 Do you ever have one of those perfect days? When everything seems easy. Paris Marathon 2023 was one of those. Victoria filmed a lot more than me because I was concentrating on trying to break three hours. Right, I'm going to film my run for the 11th time that we're doing the Paris Marathon, although Marcus here from Richmond, Virginia, first time in Paris, first time doing the Paris Marathon. We're both going to attempt under three hours. Let's see how it goes. Wish us luck. How are you feeling, Marcus? Okay. Let's do it. I lined up in the three hour pen with Marcus. Both of us a little on edge, but confident and determined to do our best. Our nerves weren't helped by the confused start when we almost went off before we were supposed to. And we're worried then that we'd activated our chip timers. Moments later and we could hear sirens behind us and two emergency medical bikes appeared and drove through the start. But finally, we were ready to go. With the three hour pacer bouncing on his toes ahead of us, the announcer began his countdown. Okay, interesting start. But we are off and running in the Paris Marathon 2023. Let's do this. I settled in behind the three hour pacer and made my way down the Champs Elysees. Some 90 minutes later and Victoria's start was somewhat less chaotic, but rather more crowded. Over 50,000 people lined up to run the 2023 Paris Marathon, making it one of the biggest marathons in the world. Only Mumbai marathon has come close in the past 12 months. We've done one K41 to go. The Luxor obelisk stands at the end of the Champs Elysees in Place de la Concorde. Once around that, you're on the Rue de Rivoli, passing the opera house before heading into the grounds of the Louvre Museum and past that famous pyramid entrance. 4K done. Cued off to this rudder. It's wearing nothing on his feet. It's no shoes. No shoes. Good under the sand bed. Back on the Rue de Rivoli, it's a straight road all the way to Bastille. I had settled in and passed the 5K mark feeling comfortable. I was ahead of the three hour pacer now and trying to run to feel. 5K in just about 21 minutes, just under. Hopefully haven't gone off too quick. Feeling okay. This is 5K. This is our first timing mat. Victoria and Sarah were enjoying the sights and sounds, including City Hall, the impressive Hotel de Ville building. In front we have Team Marathon de Beaujolais pulling a wine barrel. I'm not sure if the barrel is full of wine. Sarah and I seem to be part of Team Beaujolais now. We caught up in this. Bastille is a great place to watch the marathon because you can see runners at both 7K and 26km. With 7K in and the support really is superb. There are drummers and bands all along the route. Approaching Bois de Van Saint, the crowds do thin out a little, but that gives you time to compose yourself and refocus on the miles you have ahead. 42 minutes, plus the 10K mark. Still feeling good. Just trying to settle in, relaxed. Going through the 10K mark, everything was going well. I felt comfortable at the pace I was running and I didn't feel like I needed anything to eat or drink at this early stage. So we're now over the second timing mat that's 10K in an hour and two minutes of our planned test. We'll see what happens. Wait ask me again at mile 20. The cool weather is helping. It was definitely perfect weather for marathon running if a little cold for spectating. The bands really do help you run through the park. It can feel a little lonely here knowing you still have such a long way to go, but there's more vocal support as you reach the Chateau. Chateau de Van Saint. Once past Chateau de Van Saint, you start heading out of the park and back towards the city. I was still on track. 15K done. Still feeling okay. Going through the park with 6K to go to halfway. I've decided not to look at my watch for the time being, just to let the miles flow. I still didn't need anything from the aid stations, which meant I could avoid the congestion, trip hazards and potentially race ending crashes. 15K done and now we're heading back into the city. Leaving the park, Sarah was going through a low period in her race. How are you feeling Sarah? I feel better. Sarah found that park mentally tougher than she was expecting. 