The Mont Saint Michel marathon runs along the north coast of France, starting in Brittany and finishing in Normandy. The French marathon experience was similar to running a marathon in the UK and the route, which was primarily on roads with a few miles on cycle paths, was lovely covering French farmland along with views of the sea and of course, Mont Saint Michel.
When I first signed up for the MSM marathon I had concerns that it would be hot running in France in May but the conditions on the day were perfect with a bit of cloud and no coastal winds to go against. I was also unsure what the support would be like as I didn’t know how big an event the marathon was, but the support from the locals was amazing, with plenty of people lining the streets shouting allez, allez, and bands and drumming troupes performing for runners passing by.
The day of the marathon started early with my alarm set for 5.30am. After having my traditional pre-marathon breakfast of a huge bowl of porridge, I left our Airbnb in Pontorson (a nice small town located 10km from the finish line) and cycled 5km (on a hired bike) to a racecourse where I took the prepaid shuttle bus service to the start in Cancale.
After a 30 minute bus journey we arrived at the start line with about an hour until the race began. The event was very well organised and they had a bag drop service where people could leave bags where they would be transported to the finish line and portaloos for runners’ last minute toilet trips.
Once the race started I felt I got off to a good start. I was just ahead of the 4 hour pacer and thought I could bag some quick miles early on to allow me to slow things down when the miles got tougher further down the line. The run was marked in kilometers which was different to what I’m used to running in miles, so I broke it down into four parts 10k, 20k, 30k and 40k. As usual it was from 30k on wards where I struggled, as I actually got a PB for my first 30k effort. The 4 hour pacer and his herd of other 4 hour runners soon caught up with me and sailed past. Maybe I would’ve been closer to achieving sub 4 if I stuck with him the whole way – perhaps a different tactic to try in the future.
My final finishing time was 4 hours 9 mins 56 seconds, exactly one minute slower than my PB. Despite not achieving sub 4 or a PB, I loved the whole experience. The support from the French people was amazing, even though I didn’t understand what they were saying most of the time and I really enjoyed discovering a different country by running around it for just over 4 hours.
As a fellow marathon runner friend recently said to me, marathons are about the experience and she is absolutely right. When I think about doing a marathon in the future I will look for an event which will be a truly memorable experience, whether that’s determined by the people I run with or the places a race might take me. And who knows perhaps focusing more on enjoying the experience and less on the time, it might naturally lead to knocking off a couple of minutes off my PB…
Race stats:
Position: 1506/7793 – 178th female finisher
Splits:
10km: 56m
21km: 1hr 59m
30km: 2hr 51m
42km: 4hr 09m
Thoughts from this week:
- This was the first 20+ mile run I have ever done without getting blisters thanks to using BodyGlide all over my toes the morning of the run
- My post marathon diet has consisted of crepes, rose wine and left over Easter eggs
- I went to see the Spice Girls on Wednesday evening in Manchester and they were amazing
- Looking forward to having a weekend without a long run
- Now looking forward to digging out my road bike for some sunny rides throughout the summer
Life of an ex-student 