Bonjour Everyone!
Well, I flew up to Quebec this weekend to run the 10th anniversary Deux Rivers (two rivers?) Marathon.
...and I gotta say, those French Canadians know how to put on a RACE!
First thing I noticed about the French, and Quebec in general, is (a nod to Steve Martin) - They've got a Different Word For Everything!!! :-)
Cab from the airport to the Hilton - Driver had no English, but drove like a Formula One Racer, making a 10-year old Plymouth execute amazing moves at break-neck speed. I was told that it was a half-hour ride from the airport, but elapsed time from pickup to drop off was about 17 minutes. Tres Bon!!!
Made it to the Expo, lots of stuff to look at and a bit of a language barrier as I tried to figure out how to pick up number and packets. Colleague Scott's flight had been rescheduled earlier in the day from Chicago, putting him in late evening, so I had to pick up both our packets.
Not a problem, though, my Honest American face won the day.
An okay technical shirt, and, as an extra added bonus, a technical CAP to boot!
Pasta dinner was fairly typical fare- and I sat down at a table with a lot of chattering French people, who instantly switched to English on my behalf - and then pumped me for Stateside race recommendations as most of them were newbies who had caught the marathon fever.
UP early the next morning. Course logistics necessitated taking a "Shuttle to the Shuttle" - a bus from the Hotel, to the Finish line, where we walked across the street to another set of busses that took us to the START line after that. It was almost exactly like Milwaukee's Lakefront Marathon - a half-hour bus ride to a High School, where we got to hang out in the Cafeteria and locker rooms until the start. They served Gatorade, coffee, and other snacks.
The pre-race logistics were flawless, from the shuttles, to the High School to hang out in, great music outside, plenty of Porto-potties AND indoor restrooms - and a very upbeat crowd!
Earlier this spring, I joined the Marathon Maniacs organization (check it out at www.marathonmaniacs.com - I'm number 486 in the "Insane Asylum") Anyway, this was the first race I was sporting my bright yellow Marathon Maniacs Singlet, which I soon learned creates an instant community at any distance event. The minute I walked out of the school , I heard calls of "Hello maniac!" as other Yellow-singlet clad people surrounded me. Also, people who want to be Maniacs. I had an instant community of half a dozen other runners, from places like Ontario, Texas, Florida, and New York, all proudly sharing numbers, and how many races we'd run.....a very cool club to be a member of!
The sun rose, the heat rose, the humidty went up......and we filed out to start the race. Something like 1,200 runners toed the starting line. A double cannon boom AND a loud horn sounded the start, and off we went.
Okay....once again, the metric system is alive and well in all other parts of the world except for the US. (but we're Americans, Dammit!!) The race was marked in Kilometers, of course. But, an interesting twist was, the didn't count UP, they counted DOWN - so, we started at 42.3 KM and the first marker we saw was 42, then 41,, then 40...... It made it darn near impossible for a Pace-Per Mile-centric guy like myself to figure out how he's doing......until mile 5. They very kindly posted actual MILE markers at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 milesfor us Metrically impaired people.
I gotta tell you a few things....as usual, I wasn't trained for this race. My one and only long run since the last Marathon I did (which was in April) was about 11 miles. I've done a lot of short and fast distances (read, 5k's!) but no long training. So, I knew from the outset that this was gonna be an interesting one.
.....and it was WARM, and MUGGY! In the first half mile, I'm drenched. Hoping to head it off, I started drinking early and often.
The course....was really beautiful. We ran through everything from modern suburbia, to Urban strip mall, to Old World European (complete with Sidewalk Cafe's and people cheering from Balcony's overhanging the street) "Bravo! Bravo!" they cheered. "Merci!" I called to everyone, knowing in my heart that they had me pegged as an American anyway.. We also ran on Bike Paths, Highways, across HUGE suspension bridges, and along thoroughfares by the St. Laurence Seaway. All in all the course was fantastic all the way, scenery-wise and people-wise.
