We'll be in France for two weeks in May and wondered how to find a 5K or short race to run for fun. We are a family of 5 and we all run so we thought it might be neat to do this. Otherwise we'll just do our daily runs. Which brings another point, where do people run in Paris? In parks?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Posted by
OP
Clymer, pa, united States
36 posts
Yes, I looked at Run the Planet but didn't see the list of races. And for some reason I can't get the pages to translate. Thanks though.
Posted by
Edmond, OK
201 posts
Have you tried Google? RunnersWorld.com? One of the RW forums may be helpful for race information in Paris. I've been to Paris twice, most recently in October 2010, and both times we stayed close to Luxembourg Gardens so I ran there. It is a popular place for walkers and runners and it was great. I have no idea where I would have run if not there since the traffic is downright scary. I think parks are your safest place to run. Have a great time.
Carole
Posted by
Lake Oswego, Oregon
1329 posts
You'll see lots of runners in Paris. It's fun to run to the Eiffel Tower and around the Champs de Mars. You could also run in the Bois de Boulogne but only in the daytime. I agree that the parks are a good option. Where are you staying?
Posted by
Minneapolis
25 posts
Debbie, Not sure if this would make sense for you guys, but during our visit to Versailles there were many people running in the gardens. I think it would make for a really memorable run. You don't have to pay to get into the gardens and I would think it would be beautiful in May. Fountains, statues, the Grand Canal, acres of maninuced beauty...my wife and I commented on how wonderful it would be to have something like that in your town to go jogging through. It was a 30 minute train ride out of central Paris, so don't know if you want to commit that much time to a run or not but I'm sure you could catch the early train get a nice run in before breakfast/brunch somewhere.
Heck there is even a restaurant in the Gardens, it was closed when we were there so I can't give you any info about that. There was also a cafe just off the courtyard of the the Palace, can't remember if you could get in there without going through security or not.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
If you are looking for races you and having translation issues, you might look on some British sites for running. Some have forums and you could ask if they know anything about France. My experience Britons do go to France despite centuries of trying to annoy the French. ; ) Pam
Posted by
OP
Clymer, pa, united States
36 posts
These are wonderful suggestions! Thank you so much. It will surely be an adventure!
Posted by
Houston, TX, USA
29 posts
You might enjoy running the Promenade Plantee. It starts just east of the Place de la Bastille. You can run its length (about 3 miles?) to the Bois de Vincennes where you could run for days. It is fairly easy to get the Metro back.
I have spent a lot of time in central Paris in Spring and Summer over the lat several years and do not remember seeing any racing.
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2778 posts
My husband enjoyed running along the Seine and also through Tuilleries park and up and down the Champs Elysee (please forgive my spelling). Of course, he's usually out running by around 6 am. This wouldn't work nearly so well later in the day. : ) Luxembourg Park would be great for a short run, but it's probably too small if you're really putting in the miles.
Posted by
OP
Clymer, pa, united States
36 posts
Again, those are wonderful suggestions. I will copy them all down in my little book to take with me. We usually run somewhere over 3 miles, seldom 10 in a day, but 5 or 6 is fine. I can see there will be lots of options for us just to run and I'm sure we'll see others out there:) Have a great day.