Getting Physical in Paris

So I can’t afford gym prices.  Wait, let me rephrase.  There’s no point getting myself a gym membership because I know that I’ll come up with a million excuses not to go.  Running around Paris is therefore a much cheaper alternative and I don’t need to plan my day around it.  Yesterday afternoon at approximately 1800 I decided to slip on my running shoes, throw on my sports bra, and whip on my bright pink Zaggora Hotpants.  A cheeky buy for £50, the hotpants are supposed to make you drop 2 jeans sizes in 2 weeks.  Let’s just say…that didn’t happen.  Magic hotpants are probably only relevant to those who are tipping the scale.  I don’t think it’s actually the hotpants which make you lose the weight.  It’s the fact that you’re exercising at all after all those years of munching on flapjacks for breakfast; not mentioning the 12 pack of doughnuts you ate lying down in bed every half hour.  These hotpants are made from wetsuit material and itch the hell out of you if you’re not careful.  They also make you sweat four times the amount so you can say goodbye to elegant exercising and say hello to sweat lines in places you didn’t even know could sweat.  But all in all, a fantastic purchase.

Anyway, to my original point.  In France, people don’t run on the pavement.  Because unless you find a pavement which carries on for a few miles with no breaks in it, you’re kinda screwed.  Having to run across the pavement (le trottoir) is a nightmare when little red men keep staring at you.  The done thing, like in many a city, is running in parks.  In my case, Le Jardin du Luxembourg is literally a 3 minute walk around the corner from the apartment.  It’s about 2km for one loop and it’s buzzing with men and women running their socks off at all hours of the day.   The only downside is that the park doesn’t open until 7.30am and closes 12 hours later.  No romantic late night strolls (by myself) or early morning runs.  The park nevertheless is beautiful (as I explained in an earlier post), and the perfect place to work up a sweat.  I did two loops which took me a little under 30 minutes and felt rather pleased with myself.  At home I live on a hill (no wonder the village is called Mount Bures), so I’m pretty used to running on uneven ground.  I’m liking the flat paths here though – definitely an improvement.

Watch this space.

Montana