David Scrimshaw writes (in full gory detail):
Sunday 10th April, and I was toeing the line on the Champs Elysees among the 3:00 to 3:15 hopefuls. The morning had started cool thanks to the 8:45 start but there was anticipation of the heat to come as the sun was beginning to sneak through the buildings and hit the road, with the memory of the previous days heat still fresh in the mind!
The race started efficiently amongst a great buzz from the crowds and participants, shouts of ‘allez allez’ coming from all angles. I had aimed to set out at 7:10 mileing moving up to 7:05 once I had got into my stride and space was more of a luxury following the early first 2 miles. All was going to plan and once settled I really began to enjoy the race, the heat being kept at bay by the cold water buckets and sponges all runners had received at the expo the previous day.
I had seen Amy at mile 3 and at mile 6 was surprised to hear a booming ‘come on Beckenham Running Club’ – I turned around to see Steve Smythe (Claire Elms Coach) standing on the sidelines cheering me on! He was out in Paris with Asics having helped coach some of the ‘Asics Super 6’ – I also caught up with Steve again at mile 16 in one of the long tunnels when he joined me for a minute on the road to offer some words of encouragement – a real unexpected boost!
I had come through the halfway point feeling pretty good in 1:32:44, so bang on schedule for my target time. I saw Amy again at mile 18 and was still feeling pretty good although I had started to feel what felt like it could be the onset of cramp in my left calf by about mile 18-19 and was also starting to feel the heat as the temperatures crept up and the sun rose in the sky meaning there was now very little shade to hide in.
I had been conscious of hydrating in the heat to ensure that the cramp was kept at bay and with it getting so hot I was feeling pretty dry and thirsty so kept taking on fluids to ensure I didn’t dry up like a raisin in the sun! Unfortunately I feel I must have been a little to enthusiastic with the liquids…. I’d started to feel the pain around mile 22-23 and had dropped a slower mile of around the 7:40 mark – on the back of this I pushed the next mile and clocked a 7:26, however, I had started to feel my stomach feeling pretty heavy. My body was obviously not able to absorb the liquids I had been feeding it and at mile 24 I had to pull over to evacuate said liquids!
I spent a couple of minutes throwing up all of the last 5 miles liquid intake before getting my head back together and getting back in the race, but by this team I was totally shot and only managed to crawl around the last couple of miles for my 3:12:09.
I was really happy with the time in as much as this is a new PB for me by 28 minutes, but I felt I could have got under the magical 3:10 for good for age had I not made what was a bit of a school boy error – I guess this is the problem with winter training for a spring Marathon, all the cold weather training hadn’t prepared me for managing my body in the heat and I got it a little wrong!
Anyhow, its a great learning and a building block to what I know will be a sub 3:10 next time I set out over the distance.
The course in Paris is absolutely fantastic – fairly flat, really picturesque and some great support from the crowds. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone!
I’ve attached the Garmin Connnect link to my run for those who want to look at my mile 24 collapse!
