Other links: Aaron's Running Page Official Florence Marathon Website

Sylvain and Thierry after the finish

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The marathon was held over the third weekend in November, so the bulk of the hard training fell in late September and October, just as the days were getting shorter and weather was turning bad in Paris.  Cecilia and I also got married in late-September, and the entire month was consumed by the event.  In October I finally got my training schedule in gear, and did an appropriate amount of long runs.  I felt ready by the beginning of November, and I hoped to break my previous best time of 3:17:52.

Six runners registered for the weekend event - Catherine, Stephane, Thierry, Sylvain, and Francois.  Sylvain was the inspirational leader of the group, and provided ample energy and training tips during the months before the race.  The group covered a wide range of marathon experience - Sylvain, Thierry, Francois and I had run numerous marathons bridging several decades, while it would be the first marathon for Stephane and Catherine, and hopefully not the last.

We left Paris on Saturday morning November 22nd, connected through Rome, and arrived in Florence in the mid-afternoon.  All of the flight/hotel/tour reservations were done through Havas - the Schlumberger travel agency.  We were collected by a Havas agent at the Florence airport and taken by bus directly to the marathon exposition, where we registered, picked up our numbers, and examined the course map.  We went  back to the hotel just before dinner, and then spent the early evening touring the major sites of the old city center, all within a kilometer or two of our hotel.  We found a Trattoria open for dinner, and enjoyed a meal of salad and pasta - perfect for the following day's activity.  We were all back in the hotel by 9pm.  A few images from the day:
 

Registration at the marathon expo

Pre-race dinner of pasta and salad

Sunday morning was an early wakeup for most, but a bit late for me after a tough night in my room. I had no trouble falling asleep early, but was woken within an hour by the pain of mosquitos biting my back (and ear and shoulder).  I had left the window open during dinner, and had allowed a few pesky mosquitos to enter.  I at first tried to cover myself with the blanket, but could not fall back asleep due to paranoia of getting bitten later in the night.  After a brief moment of panic, which involved a long distance call back to Cecilia in Paris, I decided to dedicate thirty minutes to finding and killing any/all mosquitos in the room.  I was successful, but was so woken up at that point that it took me more than an hour to fall back asleep.  So, when I heard various runners awake and yelling in the hallway at 6am, I had probably only gotten four hours of sleep.  I had slept well the previous two nights in Paris, so it probably did not make much of a difference.

We met in the lobby at 7:45am, and left shortly after to find the race start - about one kilometer away, but also sixty meters above us on a nearby hill.  We had originally planned to take a shuttle bus to the top, but made a last-minute decision to avoid the bus lines and hike to the top via a pedestrian trail.  We arrived at the top at 8:15am, with plenty of time to spare before the start.  The originally weather forecast predicted rain, but no rain was falling when we left the hotel, and the skies looked cloudy but stable when we reached the top of the hill.  The temperature was near 11C, but would push 20C by the end of the race.  A few pre-race images:
 

Stretching before the start

Pre-race at the hotel

We went to the starting line at 8:45am, and the race started promptly at 9am.  We ran immediately uphill for the first two kilometers, only to spend the next three kilometers sprinting down a steep slope back to the level of the town.  It was a crazy start!  I finally settled into a good pace at the 8km point, but it was then that I realized that I had made a poor decision to wear a long-sleeve thermal shirt.  I was already soaked in sweat, and was getting hotter by the moment.  I knew that it was too early to run without a shirt, but I had no other alternative. It was then that it occurred to me, while examining the various small holes in my well-worn shirt, that I might be able to tear off the sleeves without ripping the entire shirt off.  After some contemplation I gave it a try on my right arm, and it worked perfectly.  I ran with one sleeve for about five minutes, then ripped it off as well.  What a relief.  I was still a bit hot and sweaty, but had done the right thing.

I reached 20km, and did not really feel strong, but still hoped to have enough left for the last 10km.  It was around 27km that I realized that I was more sore than normal, and that I might hit the wall earlier than expected.  In retrospect, I think that I had lost far too much salt and electrolytes from all my profuse sweating, and had been unable to replenish sufficiently by drinking only water - I had skipped the "sale" drink stations, which turned out to be a Gatorade-like drink that probably would have saved me significant trouble.  When I reached 32km I really began to feel abnormally bad, and I knew that I was in for a tough finish.  I dropped my pace, and hoped that I would be able to keep at least within ten minutes of my target time (3:20).  By 37km I felt terrible, but I knew that I could probably keep my time under 3:30 if I could avoid cramping and walking.  I succumbed and walked for a brief moment at 38km, and again at 40km, but I managed to finish strong with only minor cramping.

After finishing I walked back up the race course to watch for Sylvain, who arrived just after me at 3:35:30, then Stephane, finishing with an impressive 3:40:25, incredible for his first marathon, then Francois at 3:41:49, held back by achilles tendinitis trouble during the race, then Thierry at 3:59:16, who despite cramping managed to sneak in under four hours.  Stephane walked back from the finish line and found me, and we together walked up the race course in search of Catherine.  Just before the five hour mark she passed us, and Stephane ran with her to the finish - she crossed the line at 4:50:41.  Everyone had finished within reach of their goals, despite cramping, tendinitis, dehydration, etc.  It was a solid performance by the Schlumberger team.  Also see the official list of finishers.

We returned ot the hotel for a cold beer and hot shower, then got together for a great dinner at a restaurant just north of the center city.  The highlight of my dinner was the mozzarella and tomato salad, and also the dessert wine selected by Sylvain.

We limped back through the city to our hotel, and after a final beer in the lobby returned to our rooms for a great night's sleep.  This time I made sure there were no mosquitos in my room, and kept the window closed at all times.  A few images from the day:
 

Stephane joining Catherine for her finish	Stephane, Thierry and I after the finish
Catherine back at the hotel	An Italian entree specialty

Monday morning I woke up late, then spent the morning walking from plaza to plaza with my book, drinking several cappuchinos along the way.  I met up with the group for lunch in city center, then we spent the final few hours relaxing with ice cream and more coffee in the main plaza.  At 4pm the Havas bus left for the Pisa airport, about an hour away from Florence.  After some confusion and a detour of the bus to the Florence airport to drop off other Havas passengers, we arrived in Pisa with ten minutes to make the flight.  We successfully caught the flight and connected through Rome, and after another brief delay, we arrived back in Paris just after midnight.

Thanks to Sylvain for organizing the event, and congrats to everyone for a job well done.  Hopefully this is the first of many future races for the SRPC running club!

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