Comment: Jogging is now a respectable French pastime
Columnist Sarah Henshaw notes how it has gone from being a joke to a passion in the country
Running is now big business in France
Kaito Wai/Shutterstock
Nine years ago, I ran my first and only marathon in Bournemouth, UK. A then-colleague had, for a long time, waxed lyrical about both the sport and the city, and I eventually caved in. He would run it too, he promised. It would be “fun”.
No huge surprise that by the time race day came, the colleague had pulled out.
The course itself, in which I confronted hills for the first time in my lacklustre training, and then got stomach cramps from all the jelly babies proffered at refreshment points, did little to enamour me to either the place or pastime.
The whole thing was a pain in the ass (and calves and hamstrings and every other muscle group south of my still-churning stomach). Never again.
But time is a great healer and, while I still swerve a gelatinous sweet, I have slowly got back into running. More astonishingly, I have grown to love it.
Read more: How trail running has boomed in popularity in France
Me and 12.4 million other people in France, according to the latest statistics from the 7th Observatoire du running, published earlier this year.
This huge uptake – including eight million who run at least once a week – marks a significant shift in French attitudes.
Running joke
It wasn’t so long ago – 2007 – that an article appeared in the Washington Post about then-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s pavement canters – and the domestic consternation they elicited. It summarised: “In France, jogging is a running joke.”
As evidence, it went on to describe Libération’s suspicion that Sarkozy’s running was “an un-French, right-wing conspiracy”, before citing public intellectual Alain Finkielkraut’s view that such sporting spectacle was plain “undignified”.
In the almost two decades since, something strange has happened in France. Running is now not just tolerated, but actively embraced.
Some 11,334 races were organised in France last year, Many, like the Marathon du Médoc, simultaneously promote local food and wine with boozy tastings punctuating the gruelling distance.
Read more: The French marathon where runners eat cheese and drink wine along the route
Paris Marathon
Others serve as touristic catnip, with carefully plotted courses showcasing the natural beauty or heritage jewels of an area.
The Paris Marathon does this best, but do not overlook the Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes, for example, which follows the Mediterranean coast for almost the entire 26 miles between the tourist honeypots of Nice and Cannes.
Does any of this feel un-French? Running is now eminently French. And when you read how quickly some of these races sell out, ‘le jogging’ no longer seems a lazy anglicism – more like this country is having the last laugh. They’ve literally taken our sport and, well, run with it.
Even the gear is proudly Gallic. No Nike store in sight, my local prefecture, Nevers, instead has La French Run on its high street. Its website says the shop is aimed “at those who aspire to… an epicurean vision of sport, enjoyable and enriching, with French excellence as its guiding principle!”
I’ve still not been persuaded to run another full marathon, but I did do a half in Auxerre in May. It was the city’s first ever marathon festival, and support, including bands to chivvy participants up the hills, was exceptional along the entire vineyards-to-river route.
Naturally, the refreshment points were laden with charcuterie, gougères and local wines. Nevertheless, I stuck to orange slices and water and finished mid-pack, minus any gastro misadventures and highly minded sign up for my next race immediately.
