Paris 2017: the world's most beautiful city for 42,501 runners ... and me

The most beautiful city in the world had a big expectation that its Marathon could deliver the same experience.

In short, it did.  It's a magnificent Marathon in a really beautiful city.  Add it to your bucket list.
How this event is not one of the World Major Marathons I don't know.  Its every bit as awesome and right up there with New York and the other majors.

It delivers plenty of genuine 'pinch yourself' experiences .... yes, I really am running down the Champs-Élysées ......  with 43,000 other runners ...... with the entire road just for us runners.

Yes, there is the Louvre Museum. Yes there is the Eiffel Tower.  Got the idea?  If ever you need a 'pick me up' along the course this event delivers consistently.

Perfect weather helped - and perfect organisation too.  I'm always impressed when anyone can organise tens of thousands of runners.  Its a huge effort and I always appreciate (and try to thank) the volunteers and those who make it a great experience for us runners.

Some highlights:

Jose found me ... I think he could find a needle in a haystack!

* Seeing my friend Jose on the course. I had one friend with me in all of Paris  and - unbelievably - out of 42kms and 43,000 people he saw me and even ran with me.  A huge lift!

* The start...

Always inspiring..... wheel chair elites

Super portable toilets right at the start!!  Not really private but very practical!

Yes that is the Arc de Triomph just behind us at the start line

"Aller"  (Go!)

The cobble stones of the Champs-Élysées   

* Meeting other Aussies on the course.  I met Annie from Hobart and ran with her through the last 10km.  Immediate BFF!

So French!

* The best sign on the course:   "If Trump can run and win, so can you!"

* The course ....

It really is beautiful .....

Drummers 

Amazing drink stations .....   

These bikes were a little tempting .....

And a mid-race massage was tempting too!

Such a cool old Citroen (and the Notre-Dame Cathedral in the background)

I never knew there were so many drummers in all France.  Drummers drummers everywhere!

Oh look!  

So its perfectly ok to stop for a photo!

It was hot - 24-ish - and they took runner hydration seriously!

The 40km mark.  More drummers....

42.1km.  Just 100 metres to go...... poor runner :(

You getting the idea about lots of drummers!

Best view in any Marathon .. the finish chute!

Tourist or runner?????

My event ranking:

Organisation	9.5	Organising 42,500 people for anything is hard. This ran like clockwork. Bravo!
Course	7	The best bits are the start and in the city. The parks at either end of the course are beautiful but I like playing tourist in the city more.  Relatively flat - except for the last couple of km which seems to wind uphill .... so if you're up for a big last push - go early.
Atmosphere	8	Its Paris... who can't be excited!  You're running down the Champs-Élysées, you're passing world famous tourist sites. Wow wow wow/
Crowds	7.5	Excellent. Cheering "Androo" in French took me a while to realise they were cheering for me! And the finish chute where they were banging the walls was deafening and goose-bumpying!
Expo	6	Excellent.  But its a long way away.  Get ready for 13 stops on the train there and back.  Plan a long trip and not just a pop in.
Medal	7	Sweet.
Runner’s pack	7	A bag, a performance finishers tshirt and a drink. And as much post-race food as you could eat.
Injuries	10	None! (I went too slow!)

And, as always, the obligatory daggy post-run kiss the medal photo!

http://www.schneiderelectricparismarathon.com/en/

9th April, 2017

Tapering for a marathon never ever means "go climb Kilimanjaro"!

Yep, that's what I did.  I tapered for the 2017 Kilimanjaro Marathon by climbing Kili just days before. Or maybe I did a recovery run ... a 42km recovery run after climbing Kili.

I'm not really sure. Either way I know it was exhausting, fun, different, challenging and more......

Climbing Kili is an amazing experience and one worthy of its own blog post.  In short, it was probably the hardest mental and physical thing I've ever done.  Vomiting, falling down, climbing, painful half step after half step.  You get the idea.  All perfect preparation for a marathon really!!

The ultimate altitude training! 

So here I was in Moshi's Stadium, at 6.30am in the dark ... already 21 degrees. Ready for my first Marathon in the continent of Africa.

The first half is pretty much out and back on the main road.  The joy is watching a flock (what else do you call them?) of African elite runners coming back together towards you.  One second, then woosh, they are gone ...   Watching these guys and girls is something I never tire of.

The second half is pretty much up and down.  10km straight up destroys you.  Then the road down kills you!

... but you do get to run past the YMCA! 

Some highlights:

* the kids who come out and run with you.  Such delight from them and such an energy boost for me. 

* listening to the glorious Sunday morning singing in Churches that line the streets

* the officials and police did a great job of keeping the normally crazy roads relatively quiet

The down sides:

* Kilimanjaro is there one minute and gone the next.  Clouds come and go quickly and its hard to pick. Overall we had a cloudy day - good for temperatures and sunburn - but bad when you're hoping for that classic photo.  I saw Kili only briefly a couple of times.

If you look carefully you can see Kili's snow capped peak peaking out from the cloud

  * working out - eventually - what that road kill I kept seeing was.  Hedgehog!

