Alright, I'd like to start by saying that even though its internet capabilities sorta blow, small-town France knows what's what when it comes to organizing a race (or at least preparing food for after the race... but I'll get to that in a bit). As I mentioned in the last blog, the race was in Bonson, a tiny little town just over halfway between Feurs and St-Etienne (picture of the train station to the left). Between flyers I've seen and talking to people, I've learned that races here rarely conform exactly to an even number of kilometers, like a 5k or a 10k, and this one was no exception at 10.5 km (~6.5 miles). I didn't hear an exact number, but I'd estimate about 1,000 people participated, which is quite a lot for rural France!
Marie, a member of the running club who's also a teacher at the lycée, picked me up at 8:00am and we got nice and thoroughly lost before finally arriving in Bonson, but still with plenty of time for me to sign up before the race. Even for a last minute inscription, it only cost me 10 €, which included a t-shirt and food after the race. Not a bad deal, compared to $40 for the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta!
The race started at 9:30, and thankfully by this time I think the temperature had finally risen a few degrees above freezing. At least it wasn't raining, like the forecast had predicted it might! I do wish the race had had a staggered start, since as it was we were all crammed in behind the start line; there was a good bit of shuffling back and forth after the start gun went off before we actually got moving.
From there, I followed my usual road race formula: start too fast, get about halfway through and realize, "Oh crap, I'm about to keel over," then pick up speed again towards the end after my unintentional recovery period. This course was made all the more exciting in that the last third or so was on unpaved gravel roads, so after the on-and-off rain of the past few days, there were many puddle-filled potholes to avoid. With the bright, baleful autumn sun shining in our eyes and making rocks and puddles hard to see ahead, it really was quite the obstacle course there at the end. And yet against all the odds and my own tired legs, I didn't trip! I attribute this in great part to the fact that all that was going through my head for that last section was something along the lines of "don't.fall.don't.fall.don't.fall.don't.fall..." Faceplant successfully averted.
My time at the 5k mark was around 23:45, at the 10k it was 48:something (hard to see with the aforementioned sun glare), and my official finish time was 50:38 for the 10.5k course. That comes out to a pace of about 7:45 min/mile (or 4:50 min/km), which is faster than I thought I would do! The other ladies in the club were about a minute behind me, and I'm also surprised to have finished ahead of them (though I think they set a more consistent pace).
I really like that they post the results for everyone right after the race, so you've only got about a 15 minute wait before you know your official time and where you stand in your age/gender group. Hopefully it's big enough to see in the picture, but mine's the second name on the sheet: I was the 392nd to finish (aaaactually I was 391, but the guy whose name you see above mine elbowed in front of me at the finish line, and I was too exhausted/on the point of death to protest). My race number was 2574, and my category was SEF (senior femme? I think that means women under 40, based on the fact that V1F and V2F stand for "veterane femme", 1 for 40-59 and 2 for older than 59). I finished 12th of all the SEF runners, which is pretty exciting!
While I was waiting for the other members of the "Foulée Forézienne" (the name of the running club) to finish and before I'd quite recovered my breath and an even heart rate, I decided to investigate the nourishment options. I wasn't quite sure what to expect after a race in France, but I figured it'd be similar to the spread you find after the Peachtree or Atlanta Half Marathon: a bottle of water, chocolate chip granola bar, banana, maybe an orange.
Oh, no. In under a second flat, my post-race nausea was overcome by a ravenous appetite as I espied chunks of dark chocolate; slices of brioche; a fruit plate with figs, oranges, bananas, and apple slices; and little pots of semoule (sp? not quite sure I've got that name right), a tasty cross between couscous and flan with raisins mixed in. The drink options also put the Peachtree's bottle of water to shame... coffee (!?) was the most common drink, but there was also tea, Coke, and little cups of tap water on hand that just paled in comparison to the other caffeinated/sugary options. The idea of drinking a nice, dehydrating cup of coffee after running for 50 minutes was so ridiculous that I just had to have two cups. Also, the fact that it was a hot drink when the temperature was hovering around 5°C didn't hurt either...
Once the others finished, we compared times and then I jogged back to Marie's car to grab my camera, but sadly we didn't stay long enough for me to get pictures of the course or the finish line. I did manage to grab a shot of most of us before we left, though (from right to left: me, Marie, Caroline, Danielle). Missing are Christine, more or less the captain of the group, who had gone to change and we didn't have time to wait for; and Isabelle, who ran the half marathon.
Now I'm back in cozy, cold Feurs and must figure out what to do with the rest of the weekend now that my one planned event is behind me. I'm thinking a food blog is on the horizon, since I cooked a tasty carbo-loading dish last night and don't have much more to do to keep myself occupied than by experimenting further in cooking (and since I'm here alone, no one else has to suffer if it goes horribly, horribly awry).
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