Since I’ve never been to Paris, nor do I know it very well, what I didn’t realise was that the Rue de Rivoli runs behind some of Paris’ most famous buildings – the Louvre, the Tuileries gardens and the City Hall. There was plenty of support from bystanders, some Parisians were even game enough to shout “Allez Simon!” (Go Simon!) because my name was printed on my bib. It all contributed to the great atmosphere at the start of the race, helped along by the thousands of other runners that were still running past us.

At the end of the Rue de Rivoli, the tall buildings open out onto one of Paris’ squares, this one being the Place de la Bastille, with a huge column in the middle of it. This was also significant because it was the first refreshments stop. The Paris Marathon is the first one I’ve run where food (orange segments, bananas, raisins and sugar cubes) was offered as well as drinks, but because I hadn’t eaten anything but energy gels during training, I didn’t take any food. Instead I just took my first bottle of water.

Now I’m used to running through water stations, but the pacemaker slowed to walking pace whilst going the water stations and this time, I reluctantly did so as well. The intensity of my training for the marathon and how exhausted it left me, as well as the fact I took a three week holiday in the middle of my training meant I wasn’t trying for a personal best this time, but moreover, I wanted to make sure I completed the marathon comfortably, rather than like in Dublin last year, where I felt I nearly killed myself finishing it.

I didn’t feel like I needed to walk through the water stations, but I recognise now that it was a part of the negative split strategy – taking a short walking break to allow a little recovery and preserve energy.

I’d run a little far ahead of the pacemaker, so I slowed down until the group caught me up again. The course followed another side street of Paris, the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, to the next Place, the Place de la Nation. Around this huge roundabout was another station, this time handing out sponges. Hundreds, maybe thousands of filthy, discarded sponges littered the ground. I didn’t take one this time because I didn’t feel like I needed it.

The course then continued down the Avenue du Trône, though I didn’t see the two columns, because they were both covered in scaffolding and on for another kilometre down the opposite side of a busy main road. It was quite boring running down the Avenue du Trône because there was nothing but grey concrete buildings on either side of the road and the crowd had thinned out quite a bit now, so the atmosphere from earlier had evaporated.

However, the sun had now come out a bit which made it a little bit warmer and a bit nicer. At the next roundabout, the Porte de Vincennes, the course took a ninety-degree turn right onto the Boulevard Soulit, which would lead eventually to the next milestone – the 10km point.

The long stretch which led to that was the perfect time to record my next update…

Approaching 10km

The 10km point was on the corner of the road which took the course left onto Avenue Daumesnil and out of the city, towards a huge park called the Bois de Vincennes. After passing the 10km point, I was feeling alright. My muscles had taken a while to get warmed up, but with each mile that passed that stiffness dissipated.

Tuesday was a rest day, then on Wednesday I returned to my pre-illness schedule with a 5-mile run. This was more tiring, but still well within my capability and I only barely broke out into a sweat this time.

On Thursday I completed my longest mid-week run yet, clocking in at 6-miles. This felt noticeably longer, running right around the headland and halfway along the South Bay before turning round and running my usual route around the North Bay. It was much more tiring, but that was probably because I had run another five miles yesterday. Despite all that, Thursday’s run still felt well within my capability.

Also, you may have seen on BBC Breakfast an item about free bus passes for the elderly. Well, the BBC sent one of their reporters to do a live spot on board an open-top bus from the Peasholm Gap turning circle. My route took me past this spot twice and though I didn’t run past when they were broadcasting, I still managed to see the correspondent. I can’t remember his name though. So that was a nice change.

I followed that eleven miles on Wednesday and Thursday with a rest on Friday. On Saturday I completed another six-mile run, which was quite easy. As I reached the Peasholm Park leg of my route, I was stunned to see that the heavy rainfall of the previous night had made the lake burst its banks.  This happens quite often after rainstorms, however, what took me aback this time was that the lake had overflowed so much that it was spilling out onto Burniston Road. It also forced me to make some diversions around the lake to avoid the flooded footpaths.

On Sunday, I went out for my Sunday long run, which today was seven miles. I went out much later this time, which I always try to avoid because the footpaths do get a bit clogged up with people who tend to get to get in my way. The early mornings have been bitingly cold this week, however, this morning was quite mild. Once again I was quite tired by the end of it, but I felt a massive satisfaction at completing the longest run so far in training for this marathon.

The first two thirds of run were hard going. Problems with my running shoes forced me to stop once and I paused again to take off my running coat because I was getting too hot as I approached the headland. Once I’d reached the Spa, I had to take another break. On the final stretch, running around the South Bay and the headland, I really seemed to hit my stride and found a good rhythm which carried me around the headland and towards the finish.