My event ranking:

Organisation	8	To be honest I was very pleasantly surprised.  I was expecting a few rough edges and some African uniqueness.  But overall is was really really well run. Great course markings, clear roads, and plenty of water - and Coke stations. Deserving of - dare I say it - a western event.  Plenty of cups... ... makes great fun for the creative kids!
Course	6	Out and back from Moshi Stadium is fine.  Makes for a great finish. Finish line....  check out the stadium surface Bag drop, etc is easy and friendly.  Be prepared for the heat; be prepared for that 2nd half hill, and be prepared for the banana plantation and a little off road action as well! It feels like there are about 225,000 of these on the course! These bananas looked so tempting .... .... this didn't.
Atmosphere	7	With a 1/2 and a 5km also on the same morning the whole place was buzzing. The signs went up in town and you could tell it was a big thing for little Moshi. Its not big city like New York but its pretty cool to have any city shut down so you can run in it.
Crowds	7	And 6 of those points are for the kids.  95% of the adults pretty much stand there and watch you.   I wondered what they were thinking...
Expo	2	Not really an Expo, more of a few displays, but no problem.  Bib collection was great but don't register on the day or you'll be in lines for hours.
Medal	6	Pretty nice
Runner’s pack	4	A sponsors tshirt and a drink.  No problem.
Injuries	5	One massive blister and one black toe nail - but that was from climbing Kili ......  and that's another story.....

You make and meet great friends.  This is Greg, one of our guides for Kili :) 

The obligatory daggy kiss-the-medal post race photo!

http://www.kilimanjaromarathon.com/

@kilimanjaromarathon

26th February, 2017

Gold Coast Marathon ... anything but Gold.

The 2016 Gold Coast Marathon really lived up to its name and reputation.
A beautiful winter's morning welcomed Australia's only Gold rated IAAF marathon, but did it live up to its gold label standard?  Sure did.

Did my effort?  What was an attempt at a PB ended up being my worst marathon result rather than my best!  But that's illness - and it will fuel another blog post one day.....

Here's my event ranking of a great event.  In short, I'm labeling it deserving of the title "best marathon in Australia".

#GCAM16
#thisisqueensland

My event ranking:

Organisation	9	Overall, excellent. Hard to fault. World class indeed. Deserving of that gold class. Its not 1 outstanding thing, its lots and lots of little things all combined. Its easy (free transport); its user friendly (lots of space, signs, etc); its runner friendly (huge drink stations and a dedicated runners area after the finish line).  Compared to Melbourne and Sydney it really is a notch above.
Course	7	Great start and great through 30km. Nice and flat throughout and alongside the beach is cool and definitely the highlight. All the pretty stuff is missing from the last 10km. Great finish shute.
Atmosphere	8	Best in Australia. Four elite runners under 2:10 gets a gold standard and also gets the story pumping and the crowds excited. Who doesn't love hearing Deeks cheer for you personally over the PA? Who doesn't love watching Kurt Fearnley fly past to win his event? Who doesn't love the "motivators" who come alongside and help you with 10km to go? Outstanding.
Crowds	7	Again, best in Australia. Crowds alongside all the main areas and even those having bacon & eggs in street-side cafes get into the spirit of it.
Expo	7	Best in Australia again.
Medal	6	Pretty good.
Runner’s pack	7	Good tshirt
Injuries	6	One massive blister and one black toe nail!

"Gee those Incas were smart"... A lesson in water from Machu Picchu

"GEE THOSE INCAS WERE SMART..."

Over and over I kept saying this to myself as I marveled at the creative spirit of the Inca people as I wandered their engineering marvel: Machu Picchu.

What great engineers, designers and builders they were. They sure knew a thing or two about water.

How else does a community of 500 people living atop a mountain survive with a healthy flow of clean drinking water for 50 years? How else do you design an irrigation system back in the year 1450 to counter a 50% slope and landslides?

These are not new problems. They are problems facing communities and people everywhere today. However I was really surprised to learn in Peru today 35% of people in rural places - like those I traveled through to get to Machu Picchu - lack access to clean water. 

Water, Machu Picchu and a Peru-inspired Janji tshirt perfect for the days hiking and exploring.

One company is doing something about it: Janji.  And I'm very happy to support them.
Janji means 'promise' and that's exactly what they do. They deliver on their promise that every sale of Janji apparel provides one year's clean water for someone in one of their Peru projects (through Living Water International). 

Back in 1991 When Hiram Bingham found the ruins of Machu Picchu he found intact their "remarkable system of highways and irrigation ditches, which ran for scores of miles in the Central Andes."

The original plan for an Inca estate required - what we would term today - town planning. But this was in 1450 of course! A stream, fed by rains from the humid basin of the Amazon, at at altitude of 2,500m fed a canal built straight into the city walls. 16 fountains, the first reserved for the Emperor, ensured the design for the entire city. These fountains remain. 

Water runs still through Machu Picchu on the Inca's original buildings

Despite the fascinating expertise of the Incas Peru remains a country with great need for water supply for so many of its people. Janji chose Peru as one of the countries to benefit from its mission of providing water projects funded through sales of its apparel. Runners, who have a great appreciation for fresh water, choose their apparel with designs based on the themes and inspiration of the country. 

Check out all their awesome Peru designs on great apparel here: http://runjanji.com/collections/peru
 

 
We can learn a lot from the Incas. We can contribute a lot through Janji.

Find out more about Janji's great work in Peru here: http://runjanji.com/pages/peru

Wearing my favourite Janji llama design tshirt whilst hiking along the Inca Trail 

References:
- 'City of the Incas - The story of Machu Picchu and its builders' by Hiram Bingham, Phoenix House Publishing, London.
- 'Water supply and draining at Machu Picchu' by Jeff L. Borwn, Waterhistory.org