21km was 12 minutes. Whilst there was a 21km arch, oddly there wasn't one at halfway, which did throw me a little. Just passed halfway in 128km. So we're not doing too badly. Can't afford to lose much time in the second half. So we are still on for sub three. From here, the route heads back up to Bastille, which you can just see in the distance from the aid station here. Pianas, raisins, biscuits, sugar cubes, cake. What more could you ask for? That's all I'm looking for to finish life. Victoria is about to give us a good example of what runners are supposed to do with their water bottles once they've finished. Rounding Bastille again, I was on a mission. At halfway, I'd realised I'd been running a little slowly and was behind my goal time. So I'd sped up and was pushing to get back on track. I don't know about you, but I am constantly doing the maths in my head. Got one and a quarter hours to do 17km. This is where things can start to go wrong in any marathon. But particularly in Paris, where you have to run through a number of tunnels, all of which have a short but significant climb out of them. The first one is the longest and it can get uncomfortably warm. I remember feeling very relieved to get out of it. There's a DJ playing in one of the tunnels, but this far into the marathon, those short climbs can sap your legs if you're not physically ready for them. But more importantly, it can sap your spirit if you're not mentally prepared. And here we are again at Plastilococcal. Sarah's saying it felt like a year ago we were in there. More like three hours or minutes. It's very long or many people want that hose on them today. As you make your way through the tunnels, if you look ahead you can see the Eiffel Tower coming to view. I knew I was getting close and as yet I haven't slowed down. In fact, I was feeling stronger and more determined. 30km, 2 hours 5 minutes. 12km to go so we've got 55 minutes to do 12km. Just over. So let's do this, eh? Let's do this. So I had eaten half a banana. Victoria and Sarah were eating cake. Ginger cake on a marathon rocks. We're at the Eiffel Tower. This is a good feeling. Mum, a power-up please. She's been so looking forward to seeing you. I've got warm clothes for you, but you don't feel like you need it. How good did that feel, Sarah? I've been looking forward to that for about an hour and a half. I've been real good. We've got 11km. Yeah, let's get this done. Although the tunnels may seem relentless, the crowd support grows and grows once you pass the Eiffel Tower and the finish line starts to feel within reach. I knew I just had to maintain pace and I'd make it under three hours. Victoria heard so many people shouting her name along the route. 35km, 7km to go. Into Buadabaloin now for a few kilometres. 35km. 37km to go. Just a park run. Buadabaloin is the second big park on the Paris Marathon route. But it's changed this year so you don't spend quite so long in the park before running back out onto the city streets where the crowd support is much better. I was definitely tired with three kilometres to go, but the adrenaline and the crowd support kept me going. I was absolutely fired up for the finish line because I knew I was about to take a huge chunk off my PB. 41km. With Boston and London marathons this month, Victoria's focus for Paris was simply to finish without getting injured. For me, this was my goal race. I'd trained hard for three months to break my PB and speeding up down the final hill through the crowds certainly felt like a victory lap and the culmination of a long winter of work. Sarah, how relieved and happy are you of playing so much kick? 350m to go. We're both going to win kick. Rounding the final bend, I sprinted as hard as I could to make it under 256. And here's the finish line! When you're this close to the end, the sense of pride, relief, achievement and exhaustion combine to create a unique feeling, an emotional high that's difficult to find in any other situation and one that has to be experienced to be understood. Done! 255 for 84km. Okay, so that could not really have gone much better. Maybe it could have gone one minute better. I was aiming for, my secret goal was 255. Came in at 255.44km. So not quite on A goal, but definitely under the B goal of smashing my PB under the C goal of sub three hours. And London qualifier for next year. Absolutely delighted. It was, the course was better than it has been. We don't go through the park at the end quite as much. It was just as up and downy as it usually is. There was a little bit of a wind occasionally that blew you back, but not too much to speak of really. All in all it was fabulous. I'm just, I'm really pleased, really pleased with how it went. You know, I don't think I could have asked for much more. So that is it. I'm just now going to get changed. There's my medal, by the way. I'm going to get changed and go and find Marcus and everyone else in Victoria who will be another hour and a half I think before they finish. Have you filmed some things? And that was it. We had done it. A new PB for me and one down and two to go for Victoria. 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