Finally, I reached the 40km point. I’m exhausted, but the time limit seems to have passed, but there are a lot of people around me, and I don’t feel like I’m being told anything, so I don’t know, but I have a feeling I’ll be able to finish.
Back to D2 again and finally back to Poiliac. Almost there!
Through the city and finally to the finish line!
From 40km to 42km, the course ran through the central part of Pauillac. There were a few ups and downs, and even though it’s not usually a big deal, it was pretty hard at the end of the race. But I did my best and kept running even if it was slow.
And everyone around me is running like hell. And they were smiling. It’s really wonderful.
A glorious finish!
After running through the town of Pauillac, we joined the course we had started on at the start point just before 42km, in the opposite direction from where we had started.
In a few hundred meters, we reached the 42km point. The goal is already in sight!
Red carpet!
And finally, the finish line!
6 hours and 55 minutes, more than I thought it would take.
Participation awards, as expected from the Medoc Marathon!
After finishing the race, I was looking forward to receiving my prize. It was about 25 minutes past the time limit of 6 hours and 30 minutes, but it looked like we were going to get some souvenirs.
First of all, here. Participation prize medal. It’s cool!
And now for the most important part, souvenir giving time!
まずは、「おみやげ袋」授与。これまた素敵♪
そして最初のおみやげは、「箱入りワインボトル1本」だぁ！やった！
そしてそして、「RIEDELのペアグラス」も！わぉ、豪華！
As you would expect from the Medoc Marathon, the souvenirs are gorgeous. It’s a little hard to take them home, though (laughs)
It took me a very long time to get here because of the chaos.
By the way, I performed the opening ceremony at home later.
I was surprised by the wine, which is usually a great grade.
And this engraving on the glass is too good to be true (tears) I will treasure it forever.
Back to Bordeaux by bus
After finishing the race, we were supposed to go to the bus stop in the south of town while eating and drinking at the food stalls lined up on the streets of Poiliac, but we didn’t enjoy the race at all because we finished more than 20 minutes behind the time limit and we had only 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time of the bus.
By the way, there was a « coupon ticket » attached to my bib that allowed me to eat and drink at any place I wanted, but unfortunately I couldn’t use it…
In addition, the bus is exactly the same place where we arrived in the morning, as we told you before.
Many people, whether by personal arrangement or via tour, would have used the buses provided by the convention, and there were also public buses, but all buses arrived and departed at this location.
However, since this is a little far from the finish line, it was a little difficult to come back here with heavy souvenirs.
Due to the congestion, we ended up leaving at 5:15pm, 15 minutes later than scheduled. On the way to Bordeaux, we thought it would take much longer than the way to Bordeaux because of the traffic jam, but it seemed that we took a different route from the way to Bordeaux, so we didn’t get caught in the traffic jam so much, and we arrived at Rue Ferrère in Bordeaux in about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
After this, we went to the hotel. The pain in my leg was relieved a lot because I could rest in the bus a little.
Still, I took care of it by icing it with enough cold water at the hotel.
And then we launched at a restaurant in the city.
After a shower and a rest at the hotel, 8 members of the team « Hatsuten » go out to the town for the launch party. We move by tram.
We met up with a few people who were staying near the Opera and headed to this restaurant, which we had booked in advance from Japan.
La Tupina, restaurant à Bordeaux, vous présente ses différents restaurants
The restaurant has a good reputation among locals and is highly rated on TripAdvisor. I heard that the meat dishes are good.
This shop is located in such a nice alley.
After celebrating with a glass of champagne, we ordered and enjoyed white and red wines and a number of meat-based dishes.
For the white, we have this wine from the Graves area. This was the team leader’s selection. It was pleasantly refreshing and dry to drink.
I got a magnum bottle of red, because at 110 euros for a wine from Pomerol, it’s a bargain.
The Médoc is wonderful, but I prefer the wines of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion. Merlot is delicious.
The taste is worth the price, and the magnum bottle is very exciting.
I’m sorry that I don’t have enough pictures to show you the atmosphere, but the meat dishes in this restaurant were delicious and varied. Oh, there was one disappointing thing though…
This area is famous for the so-called « chunky and rich » food of southwest France. It is an area that should be called the root of French cuisine. It’s good that it’s not too fancy.
This gazpacho-like soup was delicious. I think it was not gazpacho, but I forgot.
By the way, gazpacho is a Spanish dish, but I think it’s common in the south of France.
We ordered a lot of meat because there were 8 of us and we were all gobbling it up after the marathon. Pork, lamb, and beef!
I forgot to take a picture of the lamb!
This is pork.
And Beef, it’s just not a very good picture.
But the beef wasn’t good because it was too hard! It’s true that French meat is often not as tender as Japanese meat, but it can’t be this hard!
The night in Bordeaux went on with everyone making a lot of noise.
Then I took the tram again to the hotel. I brushed my teeth and went to bed.
A long, long day has finally come to an end. It was a day I will never forget.
