Eco Trail Paris 50km

The Eiffel Tower at night... what could be more beautiful! This weekend was awesome! I met some friends in Paris to do the Eco Trail Paris again. Last year I did the 80km, which was awesome, but, I injured myself. Even though I felt totally trained for the race, I was really nervous about injuring myself again. But, fortunately I didn't! Instead it was an absolutely amazing run. We landed in Paris late on Friday night, met everyone else for dinner and sat around getting excited about the race and debating what to wear, as it was supposed to be WARM! Last year it absolutely poured down rain, which made for a muddy and miserable course.

Heather and I stopped for the perfect French pre-race breakfast, croissant and coffee. Delicious, but not quite enough to fuel up for a 50km trail run, I bought a ham and cheese crepe from a street stand... yep, my trainer would be proud! Ha!

This is our before pictures... we were ready to run!

The race was much harder than I remembered it being. I started off feeling pretty good, but after about an hour I just started thinking, wow, this is hard. My legs are tired. I don't remember feeling like this. Oh, it's getting hot. Oh no! I ran out of water. Are these really the same hills? They seem steeper... My legs were really just burning for much of the race. I really don't remember any other race that while I was racing, my body felt tired. Even the 80km last year. Weird. I laugh when I try to remember what I spent the time thinking about. For a while I was wishing I was Heather, since she started earlier and was doing 30km, then I started wondering where Sarah was on the 50km course, then a bit later, I started being SO thankful I was only doing 50km, then I was laughing because I was thinking, since when did 50km become an "only"?!

Snack time! I had run out of water at about 24km, so I was really happy when I arrived to the first rest stop. I was thirsty and who doesn't need dark chocolate and a handful of nuts in the middle of a run? Delicious.

The Eiffel Tower looks so far away... I knew that was were the race ended, and that it was mostly downhill from there, but at the same time, I also remembered how annoying the winding around the busy roads on this tiny gravel "sidewalk" was and how it seems like you are just running away from the tower, when all you want to do is GET THERE. This time though, I got to run it in the daylight and no rain and I had water too. Last year I was so mad the last 20km that I couldn't even be bothered to stop and fill up my camelbak, instead I just figured I would drink the rain water... Anyways, I felt great during the last part and was able to pass a lot of people who had stopped to walk. That always feels great! I felt like even though my legs were burning, I had done all of the necessary training if at the end I was still able to keep on going.

We did it! Heather met me at the end and then we just hung out and waited a bit for Sarah to finish. It was awesome! I was super happy with my time, 5:11, I got 8th in my division, 24th of all females and 344th overall. I finished faster than I thought I was going to, which always makes me happy. It was such a perfect day for running, gorgeous blue skies, perfect temperature and a cool breeze. The exact opposite from last year! I loved the race. After we finished, we met up with the Grewe clan for dinner and to cafe/bar hop until Gail and Theresa finished. We had a great French meal and lots of French wine and great conversation and lots of laughs. It was absolutely amazing to watch Gail and Theresa cross that 80km finish line. What an amazing accomplishment! I can't believe Gail did it again, well, actually, I can.

Celebration time! After the obligatory finish line photos, we all went back to one of the cafes we had been at earlier in the night and had more French wine, fries, beer and peanuts. I think we finally made it back to the hotel at 1:30 or 2:00, maybe even later, who knows! The next day was relaxing, I think I went to three or four different cafes, one was even Starbucks (free wifi), we wandered through the market, I found a place to get a massage and then ate a delicious lunch and read my book. A perfectly relaxing afternoon in Paris after a perfectly awesome trail run.

Spring in Paris... what's not to love?! Another think I love, is that next time I be here, it will be to enjoy Paris as a total tourist. My Mom, Aunt and I will be here the first weekend in June. FUN! I am hoping for a boat ride, cafe time and markets. I have a feeling there will be lots of walking and some wine too! In other news... I became an adult today. I finally have a refrigerator that is not "perfect for a college dorm room", yep, I'm growing up for sure!