Last week, we went to the Olympics in Paris. I ran the Marathon Pour Tous (MPT), a mass participation marathon (~40,000 competitors across all distances) that was run on the same course as the Olympic marathon. It took place between the two events: men’s marathon on Saturday morning, MPT on Saturday night at 9pm, and women’s marathon on Sunday morning.
Overall, it was a very cool race to get to run:
- It was really special to run on the same course as the Olympic marathoners within 12 hours in either direction of them doing it.
- The music and lighting along the course were really impressive.
- The crowd support was insane – lots of spectators along the entire course. Running at night wasn’t that bad, largely due to jetlag working in my favor.
- We got to run past major landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Versailles. The race ended at Invalides, with much of the course following the Seine at the beginning and end.
Some parts were tough:
- Running a marathon 2 weeks after Badwater was not the best. I felt bad for the last 2/3rds of the race.
- Getting home afterwards was logistically challenging. Zach met me at the finish line and had figured out how to get us back to the hotel, which was a lifesaver. The finish chute was quite congested and the area around the finish line was also very busy, so getting out of there and finding him was a mess.
- The hotel threw my race bib out and I’m pretty mad about it. Meridien Etoile, if you’re reading this, I will never forgive you!
I predicted I would run 4:30, and I ran 4:30:38, so pretty solid prediction. About an hour slower than my fastest marathon, but non-terrible for dead legs.
The leadup
Getting into this race was a Herculean, time-consuming effort.
There were 3 ways to get in:
- Enter the main lottery by accumulating 100,000 points, which were earned through entering sponsor codes, doing athletic activities, or referring folks to the program. I earned 910,000 points, the 15th highest of the 700,000 people who were registered.
- Enter smaller lotteries by completing smaller challenges, such as “run 5k between 6-8pm local time.” I completed about 60-70 challenges, and I got in via the lottery for one of them.
- Various sponsor/influencer bibs, which largely seemed targeted towards local Parisians. Which, fair.
I registered and started accumulating points in September of 2021 – about three years ago – making this the longest registration lead time for any race I’ve ever done. I also started a forum (now about 2,000 people strong) to track and share sponsor codes, interpret communications from MPT organizers (their comms were infrequent and often contradictory), and swap strategies with other runners who wanted to get in. It wasn’t until December of 2023, right before the main lottery, that I got in via one of the smaller challenges. I can’t say that getting into this race was in any way an enjoyable process and I hope never to have to do this for another race. Philosophically, the hardest part of the race should NOT be navigating registration, which unfortunately seems to be increasingly the trend these days.
Race day
The race started at 9pm on Saturday night. There were 8 waves (or “SAS”es? I think that means corrals in French?), and each wave was spaced 10 minutes apart. Each wave had about 2,500 runners (marathon only had 20,000 runners). I accurately predicted my finish time and was placed in wave 5, so I started at 9:40pm. Later on, it became clear that there were loads of folks who did not predict their finish time accurately (I passed a lot of intentional walkers) or who were placed in the first wave as a result of being an influencer (as validated by some guy on the internet who this applied to). Normally I wouldn’t really care, but the roads were really packed with runners, so there was a lot more weaving than I was used to.
The corrals were spaced about half a block apart, and as earlier waves got released, they moved everyone up.
The start line itself was pretty awesome. Everyone was clearly psyched to be there. Lots of photos being taken and lots of energy. The whole street was decked out with Olympic decorations, from the start arch and other arches leading into it, to banners, special lighting, music, etc.
First 16km
When the gun went off for our wave, we headed out onto the streets. Spectators were EVERYWHERE – it was super packed behind the barricades. My head was on a swivel looking at the spectators, the course itself, and the incredible architecture and landmarks.
We ran along the Seine, and pretty soon were able to see the Olympic Torch hot air balloon – one of the most inspired Olympic torch choices I have ever seen. I tried to take a picture of the balloon, but it was super dark, so the picture turned out terribly. At the same time as I was staring at the balloon, we were running by the Louvre, which I didn’t realize at all until later when the photos came out. The Eiffel Tower was doing its light show when we came by as well.
Around km 14, Zach came to cheer me on, and I almost ran by him because I wasn’t expecting to see him. He had apparently also tried to visit at km 1 and km 5, but again, the crowds were super dense and loud and I missed him. It was great to see him on the course. He also brought our American flags on sticks; everyone was wearing country colors, because Olympics.
The runner energy during the first part of the race was through the roof. Runners were cheering, saying hi to spectators, filming, etc. When we would enter underpasses, someone would inevitably start a rhythmic clap, and tons of folks would join in. It was really fun to be in the mix with this level of enthusiasm.
The other entertaining part of this section was the high number of pacer groups. I started running with a 4:15 pace group, then ran ahead for a bit. I saw another flag up ahead and thought maybe it was a 4:10 pace group, but then saw it was … also a 4:15 pace group. Later on, a couple of pace groups passed me … and they were all 4:15 pace groups. I think there were four 4:15 pace groups overall.
Last 26 km
The last 26 km were pretty brutal and unenjoyable physically. The adrenaline had worn off, and my body was super tired due to not being recovered from Badwater. Some things that happened:
- The 6km hill starting at km 15 was brutal. I ran all of it, but it was a real serious uphill for quite some time
- The really steep hill at km 28 was … actually really steep?! I was surprised – it was SF-hill brutal. I was planning to run it because of ego, but it was really not runnable in the state I was in. Kipchoge ran it earlier that day during the men’s marathon, immediately DNFd, and promptly announced his retirement from competitive marathoning. Redeeming quality of the hill: they made a rainbow tunnel up it (see photo below).
- There was a faint white line on the course which traced the shortest distance of the route, e.g. by drawing straight lines between corners and to curves. I spent a lot of time just staring at that line to stay focused.
- The last 10km were really pain cave-y for me. I really wanted to stop running, but I could physically keep running, so I kept running. Everything hurt and felt bad. Stopping running just meant I would have to start running again, which psychologically sounded even worse than not stopping at all, so I just kept trucking through. My pace obviously fell off a cliff at this point. Road marathons suck because walking is basically an option – in ultras, you get walk breaks all the time, and especially when there are hills (and there are a lot of hills). Psychologically, knowing there was no excuse to stop running during this race was challenging.
- The last couple of underpasses were really neat, with great DJs and cool light effects.
Finish line
Running through the finish line of the Olympic Marathon was something I wanted to be super awesome, but was actually just a giant traffic jam. I was finishing right in the middle of the pack, a bunch of 10k finishers were also coming through, and there wasn’t a ton of space. So it was tricky. I was really glad to be done and really wanted to go home, but navigating through a half-mile long finish chute that was moving at a crawl was not my favorite. I wish I had taken more photos at the finish line, but there was really no way to get a shot in the crush of people.
Reflections
Overall, really glad to have done this race. I had never been to an Olympics before, and this was a perfect excuse to go. On other days, we saw some of the athletics events at the Stade de France, and both the men’s and women’s marathons, then spent a couple of days exploring some of the touristy Paris spots and eating at some great restaurants that Zach picked.
While the race itself was pretty brutal in the moment, it was worth doing because it was the first time an event like this had ever been put on at an Olympics. Also possibly the last – LA28 team has said there are currently no plans to do the same.
Next up: literally nothing. I am currently not registered for any races and I am excited to take some time to recover from this summer.
BRB Running 
Still haven’t run a marathon in space yet.