Where do I start…
I planned on doing this back in September, but it was after a few too many drinks at my cricket club on a Saturday night that I decided to sign up to it… the next day I received an email and I was in and flights had been confirmed.

So most normal people would start planning towards it and working out a plan… I didn’t! I left it on the back burner and forgot about it for a good few months, January hit and I kept saying to myself I need to take this half serious and get some proper training plan in place… with other things going on in my life I just didn’t get round to do a proper training plan.

I had Dewsbury 10k and I knew I’d use this as a training run towards Paris. That went ok as I’d done a bit of training before Dewsbury but nothing too much. Dewsbury 10k came and went and it was now only 4 weeks until race day in the French Capital!!

The week leading up the race I was planning what to visit in Paris as I’d never been before… packed all my running kit and felt prepared for everything… until it got to the night before I was supposed to fly out. My original plan was: outbound on Saturday morning fly Leeds to Paris direct and return on Sunday night fly Paris to Leeds direct. I ended up checking through my flights in detail and had a flight for Manchester to Paris on the Saturday then return flights Paris to Leeds via Bristol and Reykjavik… yes Iceland!

Anyway moving on from that cock up. Got to Paris, had a nice day walking around the place, collected my race number and went to check in at the hotel at 3pm. I then found out they stuck me in a room on the top floor (6th floor) with a broken lift – typical! That night I went to a local restaurant for a steak and chips and 1 beer before an early night!
Didn’t have the best sleep to be honest, got woken up at 1am to Face Time from some pissed up mates who I thanked the day after.. idiots.

Race day – here we go! Got up at 6ish had a large chocolate croissant, plain croissant and two bananas. Went down for a warm up at around 7am then back to the hotel to get the famous Otley AC vest on before the race
The best bit of planning was my hotel was literally 400m from the start line!
The Elites started at 8am and we started at 8:10am
I was in the pen -1h35min so it wasn’t too crowded when we set off.
The race has a great route following the River Seine and finishing in Bastille. The crowds were amazing and kept you going through the whole race!
I planned on starting steady away and try save myself plenty for the second half. Most of the elevation was in the first half of the race so I knew if I saved myself I could have a strong second half.

My splits were:
5km – 21:55
10km – 43:41
15km – 1:05:04
20km – 1:26:31
Finish – 1:31:13

The winner of the race was Bernard Koech: 1:00:45
First female in 18^th place – Joan Melly: 1:06:58
First for Otley was Harold Smallwood: 1:31:13.

Results in full

After the race I ended up staying in Paris that day and had another look around the place, went to see the Eiffel Tower and other famous spots.
Got back home safely the next day to tell the tale which is always a bonus..

I would recommend the race, flat course and well supported all the way round.

Next race for me is Wakefield 10k on 24th March

Up the Otley AC, Over and out,
Harold