The beauty of the course, however was slightly diminished by the BRUTALITY of it at the same time......Endless rolling hills, in fact, as Scott later put it "I think I was running up hill the whole time!!" at least 2-3 San Francisco-Style sheer uphill stretches that disappeared up a hill and around the corner. Slogging to the top, you discover that around the next bend is....another hill!! One highway stretch leading up to a bridge that ascended for about four miles......yeah, this course can't be called "Fast and Flat" by any means!
Great support, though. Plenty of water stops, all with incredibly enthusasiastic volunteers. Wet sponges to take a mini-shower. Several Carb-Boom Gel Stops, Bananas and Oranges. OH, and this must be a Canadian thing - as the same thing happened in Toronto - Different colored/flavoured Gatorade at each water stop! And the volunteers were hurling some amazing vowels my way - "Voluez, vous, non, zhu day shu swa, et tu se".....or something like that.. "Merci", I said to all of them
I pretty much blasted off from the start at a good pace........I was probably at half marathon pace, and really on track for what WOULD have been my first sub-four hour marathon in years. I crossed the mat at the halfway point at 1:53 and change (typical HALF Marathon time for me)...and also hit the 20 mile marker at 2:58....and that's when the fun began. Lack of training, the brutal hills and heat set in......and I had a visit from a friend I hadn't seen in years....the infamous WALL came up out of the pavement and WHACKED me hard......
The last 10 Kilometers were a slog......I wound up running, walking, running, walking as cramps hit my legs like gunshots. At one point, I though my legs would lock up, and I would topple over, Frankenstein-like to the pavement. And, I wasn't alone by any means.....there was a group of about 15 people that I kept trading the lead position with. We'd run by each other, stop, and let the other one run by, then catch up later........no one actually passed me for long. It was a silent "death march" to the finish, all of us in our own personal survival Hell....
The cool thing was, in the last 10K, there were many distractions, They had three bands out playing American Rock and Roll along the course. They also had open Fire Hydrants with Sprinkler attachements so we could cool off. Lots of water stops, more food.... a lot of support for the most brutal part of the race. And actually the psychological benefits of the "Countdown Kilometer" signs were great.....Kilometers come quickly, even if there are a lot of them, but it seemed like I was still moving pretty good.
Hobbled across the finish line as the clock clicked over to 4:06, but my chip and watch time was actually 4:05:38. And, the announcer said " ...and Here is Pay-ter CLEAN from Oh-coh-no-mo-woc!" Yeah, I felt CLEAN and DAMN glad to be done with the course!! (and actually pretty delighted with my time....based upon my training base and the course conditions.....it was far better than I had a right to expect!)
a HUGE finishers medal - complete with Blue and Red Blinking LED"S on the front....wow! Good nosh, lots of food. A fountain to cool your feet in, and a beautiful park to hang out in.
And wow, the French Canadians....literally, 10 different people approached me after the finish line to say they saw me on the course and were following me, or saw me pass them, or something. And, they all had pegged me as an American (the ponytail and horrendous french pronounciations) and wanted to know how I liked the experience in Quebec? And also, all of my fellow Maniacs converged one by one to trade stories....we all had a slower-than normal time due to the heat and "rolling" course.
As mentioned above....a stellar effort by the Quebecians. Great logistics, great course, great support, great medal, enthusiastic people.......brutal elevation and weather, though, but hey....it's a marathon and if it were that easy, everyone would do it, no????
Oh....and last comment on the race...there weren't shuttles back to the Hotel, so Scott and I had to walk.........UPHILL for about 3/4 of a mile. Wow, how about that??
Still got some Aching legs, but I can't say enough good things about the race.....36 Marathons and counting for me and next stop.....Fox Cities?? Maybe! Portland for sure! and who knows after that!
Stay tuned!!
Au Revoir, yall!!
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