The 2025 Royal Paris Marathon, France
Marathon # 488
Date: April 10, 2025
My Time : 5:46:57
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I ran a marathon to collect my bib number for the 2025 Paris Marathon. As the direct route from my home to the Marathon Expo is just 23 km or so, I first made a detour through a recreational park, called L’île de Loisirs de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (km 3 to km 14), and a second detour through the Palace of Versailles and around its Grand Canal (km 20 to km 28). After a selfie at the statue of King Louis XIV, aka Le Roi-Soleil, I followed the route of King Louis XVI’s last journey from his Palace to Paris during the French Revolution, hence the name of my 488th marathon: the 2025 Royal Paris Marathon.
Summary of the Historical Event
On October 5, 1789, thousands of women from the working-class suburbs of Paris gathered at the City Hall of the French Capital to demand bred for the starving Parisian people. The angry crowd decided to walk to Versailles to bring King Louis XVI to Paris. When the king showed up on the balcony of the Palace of Versailles, the women chanted: “The King to Paris!”
His Majesty would eventually bow. The women took him to Paris with Queen Marie-Antoinette and their children. They would never see Versailles again. The king and the queen were beheaded—man first, lady afterwards—on January 21, 1793, at the Place de la Revolution. The angry crowd rejoiced as the guillotine blade chopped off the heads of the monarch and his wife.
The square—later renamed Place de la Concorde—is located at km 1 of the Paris Marathon. Thanks God there’s no more beheading! The more than 55,000 runners of the French Capital Marathon can therefore feel safe, while enjoying the cheers of a very friendly crowd.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Date: April 10, 2025
My Time : 5:46:57
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I ran a marathon to collect my bib number for the 2025 Paris Marathon. As the direct route from my home to the Marathon Expo is just 23 km or so, I first made a detour through a recreational park, called L’île de Loisirs de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (km 3 to km 14), and a second detour through the Palace of Versailles and around its Grand Canal (km 20 to km 28). After a selfie at the statue of King Louis XIV, aka Le Roi-Soleil, I followed the route of King Louis XVI’s last journey from his Palace to Paris during the French Revolution, hence the name of my 488th marathon: the 2025 Royal Paris Marathon.
Summary of the Historical Event
On October 5, 1789, thousands of women from the working-class suburbs of Paris gathered at the City Hall of the French Capital to demand bred for the starving Parisian people. The angry crowd decided to walk to Versailles to bring King Louis XVI to Paris. When the king showed up on the balcony of the Palace of Versailles, the women chanted: “The King to Paris!”
His Majesty would eventually bow. The women took him to Paris with Queen Marie-Antoinette and their children. They would never see Versailles again. The king and the queen were beheaded—man first, lady afterwards—on January 21, 1793, at the Place de la Revolution. The angry crowd rejoiced as the guillotine blade chopped off the heads of the monarch and his wife.
The square—later renamed Place de la Concorde—is located at km 1 of the Paris Marathon. Thanks God there’s no more beheading! The more than 55,000 runners of the French Capital Marathon can therefore feel safe, while enjoying the cheers of a very friendly crowd.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Dr. Sidy Diallo’s 2025 Royal Paris Marathon Course
The Palace of Versailles and the statue of King Louis XIV, aka Le Roi-Soleil, France
Dr. Sidy Diallo’s 2025 Royal Paris Marathon Garmin Data
Dr. Sidy Diallo’s 2025 Royal Paris Marathon Course: detour through L’île de Loisirs de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (km 3 to km 14)
L’île de Loisirs de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France
Dr. Sidy Diallo’s 2025 Royal Paris Marathon Course: detour through the Palace of Versailles, Grand Canal and Gardens (km 20 to km 28)
The Grand Canal of the Palace of Versailles, France
Dr. Sidy Diallo at the statue of King Louis XIV in Versailles, France