There is no such thing as an easy marathon

"Il n'y a pas de marathon facile" version française ici

I just finished marathon number 7 on September 25th 2011. Two days later and I don't have any cramps, I don't have and pain and I don't have any brain.

Ok... Ok... it's there... just things are fuzzy. Hand eye coordination... check... motor skills... check... trying to actually concentrate on work... NOT A CHANCE. The third day... cloud is gone... brain is functional... well it's working like it does normally anyways.

My 6 previous marathons have always been about doing MY best time... about ME going the distance. Not this one... this one was about running with 18 19 kids from Étudiants dans la course (Students on the Run). I and 30 mentors have been training with 30 kids since last October. Lots of injuries and other stuff later, we had 18 kids at the starting line. (Plus one from last year and one who we lost during the year who suddenly appeared on the bridge on his own.)

Sunday morning, close to 6:30 am, I pick up Carl, one of the kids, and we drive around the Maisonneuve Park and see the signs 39 km, 40 km, 41 km, 42 km and we catch a glimpse of the finish line itself while we go to the Centre Pierre Charbonneau. We're grinning ear to ear... it's unreal... it's go time. I park the van and we're out with all the others. Everyone is getting there early. The bus leaves for the Jacques-Cartier Bridge at 7:00 am and everyone is arriving way ahead of time. 

Our "normal" Sunday mornings here, the kids arrived SLOOOWLY... some looking like they haven't slept all week. NOT THIS TIME. They were bouncing around like hamsters on espresso. 

We're all doing the final touches of "Body Glide", putting gels in the fanny packs and I see a few kids pop out of the bushes to relieve "hydration" issues.

Ok... In the bus... BOOM... we're at the bridge... Wha?  How'd that happen so fast?  We get our stuff and poof... behind the starting line we go. Benoît does a great speech. He is always the most exuberant leader for the kids (and mentors too.) 

I rush away to the side of the bridge for "hydration" issues myself. When I come back, Zaher is there with us. I thought we lost him in June and jump over and shake his hand. He says he hasn't trained as much as he wanted to but he wanted to be here. I'm so glad he made it with us. 

It's go time... we separate into our 4 regular groups. I'm with group 3. Fany, Guillaume, Marie-Josée, David, Marie-Pier are the mentors. Carl-Alexandre, Jessica, Sarah, Soukaina are the students. I'm designated official "mule". I have my huge fuel belt with 2 bottles. (One for Gatorade and one for water). In the pouch I have 2 bottles of gel plus a few extra individual pouches of gel for others. Our group has a plan of 6:30 to 6:45 per km. 

5...4...3...2...1... Boom... we're off! We're keeping off to the right with the students maintaining our pace. Down we go to Ile Jean Drapeau, trying not to go too fast. Not too long after, we see the first sign (1 km of 42 km) so... me being me... what do I do?  I scream at the top of my lungs, "Only 41.1 kilometers  to go !!!" And that sets my attitude for the rest of the race. A few more kilometers down the road I'm pointing out the runners in the bushes to others, cracking jokes about any stupid thing that comes to mind. Oooops... at km 7, "I" need to go... I wave "Be right back" and into the bushes I go... All done... I catch up quickly to the group.

As were going on and on in kilometers, Soukaina, David and Marie-Pier fall back. They picked a 7:00 per km pace so quite naturally we start to lose them from sight. In and around Ile Jean Drapeau, we had spots of crowds now as we go to Griffintown, more cars and less people but things are going great. The pace is great; we're walking the water stations, thanking all the volunteers and back to our pace. In no time at all, (well 2 hours actually) we've made it to about the 19 km mark and we catch a glimpse of the Jacques-Cartier bridge, where we started, and see the half-marathon folks head off to Montreal. Surprise... Sarah's family shows up with pretzels as well as extra stuff and junk. I get volunteered again to put more stuff in my belt.

Around km 23, we start passing folks who are walking the half-marathon and who do we meet? Carl-Alex's grandfather!!!  Badabing badaboom picture time... Badabing badaboom off we go...

Now the "fun" begins... from 25 km to 33 km, it's all up hill... and the GIRLS attack those hills. From here on end... I'm not as crazy as I was. I'm just trying to keep up. 

We reach the Lafontaine Park, it's been 3 hours and 27 km !! On rue St Joseph, at km 28, my 9 year old son pops up and runs after me. (I was looking for him but missed him :-| )  I stop and chat a few seconds, give him a huge hug and start chasing my pack again. Aaack !  The sun pops out from behind a cloud... We started with 22 Celsius and a high humidity of 29-30ish... and now some sun !   Just as we turn on rue St Laurent, SHADE... we all migrate to the left of the road and hide while still going up St Laurent and UPHILL. We bump into 2 folks: Rejean (one of the mentors) and Zaher (from the bridge) and we're going up St Laurent together. I'm starting to get tired but I'm still trying to be my normal crazy self. Small talk here... small talk there... Rejean keeps asking me when the next subway station is. (He was injured earlier in the year, so he's been running with groups here and there jumping from station to station) I'm telling him the next one is at the finish line. He slows down and says, "I can't keep the pace of the kids I'll slow down and let the one behind catch up." 

