also, let me explain.
you will recall, since you're obviously reading from the beginning like you should, that this blog's purpose is to prevent me from going crazy while i attempt to run the detroit marathon, and more specifically prevent me from having to talk about running the detroit marathon every waking moment with everybody else. another thing, in addition to bloggery blathering, that helps with not-crazy-going, is the occasional check in and catch up with some of my many far flung friends who are also training for things at present. and the one i told you about last time, who said she was foolishly hoping i would post something inspirational? ... well SHE did something kind of inspirational today, and so i told her she had to guest blog about it.
it is helpful that most of my running friends have flung themselves to pretty places. like: Meg's living in Paris right now. so her guest post comes complete with the kind of beautiful in-run imagery that ... well, that makes you pretty happy i don't run with a camera. because University of Cornfield Credit Union is not e.g. by the Seine.
without further ado! read below. more from me later tonight.
***
[editor's note: because it's my blog and apparently i'm a control freak today, i decided that guest bloggery here is in Q&A format. so, AMT asked the questions and MG responded.]
AMT:'Running Home From Versailles' sounds like the name of a documentary about antiquarian ultrarunners. It becomes only marginally more reasonable when one knows you in fact live in Paris. So tell me: how far did you run, and what was the terrain like?
MG: I stopped running when the French lady in my iPhone said "Temps: deux heures quinze minutes, Distance: Treize virgule quarante cinq miles." [ no translations provided around here, folks. you gotta French up or get out -- ed.]That didn't get me quite all the way home - I walked from just before Bastille to my place in the 11th arrondissement (a mile and a half, I think).
In Versailles the terrain was a beautiful tree-lined street with a flower market - it's a pretty posh suburb. Then there was bike path over a big hill that went through the "Forêt Domaniale des Fausses Reposes" (the forest of false rests!). Once I got through the forest, it was mainly relatively flat terrain on sidewalks until I got into the center of Paris and the quais along the Seine.
There I had to spend about a mile running on cobblestones, which is my least favourite footing in the universe. BUT on Sundays there is a stretch of road along the Seine that's closed to cars, so I got to run on the road for the last mile or two.
AMT: My sources tell me your trip to Versailles involved a commuter train. I have used subways to organize long runs, but never trains. Again, living in Paris. Tell us what the Sunday train riders thought of you?
MG: I took the metro to get to St. Michel station, and I think people might have looked at me oddly but I was practicing my metro nose drishti [link provided for the clueless like me. yeah, ok meaning i require you to know French but not Sanskrit. double standard, i realize -- ed.] so I didn't really notice. From there I took the RER-C commuter line to Versailles and it was completely full of tourists going to the Château. So it was definitely not the usual Parisien(ne)s with their perfectly haphazard outfits and artfully messy hair. I didn't feel weird because the tourists were all focused on their magical Paris experience and also wearing some pretty questionable outfits themselves. At least my stretchpants and sneakers had a purpose!
AMT: What was the hardest part?
MG: Well until earlier this summer, I was basically just running for fun, when I felt like it, and until I felt like stopping. Normally I would run somewhere between 3 and 7 miles. But obviously when you're trying to run longer distances, sometimes you have to keep going past that point. Over the past few weekend runs it's been at about mile 8 or so that my legs (and especially my right hip) start to tell me that they would just rather not. But then if I just keep going, by the next mile it's much better. Today at mile 8 I was already back in the center of Paris so I was feeling pretty good about that, but there was also a stretch of slanty sidewalk that was really no fun and some crowds to get through at the traffic lights. I think that was the hardest part.
AMT: (we want truth here) What do you mutter/think/envision to yourself when running to keep going when it sucks?
MG: For me, I think this is where planning a fun route is very helpful. During my tough mile 8 I was thinking about that stretch of closed road along the river, and how I would be there soon and there would be other runners there and it would be great. Before coming to Paris I lived in the country in Massachusetts, and I would run to places where I thought there might be deer or eagles or other cool animals hanging out, and looking for them kept me happy and motivated (and nerdy). [omg she ran with EAGLES! -- ed.]
AMT: Finally, please detail any insights on running in your current habitat, and/or what you think is the most or least Parisienne way to celebrate a long run. Whatever it is, I hope you are doing it.
MG: I think running here is like running in any big city with little green space - there's a lot of pavement, construction, traffic, garbage and bad smells (don't get me STARTED on how covered in pee this city is, my friends are probably really tired of my pee-related rants). But it's also a city that is covered in history, famous landmarks, and neat things to see, and there are some parks that are actually really nice. And once I started running more than a 6-mile loop starting and ending at my apartment (which is on a rare kind of street that does have some trees, only people are always peeing on them!) I found that I could do a fair amount of sightseeing while getting my miles in. It also helps that I have a metro pass (employer subsidized, it's France!) so I don't necessarily have to run the whole way to and from the place I want to run.
As for celebration... On my route today I saw numerous bus shelter ads advertising... bread! I didn't know baguettes needed a marketing board, but they have one. Their current slogan is: 'Coucou, tu as pris le pain?' (Hey, did you get/take the bread?) The ads must have worked, because my celebration at the end of my run definitely involved a stop at a bakery. Oui, j'ai pris le pain!
So, Meg braved the disapproval of French fashionistas, ran home from Versailles and ate Parisien baguette. This seemed blogworthy, and it comforts me to feel part of a bigger world of nutcases. Actually to be honest, I know Meg to be a pretty rational woman who gets shit done in the world without falling to pieces, and appears to challenge herself without beating herself up, and given that much of the point of this blog was to not let myself get self-judgy for no goddamn reason while trying to achieve a task i invented for myself, for chrissake -- i thought Meg was a good posterchild to feature.
plus, there's the baguette envy.
a plus tard, mes ami(e)s.
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