Whatever next................?

Thanks to my sponsors - and with only 42.195 km on the clock these will be good for a few more.

I shall auction them at my mother's birthday party in August. Lot No 1!

Paris Marathon......

My hotel was about ten minutes walk from the Arc de Triomphe at the start of the marathon so I had a relaxing warm up rather than having to travel miles on the Metro. I went and had a look for General Cafferelli and then made my way to meet the rest of the team at the end of Avenue Hoche.



The team - from right, Pete, Jane, Martin et moi!




Looking away from the Arc de Triomphe and down Champs Elysees - Martin, Jane and I are right at the back and Pete is in front of us in the sub-4:30 group (he eventually managed 4:10!)

We were facing right into the sun for a start at 8:30 - hazy blue skies for the rest of the day.




The best bits really are the bands that play alongside the route as you make your way around. Most have an African flavour as this one does - a driving beat helps propel you along. Very energetic.




You meet some very strange spectators! This camel was part of a Moroccan outfit at the start of the route around Bois de Vincennes...........




.........which meant stopping for mint tea before continuing.




More music of exceptional quality - and clearly, I'm not the only one to appreciate it.




The nice thing about the Bois de Vicennes is that there is plenty of opportunity to run off the road and on the adjacent gravel path. A bit easier on the knees and an opportunity for speeding up.




A distinct Congolese influence here -I explained that I was from 'National Geographic'. I think they believed me.




Halfway at 21 km. Now just to do all that again.




The Paris fire service set up a hose at about 22 km. It was actually quite a shock passing through the ice cold shower - but this runner obviously welcomed the experience.




This lot were really going for it and must have been keeping this up for a good two hours by this time. Absolutely fantastic music and very encouraging after running for almost three hours.




Running along the Seine we had spectators perched all over the place. These two above could have fallen over backwards into the river. Well, almost.




The bridges provide useful vantage points for spectators as we jog alongside the Seine.




At about 28 km we came we to a tunnel that lasted about 500m. Obviously, this is the right place to practice scales. We got a good chorus going and it works even better than the shower.




I first saw Les Josettes Noires about 3 km into the run. They really were very good and I rergretted not taking their picture at the time. Having played to the entire field on the way out however, they then picked up their instruments and moved a couple of kilometres across the circuit to play at around the 30 km mark - so I was able to catch them towards the end. If they look slightly tired in these photos it's because they must have been playing for over four hours by now - and not quietly either. They probably put more effort into the marathon than I did.



Les Josettes Noires - vivid and excellent!

I eventually managed to successfully capture some of Paris' architecture. I haven't got a clue what this is - but that's because it doesn't look as though they have finished it yet. (Probably they are on strike.)




Ah-ha, I'm not sure exactly how 'Arrivee' correctly translates at this point ( only in Anglo Saxon, international language of banking etc) - but that's it, just up the road!




Some of the people who finished after me.




This chap took his bike with him all the way



Very French. Except for Winnie the Pooh of course. It's worth having a close look to see what he has taken along for the ride.



Finis - 4hr 56min. A bit slow - but I took over two pictures per mile. (PS several weeks later I discovered that what I thought was general fatigue in my left ankle was in fact a hairline stress fracture - so I'll add that to my excuses! Actually, its very painful.)