 Paris, the most romantic city in the world. Grand tree lined avenues, iconic landmarks, modern and Gothic architecture, expansive parks and gardens which caress the river Seine as it winds past the churches, museums and art galleries. Paris in the springtime, lauded in film and song is even more iconic. What if I told you you could experience all this in just four hours or so by running a marathon which has more crowd support than most of the Abbott marathon majors and certainly has more rumours than all but New York. When you consider the weather is almost always perfect, if you like the big city marathon experience, there are few places better to be in April each year. It's expensive as marathons go but crucially there is no ballot system and no qualification required. You pay your money and you're in. No wonder then that I have been captivated by Paris ever since I ran it as my first marathon back in 2012. Luckily for me my brother-in-law lives in Paris so it's easy and cheap for us in terms of travel and accommodation. Here is my medal from that first year. Even before the film my run channel I was taking a video camera with me to document my experiences. Having seriously got the running bug and run my first ever marathon I was keen to improve my time. This prompted me to join a running club towards the end of 2012 and start training for a return to Paris in 2013. I set a goal of under 3 hours 30 minutes and trained hard through the winter. The result was a successful 328 and this is my medal from that second year in Paris. I enjoyed that, it was gorgeous, lovely run, perfect weather, lovely for running and I only felt, I only felt really fine, not too much. A year later I'd come up with a cunning plan. I was going to carry a camera with me as I ran. I'd tested this a few weeks before at the Eastbourne Half Marathon and it seemed like it might work. Unfortunately it did have a negative effect on my time. It was also a very warm year and I was slower than in the previous year. But this was the film my run channel in its embryonic state. Raw and unconcerned with subscriber numbers or sponsorship deals. And here's my medal from that run in 2014. Where did you get that from? For running? Yeah, for running. Did you do the running? Yes. Did you? Yes. It wasn't daddy that did the running then? No. No, you did the running. By 2015 I was on the hunt for a marathon PB and a good for age qualifying time for the London marathon. To this date the Paris Marathon this year remains my fastest time on that course. It's not the flattest of road marathons with some undulations and about 150 meters of elevation gain. By comparison Berlin has around 70 meters of elevation gain and is the world record marathon course. Here is my medal from 2015. By 2016 the film my run brand was well established and I was contracted to run Paris by James who wanted me to film him running his 98th marathon. We crossed the line in three hours and 20 minutes and James went on to complete his 100 marathons as now done well over 100 marathons and is also something of a 100 mile distance expert. By the way if you're enjoying the video please do click the thumbs up and share it with your friends and if you're not subscribed go on. It won't cost you a penny and it really helps out the channel enormously. Thank you. Starting on the Champs Elysees the route heads down to Place de la Concorde and then along Ruda Rivoli to Bastille passing the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral. It passes through Bois de Vansan before following the river along to the Eiffel Tower and then on through Bois de Boulogne to the finish at the Arc de Triomphe. It took me three hours and 19 minutes on another warm day in 2017, but I got this medal and my second fastest Paris Marathon time. Up to this point my wife Victoria had been a spectator only, a running widow if you will, but Paris 2018 would be her second ever marathon and we ran it together. We set a somewhat ambitious target of under four hours on what was a very hot day. It didn't quite work out but we thoroughly enjoyed running together and we seem to work quite well together as a team and here's the medal that we got for that year. I wanted to try and run fast again in 2019, but another warm Parisian day and a lack of fitness probably contributed to what was in my eyes a dire performance of three hours 33 minutes, having set out to try 315. But I collected my eighth medal and by now I was determined to try and make it 10 in a row. Covid put paid to the event in 2020, but in October 2021 at a postponed Paris Marathon, Victoria was ready for another attempt at a sub four hour marathon. She was solid and strong all the way through and I could not have been more proud of her. She finished in three hours 57 minutes, a PV by more than 26 minutes. So medal number nine was in the bag and we didn't have long to wait for medal number 10. This one was achieved in the company of Victoria and our Zwift friends. I've been running on Zwift for six years now on the My Run and the Noble Pro treadmills and we've made some really good friends. By the way, if you are looking for a smart treadmill to use on Zwift, can I point you in the direction of my referral code? It's always down there in the description of all the videos that I produce and it'll give you an amazing discount on the awesome Noble Pro treadmill range. So as well as running online with our Zwift friends, we now arrange in real life meetups and the 2022 Paris Marathon was one of those. Once again, Victoria smashed her goals of London and Boston qualification, beating her 2021 time by 10 minutes and here is our 2022 Paris Marathon medal. I am registered to run Paris again in 2023 to collect my 11th medal. For big city atmosphere, in my experience it's only beaten by London, although the start of Paris with everyone on the Champs Elysees in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe, it blows London out of the water. I love the way this start is much better than London every time. It's far more exciting and Paris is also less congested with rhinos and people carrying bathtubs and it's packed with iconic landmarks. I love it. But do you love it? Have you run Paris? What did you think? Let me know in the comments down below and if you'd like to watch Victoria's amazing Boston qualifier video then that is linked just here. So click that now to continue supporting the Film My Run channel and we will see you on the start line next time.