Well the uphill part is done, but a little after 36 km, I just slow down and start walking. I did not make a conscious effort to do so, my legs just stopped... that was weird. I'm still walking and the group is getting farther and farther ahead, here comes Guillaume turning around and checking up on me. I wave that I'm good and start jogging again. He turns and joins the group once more. Not 10 seconds later, I start getting a tad tunnel vision and for once in my life I decide to not be an idiot, I slow down and walk right away. I continue walking while starting to pour gel down my throat and washing it down with warm Gatorade. "Yummmmm"  Rejean catches right back up to me and I can't see my group. I'm checking my Garmin watch and waiting for my heart rate to go down, so I can start up again. That's weird my watch seems stuck, my heart rate is not going down... stuck in the 150's... Rejean keeps asking me every 30 seconds if I'm OK and I maintain that I'll be fine as soon as my heart rate goes down. He continues to walk with me for a while and fills my water bottle for me at the water station. I thank him and tell him I'm going to walk the rest and tell him to get going. He reluctantly goes on. 


I see ahead the start of the 5 km race.  I'm pretty much decided to walk the rest of the way as I cross the carpet recording the 37 km mark. 20 mins later, I've shuffling along for about 2 km, when I hear a yell from behind... "Gillllezzzz!!"   Here comes, Soukaina, David and Marie-Pier. They slow down and walk a few minutes while I explain what happened. Next thing I know, I've got some energy back and we all start jogging. Urrrk... Cramp !!!  I hop/limp/jog for a few seconds and it works out.

This last part we're doing about 7:15 per km and because it's a tad downhill we accelerate to almost to 6:00 per km. David is starting to get cramps in his sides... and Marie-Pier is saying slow down her legs and cramping up. All three of us are having trouble following Soukaina. I've always maintained that if the students of EDLC had half the will of this girl, they'd all finish the marathon in 2 hours!! I'm begging that Soukaina does not sprint in the final meters of the race as I'd probably just pass out. Finally we see the 41 km sign and then we turn the corner on Viau street. Luckily it's still downhill and we're all holding on. There's the 42 km sign !!!  We make it to Sherbrooke street and turn into the park. We keep right towards the finish line Soukaina starts grabbing our hands, next thing you know all four of us are in a line and we cross the finish line. I find out later that the first part of my group crossed 10 minutes ahead at 4:50:58 and we made it at 5:00:41. There are the volunteers with the medals. Voila... we have them on. We are now marathoners.

All four of us stagger forward, gulping down the water, yogourt, apples but ignoring the vegetable juice at the finish line. While we were on Viau, someone told us to keep right and we'll find the EDLC tent. I and the rest of the zombies are shuffling over to the tent and we bump into people here and people there. 

Hugs here and hugs there... I hear the story from Yves and how he lost it like me and his student Akim continued to the finish line... he then ran BACK 2 km... joined up with Yves to finish the race with him. So Akim's marathon was 46.2 km instead of 42.2!!

At the tent, more hugs...  we have a massage table and some of the kids are using it. More hugs... handshakes... hugs... More people come in... more hugs... I'm going from person to person... more hugs...

I find a piece of grass and fall down and inhale my yogourt, apple & water. I notice a pile of stuff... OUR stuff... good... I don't need to find the school bus. I finally remember I still have my fuel belt and take it off. I get my bag and rummage through and get my Merrel Trail Gloves.  Off with the sneakers and shoes and put fresh shoes on. I finally lock up...We all here?  Nope... Karlenne hasn't made it in. I ask where she is... they're checking... Next thing you know, anyone who can, moves to Viau street and waits. We're at the 42 km sign. A few runners are coming down the street; we clap and scream to encourage them on. Next thing I see is cop cars. They are opening up Viau street... sure enough, it's been over 6 hours. We see some runners coming down the sidewalk. We scream at folks to clear the sidewalk and do our best to encourage the runners we see. Not too long after, race official pick up the 42 km sign. I'm thinking they could have left that a tad longer but if I complain about that folks will complain that it takes too long to clean up. Anyways either way... it sucks. Finally here come Karlenne and her mentor Danick followed by a small group of EDLC mentors and students. Our group scream like crazy ! hop/limp/jog once again and join the group. All of us begin screaming. "E"  "D"  "L"  "C" ... "E"  "D"  "L"  "C"  ... "E"  "D"  "L"  "C" !!!

The hoard of red shirts jogs the last 200 meters to the finish line. The whole crowd helps Danick and Karlenne make their way all around to the EDLC tent. 

The zombies are starting to wake up and walk around and more hugs go around and we drag everyone for a picture. 

This was my worst marathon time, but without a doubt it was my best ever marathon experience.