Paris Marathon: Mile 19

The final trek alongside the Seine before runners head inland

With the Eiffel Tower under your belt, it’s time to get down to the serious business of finishing this marathon. Your final mile alongside the river takes you further from the main tourist zone and gives you sight of some of Paris’s commercial buildings.

The building in the centre of this picture is the French Radio Museum. Chances are you weren't planning on visiting it while you're here...

By this stage, the roads have become more solid and less punishing. Not, of course, that they will feel less punishing. Without wanting to spill any gloom over the final stretch of the marathon, these are the dark miles where a comparatively short distance stretches out before you like infinity.

However, be heartened by the sports drink station that comes in the next mile. Surely, if you can just make it to that while maintaining your pace, it will all be okay…