I had never been to Marseille. The French Riviera I have only known and visited on my road bike. I passed through Mentone, Roccabruna, Monte Carlo and Nice, the city from where the Maritime Alps marathon starts, which runs all along the coast to finish 42,195m in the city of Cannes.
Saturday morning I decided to deprive myself of a few hours of sleep and indulge in an initial reconnaissance run through the streets of Marseilles. I knew exactly where to go: toward the sea. I paused for a few moments to stare at the horizon, memorizing sounds, smells and sensations to take with me to Milan.
Along the way, something caught my eye: a poster that occupied an entire facade of a building advertising the running race for which I was in Marseille that particular weekend.
In France second in fame only to the Paris Marathon
I had never heard of the Marseille-Cassis before. In retrospect, I cannot wrap my head around it given the fame and notoriety this race boasts. In its 44th year, it counted more than 19,000 finishers. 19,000. A fair number of people when you consider that this is a race of “only” 20 km to which, however, 300m of elevation gain must be added. Doing a recalculation after applying the Pietropoli coefficient, the kilometers would increase from 20 to about 28. In any case, there are those who would not inconvenience themselves from home to organize a trip that contemplates distances shorter than the marathon. Fortunately, the world is beautiful because it is diverse, and someone, but only “someone,” out of a total of nineteen thousand enthusiasts, does not think the same way.
Almost like running on Mars
A straight-line route from Marseille to Cassis, an iconic fishing village in the heart of Provence known for the Calanques, which are protected and safeguarded by the national park they give their name to. Much of the race route runs right through the national park. You run through an environment whose terrain has been shaped by rainwater, eroding rocks and giving the landscape a bare, barren appearance.
It felt like running on Mars. Except for the first 4km with which we leave Marseille behind, the road began to climb steadily and relentlessly. Nothing compared to the climbs I had tasted on my long bike rides a few years earlier, with ruthless double-digit gradients. But perhaps it is not even fair to make comparisons since the two efforts are not comparable.
The Col de la Gineste was the day’s GPM, the Grand Prix de la Montagne, the highest point of the race that would mark the drop-off and descent to Cassis. At last the legs were free to turn, the arms could loosen along the torso, and the breathing was becoming regular step by step again.
And it’s now Tour
The more miles I left behind, the closer I got to Cassis, the more familiar the atmosphere began to become. I was confused: I thought I was taking part in a road race, but all of a sudden I felt like I had been catapulted into the middle of a Tour de France stage. Hordes of supporters on both sides of the road shouted, cackled, cheered on the oncoming stream of runners. Who would have imagined such loud and warm cheering from a race I had always ignored. Perhaps arriving without expectations made it all the more surprising.
The last 300m of straight before the finish line was simply over the top, worthy of a major international event. The street began to narrow until it became a corridor whose walls were animated by bodies leaning over the barriers and arms reaching up to wave banners and placards. Wow.
I was obviously overwhelmed by all that energy that it would have been a capital sin not to take advantage of. I flanked the girl with whom we took turns throughout the race, pacing each other a little bit without having tuned up or having seen each other before. I told her to follow me, and so she did. Crossing the finish line, we turned to each other and, smiling, high-fived each other, thanking each other for the silent but valuable mutual support.
But the best was yet to come. A couple of kilometers from the finish line the New Balance team was waiting for me in the hospitality tent with a rich buffet and a masseur, all overlooking the sea. Refreshment and relaxation in this way has a whole other flavor. Every runner would deserve a post-race sea view!