This is marathon #7 for me. Lucky Seven! And I do in fact feel real lucky. I’ve been mentoring a group of kids since October 2010. The group is “Étudiants dans la course” (Students on the Run) What a ride it’s been!!
We started running in October… three times a week… Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday for 20 minutes. Some of them found it easy, some of them found it really hard.
January 2011, they ran their first 5 km race and in February another 5 km race. That first one was hard for some but the second race; they all got a lot better. March was their first 10 km race and in May another one. After that one, smiles were starting to appear on their faces. They were actually starting to enjoy themselves. The weekly suffering training was actually starting to pay off.
June we were in Lac Brome for their 20 km race. This race was the first one where we had perfect weather and of course some unbelievable scenery. It’s a gorgeous area and I recommend the race to everyone. It was a hard race but running in this area seemed to have energized the group.
August, we went to Mont Tremblant and did a half-marathon. (21.1 km/13.1 miles). This race exemplifies the term “rolling hills”. They felt this race in their legs, but once again, enjoyment was starting to creep up in their faces.
All the while during our weekly training, we were running longer and longer, from three to four times a week. We were running 20 minutes that first week, to max out in September at running Sunday for 2 hours and 45 minutes, Tuesday for 55 minutes, Thursday for 70 minutes and Saturday for 30 minutes. What a difference!
Here we are the week before the Montreal Marathon on September 25th 2011. 49 weeks of training later. We ran for a “little” 35 minutes last night and these kids were “flying” in the Maisonneuve Park. They were ecstatic! We have two more runs… 30 mins on Thursday, 20 mins on Saturday. Saturday night, we will stuff the kids (and mentors) full of pasta and Sunday… RACE DAY!!
The fun part of this race for me is I don’t have any expectations for myself. No pressure for me to make a certain time. I’ve always been good to pressure myself on race day. NOT THIS TIME!! This race is for them and I get to go along for the ride.
Yé, let's go, we are all so much eager to do this now!
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