Elle Est Vraiment Folle!


This weekend there are 2 big marathons that I would love to run.  The first is obviously the Boston Marathon (though technically it’s on Patriot’s Day on Monday).  If the computer and registration gods smile on me on September 10th,  I will be running it in April 2013.  I used to think qualifying for Boston was the hard part.  It took me 6 marathons to qualify.  Now I’m beginning to realize that actually getting in, come registration time, may be just as difficult … if not more so.  This year I will live vicariously through my friends who will be running Boston on Monday. Frankly not getting in to run in 2013 would devastate me, especially with how hard I worked to qualify.  That’s not to say I don’t have a backup plan. I do.  The backup plan is PARIS!


The first time I saw Paris was in December of 1989 while on Christmas break during my Junior Year Abroad (JYA) when I studied in the UK.  I instantly fell in love with the city, not too long thereafter I feel in love with a Frenchman I met my first night in the city.   

I went back often over the remainder of my college years.  I also spent a summer studying in Lyon France. That summer I got to since the finish of the Tour de France on the Champs.  My last visit before adulthood was during spring break my senior year in college.  I definitely left my heart there in more ways than one. There was a long 16 year gap before I returned to Paris in 2009.  However, when I got off the Eurostar Chunnel Train that August it felt like I had arrived back home.  


I am a very different person now than I was back in my college days.  Then I was a “big girl” and exercising, let alone running, was the farthest thing from my mind.   I did walk a lot. 

American in Paris circa 1989-90

When I visited in 2009 I was in the middle of training for my 3rd Marine Corps Marathon.  Though my engagement didn’t work out (oh yeah was engaged to the French boy) I remained close to his family.  His mother considers me her American daughter.  I stayed with her in a suburb outside Paris (Soisy Sous Montmorency) during my visit.  When I told her I needed to run every morning and do a 20 mile run that weekend she looked at me like I was crazy.  Later I laughed as she told my ex “Do you know what she does for FUN.  Elle est vraiment folle!!”  I had to sneak out to get my runs done to avoid her disapproving gaze.  Strangely she is a nurse who always made sure I ate a full breakfast before I was allowed to do anything else.  

Paris August 2009

Anyhow, I decided right then and there that the following year I was going to run the Paris Marathon.  When registration opened I excitedly registered, though I was surprised at the extra levels of beuaracracy to run the race.  How many marathons require you have a signed letter from a doctor saying you are fit to run.  Sadly, things came up at work back here in the US and I was unable to take the trip.


The Paris Marathon is usually the same weekend as Boston.  I have a runner friend running the Paris Marathon his year.  I am very excited for her.  I can’t wait to read her race report and see her pictures.  If, for some reason, I don’t get registered for Boston, I WILL register for and run Paris … mostly likely with my French mama looking disapprovingly from the sidelines.

Mama and I partying at 1 am at Sacre Coeur/Montmartre 2009