Running in Nice

Nice has three big running events each year, the Prom Classic Nice 10-KM in January, the Nice International Semi-Marathon in April, and the Marathon des Alpes-Maritime in November. These are events that attract runners from all over France, Italy and parts of Europe, as well as the ever-present Kenyans. The races require closing the major avenue, the Promenade des Anglais, along the Mediterranean in Nice, causing havoc for drivers generally on those days, but the races are well supported by the city's residents and officials.

When I visited Nice last April, it was a beautiful Saturday morning when I was walking along the Promenade and saw the Runners' Expo on the Espace Jacques Cotta (a large park in the city center). I thought it would be great to join in the race the next day, and so I attempted to sign up for the race. But I was thwarted in my attempt by the need to produce a medical certificate attesting to my fitness for the competitive race. That was not a piece of paper I carried with me on my trips to Europe! Not to be kept from experiencing the racing community in Nice, the next day I ran down to the Promenade from my friend's apartment and joined the race as a "bandit," a runner without a number. Trying to disguise the fact that I was an illegitimate participant, I ran in the middle of the pack through the streets of Nice, rather than my traditional position closer to the front of the pack. The race that day was a great introduction to the city.

Yesterday I participated as an "official" participant in the Prom Classic 10Km, also run along the Promenade des Anglais. This time I was not only a registered racer (having acquired my certificat medical from my new doctor in Nice), but I was given a bib numbered 72, which meant that I was going to run under 43 minutes for the race, and therefore was among the "elite" women registered for the race. The ladies with numbers 1-100 had a special roped off section at the starting line - I did not have to elbow my way to the front of the pack, as is typical. Although many races try and assign runners to the starting line by the pace they will run during the race, this effort relies on the honesty and attention of the runners, and there are plenty of folks who are just competitive enough (even if not fast) that they want to start at the front and inevitably some folks who are just clueless (often seen wearing earphones and carrying an iPod for their "run") and join the starting line wherever they end up - sometimes in the midst of very fast runners.

This race also featured a perk for the ladies: a start time 5 minutes ahead of the men's start. Turns out this was a publicity coup for the organizers: the first man and first woman raced across the finish line together - a huge photo op! What it meant for the rest of us was that the top ladies got to start without fighting through the guys, and it was a very pleasant start, I must say. I got into my groove pretty quickly, and it wasn't until the 5km mark that the top men caught up with me. From then on, however, there were LOTS of guys passing me, a very new sensation; during the second half of a race I am usually the one passing people.

The day was beautiful and sunny, chilly but not cold (around 50 degrees), and I wore my sunglasses, as we were running along the sea for the entire race - out and back, with the turnaround at 5km. It was a familiar run for me, as readers of this blog will know, and I used landmarks to help keep me motivated along the way. But it was pretty windy, and I was glad I was wearing my long-sleeve Barnard t-shirt (but the shorts were a good idea), and while I was running with ladies during the first half of the race, during the second half there were long stretches when I was running by myself into the wind, and cursing the fact that there was no one in front of me to break the wind!

At my last 10km race in Grasse, I had felt that I hadn't pushed myself during the first half of the race. Remembering that, yesterday I kept my foot on the pedal throughout the race (which means for me, labored breathing, but not gasping for breath). I kept that pace going through the first half, and then tried to keep it up during the second 5km. It was difficult, with the wind, and with my lack of conditioning - two weeks off during the holidays had apparently had an effect. I kept pumping my legs, telling myself that the reason I lifted weights was for just this purpose, to keep my legs pumping at the end of a race! I started feeling that fuzzy feeling in my head in the last kilometer, which means I was pushing it, and overheated (and if it had started earlier, I would have backed off my pace a little; I'm all too familiar with heat exhaustion), but I pushed on as best as I could to the finish.

As I approached the finish line, the first clock I saw showed a time of 37 minutes. I said to myself, No Way! And then quickly saw to the left of the clock, another clock, showing 42 minutes. Oh, yeah, that clock on the right was the time for the guys! The clock was already at 42:40 - I really wanted to finish under 43, so I hustled in over the finish line: 42:56. Under 43. I was exhausted. But sort of bummed; my last 10km time in November had been 42:12, and I was secretly hoping to match or improve upon that. But given my training, that hope was pretty unrealistic. So, positive attitude: happy with the day's results.

You can see, under "resultats," my stats for the race at http://www.promclassic.com/. I was 22nd in my age group, ladies 40-49. Given that this was the second largest 10km in France (5000 runners registered), I have to be happy with that. But, training continues! April is just around the corner.