For his spring marathon offering, Paddy McCalister headed across the channel to take to the start line of the Paris Marathon. His training for the race had gone pretty well this time and he hadn’t had to face much time out through injury during the build up, which was a massive bonus.

He’d only done one marathon previously and that was London in 2023 and whilst training for that one he suffered an injury which kept him out for a couple of weeks. That threw his training off somewhat and he found himself playing catch up after that.

This time he made sure he was careful with his training and allowed himself ample recovery time after each big training session or long run. He had been going along to the Wednesday night marathon group sessions so had built up a fairly solid base and he’d been doing over 40 miles some weeks. He’d managed to get some fairly good long runs in as well so overall, he was pleased with what he’d done in the block.

The Paris Marathon was taking place two weeks before London so he was already tapering when the marathon group were doing their biggest sessions. Nevertheless, he was ready to give it a go and had decided to target a sub three.

He knew it would be a tall order for him but it was just case of rolling the dice and seeing what came up. His time at London two years ago was 3 hours 14 minutes so he figured, even if he didn’t end up getting a sub three, he should at least come away with the PB. That was the secondary goal anyway.

The route for the Paris Marathon starts from the Arc de Triomphe and heads past some of the French capital’s most famous landmarks along the way including Notre Dame and the Eiiffel Tower.

Opening with a 6:50 for his first mile split, Paddy then followed that up with a 6:57 for his second mile and then a 6:40 for his third. That saw him through the first 5k in 21:33. He was bang on sub three marathon pace for his fourth and fifth miles, going through them in 6:51 and 6:52 before registering a 7:02 for his sixth mile, which was mostly uphill.

That saw him reach the 10k point in 42:44. The seventh mile contained a fair bit of descent and Paddy went through that in 6:55. After that he really got into his groove. For the next four miles he was going at 6:50 pace or just under before going through the 12th and 13th miles at 6:45 pace.,

That took him to the half way point in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes, which was bang on what he needed. There was still a long way to go but it was a good first half from Paddy.

Continuing on at around 6:50 pace for the next four miles, Paddy made it through to 17 miles with no issues. It was after that that his pace began to drop a touch. That’s usually when marathons start to feel hard as well. Posting a 6:59 for the 18th mile, he then went through the 19th mile in 17:07.

He then managed to pick it back up on the 20th mile and register another 6:51 split. Managing a 7:06 for his 21st mile, he then then through mile 22 in 7:02. When he got to 36k though, that was when the wheels began to fall off. That was on the 23rd mile and he was now down to 7:33 pace for that split.

There was a bit of an incline on that mile as well which wouldn’t have helped. On the 24th mile the route started to go on a bit of an incline. That would then carry on till the end of the 25th mile.

It had been taking Paddy between 21 and 22 minutes to do each 5k segment but the one between kilometre 35 and kilometre 40 toon him 24 minutes 18 seconds. He was down to 7:48 for his 24th mile and then 8:14 for his 25th mile.

It was feeling tough going for Paddy but the last mile was mostly downhill so it was time for Paddy to put everything he’s got into that final section. Going through that in 7:39 he went on to cross the finishing line in 3 hours 4 minutes and 55 seconds. That put him in 2,655th position in the overall standings. That was out of 54,922 people. In his age category he’d come in 470th out of 5,312.

Although it had been a struggle for Paddy over the last 6km, he’d come away with a time that was nine minutes quicker than his previous attempt. That was a huge improvement from Paddy and although he hadn’t quite managed the sub three that he would have loved, he was more than happy with what he’d produced and had every reason to be proud.

His average pace for the 26.32 miles he covered was 7:01 per mile, which was quite impressive and his elevation gain for the route has come out at 562ft.

Finding it to be a really nice route, Paddy said he would definitely recommend the Paris Marathon to anyone looking to go for something different instead of London. In fact, Paddy described it as an unforgettable experience. Being able to a achieve a 3:05 must mean that a sub three marathon isn’t too far on the horizon for Paddy and he’ll no doubt be having a good stab at that for his next one.