My third Parisienne

The weather fairy obviously heard my plea. Looking out the window this morning at 8am - ready to skip La Parisienne should the meteo be as gruesome as yesterday - I was pleasantly surprised: not a cloud in the sky.

Hopping onto the metro, I discovered it was full of ladies and one rather anxious looking man. The atmosphere was instantly palpable; friendly, relaxed and solidary.

I remember my first Parisienne race two years ago. I had just arrived in Paris, didn't know a soul and felt quite out of place amongst all these babbling women around me waiting for two hours before we could take off.

Today, I was totally at ease. I had chosen to run by myself eventhough I knew quite a few people who would be participating in this race. I knew where to position myself before the start and only waited one hour befor setting off. I was on home turf!

I was in the crowd with the singing, dancing, cheering, hand clapping, yes, generally happy Parisiennes (roughly 85% of the participants are from the city) mixed with a few "provincales" and even fewer foreigners.

This year's race was in honour of Japan. According to the organizers only about 130 Japanese citizens participated. The Japanese groups of ladies I spotted all looked very composed, compared to many other teams appearing rather flustered but ready for a good time. The Chanel team was looking worse for wear compared to last year!

Given the good weather there was an incredible turnout of supporters cheering on the 30'000 ladies. Watching them run, I realized that this number equals the inhabitants of the city of Lugano!!! The mind boggles!

I ran my 6.7 km in under 40 minutes, the last kilometer being a bit of a challenge, admittedly, BUT it is all for a good cause. And the best part of the day? When you realize that by starting to bump into people by coincidence, you know, this is proof that you've settled in... Paris is starting to feel like home!