Rajah’s Paris Marathon 2015

I think the picture  illustrates very well the whole experience.

This would have never gone so well without the support of my friend Wanda who challenged me and pushed me to surpass myself to finish my first marathon in 3hours 31.

This is for sure the result of an incredible dedication during the last 3 months (several running sessions, and in particular the ones with our coach Thomas on Saturdays,  Ari’s yassos on Wednesdays, and long runs at 6am on Fridays morning before work !), as well as the gradual work to strengthen my self confidence (still working on it !). Meeting the Expat Triathlon people has helped me a lot to structure my trainings and reach my first goal of the year.

All the support and advices i got from all the guys was much appreciated and has definitively contributed to this fantastic result. I am still amazed about how it went well, as I was suffering from my back after a crazy boot camp training done a week before the race. I sought advices few days before the race and I was not really sure i will be able to make it, taking into account the surgery I already had for my back in 2012. But finally, after few days resting before the marathon and some anti-inflammatories, i decided to go for it and look for my dossard.

 

At registration, i was in Sas 4h15, my expectation being to be a finisher as anyone who does it for the first time, but I changed my mind at last minute to sas 3.15 with the real will to seek a good chrono ( being consistent with the surprising Semi results done a month ago in 1h36 ) Yes i can be a little crazy sometimes but i also follow easily the crazy advices of Wanda 🙂

That turned out at the end to be the best strategy ever as it helped me to stay in a good tempo from start. I must be a lucky girl – and may be have some predispositions for running –  I felt great all along the race, did the first 5kms at a pace of 13km/h (under pressure since the beginning of the race as i felt it was going to fast and wondering if I will survive until the end at this rythm), and stabilized the pace to 12 km/h from km 5 until km 30 ( this without having a watch 🙂 !

I checked the details on the website after the race ) – with no pain and no moment of doubt, until km 35. I suffered a little bit in the last kilometers, several thoughts go into my mind but i knew i had not to crack under pressure and keep focus until the end. I had a weird moment as i remembered speeding up at the last 500 m 🙂  I was delighted to finish, felt in the arms of a random runner who was also enjoying his moment of glory! And few meters after the finish line,

I was so happy to find a well known face from the team (Karen) and be welcomed for the second time with open warms. Sore legs since but I really wish everyone to experience this amazing feeling of being a Marathon Finishers.