Marathon de Paris: the official race report

By: Robert S. Hebert III (Marathoner #42979)
PARIS, FRANCE—OK, so the goals evolved over time....let's just get that out there from the onset.

Having started running the summer of 2007 our hero in his usual regimented way, had his training plan all laid out that would find successive challenges—a 10K, followed by two half marathons. These 3 races coupled with the usual marathon training mileage would find him in battle trim condition for the Paris marathon. Voila!

But the ravages of both age and inexperience would dictate otherwise.

First, a serious IT band injury in September erased the Silicon Valley Half Marathon from the race schedule. Rallying in November, he survived the Rock & Roll Phoenix Half but was convinced upon completion that 13.1 might be his physical limit. A nose-to-the-grindstone training regimen however found him right on track to crest 22 miles 3 weeks prior to the Marathon de Paris. This too, was subverted by ankle and heel injures, and he never logged a distance greater than 20 miles before winging over to Charles DeGaulle airport.

So it was with some wavering bravado that the goal at the start was to beat Katie Holmes's NYC Marathon time of 5:29, or in a word, simply finish—time be damned.

The very fact of running through the streets of the ville ancienne regularly spurred on by the gracious Parisian populous yelling "Allez Robiere"..."Coor-aah-gh Robiere", capped by regularly seeing Mama Foo on the sidewalks at intervals for kisses and photo ops, found our hero running a respectable 4:40 pace at the halfway point.

The route then dipped down along the Seine which—with the Louvre on his right and the Eiffel Tower to his left—provided scenery enough to motivate one to chug along. Then along came mile 20, heretofore the longest distance he had ever run. Even being positive, thinking, 'Every step beyond this point is a new distance...', was not enough to overcome what lay ahead in miles 22-24; a park with little diversion or crowd support.

Left to his thoughts, and seeing others around him begin to fade and walk, our hero had to force himself to persevere. Walking was limited to two 30-second spurts before he continued however falteringly forward. At mile 24, there once again was his love—Mama Foo in her raincoat, running alongside to give him that extra boost needed to turn the final few corners and finish at Avenue Foch in 5:05:15.

The moral of the story: Never underestimate the power of love, or the motivating potential of spanking the running time of Tom Cruise's trophy wife who is 30 years your junior.

Congratulations, Bob. A fine Foo finish indeed.