running in paris?

There are races every weekend in Paris and nearby suburbs.

There are also Parks for running throughout Paris, so you will always find at least a small Park to run in, with easy access.

To find races - pick up a running magazine like "Jogging" and scan the back pages for the race diaries and dates of races.

Alternatively, join a local Paris club for the summer, and they will set you up.

Check out: Federation Francaise d'Athletisme website.

Ghost

coach:

christophe_moulton@yahoo.ca

The French club scene is the second best in the world after the British club system.

merci monsieur

The garden around the Effiel Tower work well early in the morning. Also close to the Tower and across from the Hilton is a sports complex with a decent track that is open most of the day to the public.

Well, I found that it can be a lot of fun to explore Paris on the run. I would write down a route on a piece of paper, and follow it as best as I could. I would inevitably get lost, but usually be able to hone back in without too much trouble. There are public maps everywhere. Paris is actually a very manageable city. Stay away from really touristy areas, where the crowds are too large, go for some of the smaller streets, and you will have a great time, as long as you don't mind staying on your toes, and dodging pedestrians. Eventually I gave up a route, and just planned a general sketch of where I wanted to go, with "catchers" or big streets to catch me if I had gone too far. Running by the Seine is a good "transport" to get you to different parts of the city, if you don't mind running on cobblestones.

i agree with the last post. another tip that you might not think of until it's too late is to bring a metro ticket with you when you run. the public transportation is amazing. the tickets are small (like a raffle ticket) and fit in a key pocket easily.

that way you can just wander totally aimlessly and if you give yourself enough time you can just hop on the metro to get back to where you started. or, if you get lost, you can just hop on a train.

as a side note, when you buy the tickets, go to a booth and ask for 'un carnet'

it's 10 tickets... about €10. save a little money (i think) and at the very least it's easy.

I like that metro idea! If you're going for a month, maybe get la carte orange (zones 1-2 will do). Are you going soon? The Meeting Gaz de France is coming up in early July (and the stade de France is in zone 2), that's awesome to check out.

Don't know if you're a student, but if you're at the Cité there's plenty of open space there and across the street at a beautiful park whose name escapes me at the moment...have a great time.

yeah you prolly could, i bet shes loose enough.

I'm more of a trail person myself, but luckily, there are two huge parks on either side of Paris with plenty of dirt to run on. The park on the west side of the city is the Bois de Boulogne, and even though it's a little sketchy in the evening, there are tons of lovely little paths to explore. I'm more familiar with the other park on the east side of the city, the Bois de Vincennes. It's a bit safer, and you could easily go for a solid 2 hour run there. Make sure that you get a good map of both, as the trails are less than obvious.

The Carte Orange is a fantastic investment, even if you'll only be there for a couple weeks; you can get a weekly ("hebdomadaire") Carte Orange as well as a monthly one.

For faster, shorter workouts, there are several public tracks throughout the city, but I liked the Stade Paul Valery, on the east side of the city, just outside of the Bois de Vincennes. You can get there from the center of the city (i.e., the Bastille) by following the Promenade Plantee for a couple of miles, which allows you to avoid running in the streets. (Unlike the above posters, my experience running in the streets of Paris is anything but pleasant, but this might be a gender thing.)

Running along the Seine is fun, of course, but there are always a ton of pedestrians, and you can't necessarily go that far. Fantastic sightseeing, though, obviously.

I was in Paris for a bit in June. I ran along the Seine one night and since it was thunderstorming, I didn't have to worry about pedestrians; gorgeous scenery. I did my other runs at Boulogne since it was more convenient to get to with the Metro. The park is full of prostitutes, and at least for me, it was entertaining to hear their cat-calls. The park at Boulogne is a little tricky to navigate at first since its not like Central Park in NYC or Forest Park in St. Louis with a big loop going around the perimeter.

I'll second (or third or fourth, whatever) the Bois de Boulogne. There are two man made ponds on the east (paris) side of the park that take 17-20 minutes to run around, and are usually free of prostitutes. If you venture to the park's interior, they're all over the place, though I can't say how dangerous that might be.

Another option is to get up early, find a bus tour route, and run that. I'm terrible at waking up early so I can't say for sure how that works, but I hear it can be fun.

Lastly- go to Versailles. The palace grounds are absolutely massive. I imagine you could get in a 12-15 mile run there no problem, and you don't need to pay to get in, only if you want to see the inside of the palace, though that's worth it. There are often a good number of runners and bikers, so you won't stick out. 30 minute train ride from the city.

Peter