier in the course were two people from Ethiopia, one of whom had a rather large Ethiopian flag on a pole that he was antsy to wave when the Ethiopian runners came by. The person who was seated with me was keeping an eye on the live broadcast of the marathon, and as they were progressing, I was doing the quick math to figure out approximately what time they should be passing by our position -- about 10am or shortly thereafter.
Sure enough, just after 10am, we saw the initial vanguard of vehicles pass, and then the lead marathoner: Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola. Needless to say, the pair just up from me were overjoyed. About 15-20 seconds later, the next several runners came by -- ooh, it looked like it would actually be a race for silver and bronze. Then not much longer after that still, we filled out the top 10. Two of whom were two of the three Americans running. Nice!
[Update: I found the video backed up in my Google account as well.]
Eliud Kipchoge was nowhere in sight. I hadn't heard by that point that he had actually dropped out of the race at 31km. Arguably the best marathoner in the world had his first-ever DNF on this positively evil course. From the moment they announced the course and we were able to see the profile, I knew that he had no chance of getting near the podium -- he does not do well with hills, as was evidenced by his performance at Boston - but I never expected he would DNF. (For the uninitiated, DNF = Did Not Finish.)
Less than 10 minutes after the leaders passed us, the Ethiopian lady went absolutely nuts ecstatic. "Well, I guess we know who won" was my reaction. Yep - sure enough - Tamirat Tola finished in a blazingly fast (for this course) 2:06 and change. He barely slowed down on the hills, as I understand it. Unheard of how fast a finish this was -- the hardest ever Olympic or Marathon Majors course. And in such increasing heat, too. It felt like it was about 80 by this point, even though it was only maybe 10:15am.
Once again, my hotel roommate's view, this time from the grandstands at the finish line -- which we would wind up crossing less than 16 hours later: Men's finish
Once the last of the men passed by my position (the runner from Mongolia), they opened up the crosswalks (after much cajoling on our part) to allow people to cross in either direction. I made my way to the nearby metro station and went to my next stop for the day, at the Musee d'Orsay -- a grand art museum in a former Paris train station.
Along the last bit of my walk from the metro stop to the museum, there were a few notable landmarks to take in:
(Aristide Briand)
(A better angle on the women in sports display out in front of the Assemblee Nationale)
Just in front and to the side of the main entry to the museum, for some reason, were these sculptures:
Finally inside, the initial view is rather breathtaking. It seems to go on forever, and this is just one long hall on one of several floors that are used. There are plenty of rooms off on either side of this, and plenty of rooms on the other floors, filled with sculptures and/or paintings. I scheduled myself for about 3-4 hours here. You could easily spend LOTS more time, especially if there are specific artists' works on display over which you want to geek out. While I admired a good many, I'm not one to geek out over most art. This wound up being just about the right amount of time for me.
Along the way, there were plenty of items -- some of which were instantly recognizable, others of which were not but that at least struck enough of a chord for me to take a photo.
(Paradise Lost)
(The First Tilling -- hey, when your college mascot is a purple cow, how can this not call out to you?)
(The Roman Orgy -- This angle doesn't do it justice in terms of just how huge this painting actually was. The next two (from further across the hall, and then from across the hall and 1 floor up, might put it into better context.)
And, to think, that the scale of this painting pales in comparison with some of the others that I would come across in this museum, and would VASTLY pale in comparison to what would be on display at Versailles or the Louvre.
(Princess Mathilde)
(The boy was part of royalty, but I can't recall who. The artist wanted to show a more approachable side, hence the more casual outfit and his dog looking up adoringly at his human.)
(The Death of Francesca da Ramini and Paolo Malatesta)
(Reception du Grand Conde par Louis XIV)
(Charge by the Artillery of the Imperial Guard at Traktir in Crimea, 16 Aug 1855)
(1871 - she represents France, weeping for the recent losses in battle)
(The Riddle)
(Still inside, looking out a window at the balcony, overlooking the Louvre and the Olympic cauldron_
(A better close-up of the Louvre and cauldron)
At this point I made my way through the several galleries with paintings from the Impressionists. Not to my liking at all, but I did wind up taking one snap:
By this time, I was bit hungry, so made my way to their restaurant for a bite to eat, after which I made my way onto that same balcony I looked at a little earlier from a different angle. Some interesting sculptures mounted on the exterior, as well as a nice view of the Seine, Louvre, and Olympic cauldron. Even of Sacre-Coeur in the last one.
(Circus)
(Vulture on the head of a sphinx)
(Party room at the Palais d'Orsay -- one of the few spaces within the museum that is actually very quiet; love the obviously recent addition)
I was pretty much at the end of the time I had set aside for the museum. However, after I had viewed the ground floor first, I went to the top floor and had been descending steadily on my tour, and found another huge hall of sculptures. What was here that I nearly overlooked?
(The Nubians)
(St. Michael Slaying the Dragon)
(My fellow Trekkers just might want to refer to this as "Darmok and Jalad" instead. (IYKYK))
(Mercury)
(Yet another sculpture by Rodin of Victor Hugo -- he had almost as many of Hugo as he did of Balzac, I think.)
(Les Ages de l'ouvrier -- fascinating description about some of the religious symbolism in the piece, as well as the way the artist makes an appeal on behalf of the poor by having only one figure looking directly at us (young girl near the middle of the piece holding the loaf of bread).)
(The Booth at La Goulue -- one of several Toulouse Lautrec pieces about the Moulin Rouge)
(North America) (South America) (Oceania)
(The Continents -- just outside the Musee d'Orsay)
I got out a little on the late side compared to the time I expected, and the directions that I had to get to Pont Neuf on the bus was incorrect. Possibly foolishly, I decided to walk. It wasn't that far, in the grand scheme of things, but it was not only pretty hot (with relatively little shade to hide in) but yet more pre-race mileage being placed on my legs that was ill-advised. C'est la vie. My marathon wasn't being run for time, so I was not overly concerned.
Finally, I arrived at the New Bridge (Pont Neuf). Il Cite is not all that big, in the grand scheme of things. Everything I was planning on doing was all by foot.
(Henrici Magni, a.k.a., King Henry IV)
(Palais de Justice -- in the same courtyard as Sainte-Chapelle, interestingly enough)
(Initial sighting of Notre Dame -- you wouldn't think from this angle that there was anything wrong)
(Once you start making your way around to the side, you can start to see the construction equipment. Apparently they are planning to re-open the cathedral in December.)
(It seems hard to believe that they'll be finished by December, but fingers crossed!)
From here, it was off the Pantheon (see Part 2 -- there are enough photos there to break it out separately) prior to making my way back to the hotel for a brief rest prior to dinner and the marathon.
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