NIce - Monaco Race Review

Finally after 7 months and a ridiculously cold European winter I was back on the wagon with the Nice (Cote D’Azure) – Monaco half (well almost half) marathon. We arrived in Nice late Friday night from Paris, which i will get to later, it was an instant relief. On arrival the 12 C temperature followed by a 20 C Saturday and very much needed hit of vitamin D things were felling pretty good. Although we were there we still weren’t sure about the organisation courtesy of the untranslatable French website so enlisting the assistance of our hotel clerk we were able to at least put some of Alicia’s stress at ease knowing we were actually in the right place.

So race morning after the hotel breakfast with the essential coffee, and toast we headed out to the other side of the Port to get the registration done and ourselves ready for the race which surprisingly when quite smoothly.

At the race start it was like sardines in a can with over 1000 competitors all trying to get as close to the start line as possible so they can fit through an inflatable arch two car lanes wide leaving us stuck behind a parked car about 15m from the start line. It’s about know that you think just go with it there is nothing you can do. I wasn’t so much nervous before this race more so interested in what this run was going to throw at me. Not seeing the race route or knowing the countryside (other side of the first hill we had to climb) it was more of a mystery thus just keeping an open mind seemed the best idea.

Shortly after 9am the hotter goes and the procession starts with me passing the start chute around 45 seconds later. As usual there were the over ambitious runners who cram up the start line then start off with a frustratingly easy jog just to warm up.

Eventually everyone starts to find their groups the race passes through the first 2km climb out of Nice. Looking into the distance all you could see was mountains and rolling hills. In my head I was hoping we would just run along the coastline and avoid them but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It was about now I knew this would be toughest 20 km I have ever run, climb after climb each with a just as steep and lengthy decent. From there it was just see what happens and find a good group of guys to run with.

So a long story short I managed to finish the shortened half (20km course) in just under the 1:22 min mark with a 1:21:40. A tough run but given the nature of the terrain and my lack of racing I am stoked with the result and although my quads still hate me for it, hopefully I can continue to improve over the next few months in the lead up to the euro tri season and post some good results.

Before I go I think it is also necessary to mention Alicia in this. Her PB run of 1:37 for the 20 km course was a pretty impressive effort. I’m pretty sure it would have been somewhere around a 10 min PB if it had gone the full 21km, well done baby I’m impressed. Now we just need to work on the swim and the bike. ;-D

Ill put an update of the rest of our euro trip in the coming days.....Enjoy.

Cheers

Dan.