76.31km – 9H34’
Altitude: 263m
The stage for October 16: Montargis – Fontainebleau (the itinerary will be posted online later)
Finish October 17 at l’INSEP – Avenue de Tremblay, 75012 Paris
There will be no stage between cities
Serge will enter l’INSEP around 9:00 a.m. and will run on the track in the INSEP until 11:06 a.m. He will be accompanied by everyone who wishes to run these last two hours of the Around the European Union Footrace, and celebrate the 365 days of the race.
A bath of walnut trees!
It is a day that starts quietly along the banks of the Isère, at the foot of the Bastille. Serge asks for some Coke-Cola, just before starting; he doesn’t feel well and is winded at the start of a day that will have a wild rhythm. Jean-Patrick, Brice, Aurélien and Sébastien are at the rendezvous and run with Serge on the bicycle path along the Isère for 13 km, up to the Veurey-Veuroize Bridge. The support crew makes hops for refueling and everything goes well.
Leaving Tullins, after the Chemin de Croze, we find ourselves in front of a wall with a 20% incline! “Even walking it hurt my legs” says Serge at dinner this evening. We are on the Terres Froides Plateau. With an average altitude of 370 meters, bordered by hills which announce the Alpes, this part of the Isère has hard winters. At Saint-Etienne de Saint Geoirs, the average annual temperature is 10°C. As we exit the town, Roger joins us to finish the stage. He ran the Lyon marathon last week and will run the 1st edition of the Grenoble 24 hour race. Today it’s hot and the sun is bright. A little before 5:00 p.m. the watch’s odometer shows 71.8 km, with only 1.2 km to reach our lodging in the center of Beaupaire. Today, 73 km are not enough for Serge, who takes off for a round-trip, accompanied by Roger.
Eliane and René’s feeling about this stage: A beautiful, sunny day, lots of flowers in the villages, lovely scenery, walnuts as far as the eye can see.
Eliane is fine and René is tired, to the point of watching Serge run by even though he is on refueling duty, then having to run after him…
This evening Serge can’t sit still, due to the lack of gluteal muscle. He will have to think about standing up to eat!
It’s a short log today, without song and dance! See you tomorrow.