EDLC - Year 2

EDLC - Année 2 (Français ici)

In 2010, I became a mentor for the organization Étudiants dans la course (Students on the Run). After running with the first group and completing the Montreal Marathon  in 2011, I decided to once again be part of this great experience.

October 2011, 31 students ages 15-17 and 31 mentors started training. We started at a “huge” 20 minutes without stopping three times a week then slowly but surely the buildup began. While still training 3-4 times a week we completed two 5 km races, three 10 km races, a 20 km race and a 21.1 km half marathon with the final goal, the Montreal Marathon on September 23^rd 2012.

Last year, during the marathon, I crashed and had to walk for about 10 minutes at kilometer 36. I did not want this to happen this year so I got some additional training in to be certain that I was ready. I was a lot more confident than I was last year but the week before the marathon the doubts starting creeping up. Not only was I in a faster group than last year, but I was running just my student and I. I didn’t have a backup like last year. The marathon course was different. Did I do enough? Was I going to crash again? Was the weather going to be hot like in 2011?

Finally, Sunday morning arrives. As usual, I did not get much sleep. At 2:00 am my eyes popped open due to the “joys” of hydrating the day before the race. During the journey from my bed to the bathroom, it dawned on me, today is the day of the marathon… adrenaline rushed through my body and any thoughts of falling back to sleep were quickly dismissed from reality.  One good thing of getting up early is that I had plenty of time to eat 4 portions of porridge, some toasts and some dates and of course, last but not least COFFEE.

Finally it was time to join the kids at the “Centre Pierre Charbonneau”, we had two buses taking us to the starting line. 

With a temperature of 12°C and sunny skies, I believed we had the most perfect weather we could possibly imagine. The kids were looking strangely at us mentors wearing our garbage bags but when we finally made it to the bridge; they were quite envious while they were shivering from the wind.

We were dumped in the 16^th corral so instead of taking off at 8:30 am, it wasn’t until 9:10 that we finally got our start. 

Some people don’t like the first part of the 10 km of the course in Montreal because there are not many people cheering us on. I however, LOVE IT. Due to “hydration” issues, many runners need bushes and no crowds and that is exactly what we get during the first 10 km. It’s the Rock & Roll Marathon so we also had music every 3 km, so that got we danced as much as we ran that first part of the race.

It didn’t take long for our group of 40 kids and mentors to get split up into smaller groups and down to individual groups. Faster/slower runners were the first part of it, but cramps, bathroom breaks, problems with sneakers and clothing were but a small part of things that go wrong with a big group during a marathon. My kid Olivier and I had hooked on to the mentor Stéphane and his kid Steven. We also had Pablo with us. Pablo was part of the first group of EDLC in 2009/2010. He’s been coming back with each new group since then. The marathon addiction bug has obviously bitten him. Our group stayed together from start to finish.

We had no problems what so ever with the hills we hit during the first 30 km. The hill training we did at Mount Royal on Thursdays, and the half-marathon at Mont Tremblant, prepared us big time for this event.

Around 25 km, at Laurier Park is where I found my son. I had stashed oranges with him and he had gotten us some bananas as well. I felt like I had spent most of the marathon eating oranges. This had worked great during our last training run so I was hoping to avoid the wall by stuffing my face with oranges.

For the first 27 km, according to my Garmin, we kept an average pace of 06:25 per km (10:20 per mile) This was exactly what Olivier and I planned. Our goal of course was to finish it but we had a sub 4 hour and 30 minute goal that seemed plausible. While going north from Laurier Park, Olivier and I were starting to get ahead of Stéphane and Steven. They were slowing down, while we still had our pace. I turned and asked him what do you want to do? He looked at me as if I had asked him “Are you going to keep breathing?” He told me that we’re staying with them to the end.

So we then started to walk a little bit longer at the water stations. Our goal while we were running was to just keep running to the next water station. Even with the walking at the water stations during the hardest part of the marathon, the last 10 km, we kept an average of 07:00 min per km (11:15 per mile)  

During the 48 weeks of training with these 20 kids, I have heard it all.

I’m tired…

I’m hungry…

I didn’t eat much today…

I didn’t sleep much last night…

My leg/knee/foot/stomach/whatever hurts…

Even when we were slowing down, even when we were walking, even when it hurt when we started running again, I never heard a single complaint. I saw what they were feeling on their faces but I never heard them complain once. They’d wince and say “I’m good” and keep going. Even when they acknowledged some discomfort, they’d say “Yeah… *something* hurts but I’m good.”

While we were completing our last 10 km, the first of our kids began crossing the finish line. Our first two completed the marathon in 3 hours 46 minutes. 

Slowly but surely more began to arrive. Finally as we hit the 40 km mark, something grabbed a hold of Steven for the last part of the race, we were flying down that course, passing everyone in sight. We kept an average of 5:30 per km for that last part. I swear, if the marathon was 42.3 km I would have passed out trying to follow these speed demons. I also got a great surprise as Mouhamadou, my kid from last year, joined up with us and finished the final stretch with us. We finally made it across the finish line in 4 hours and 44 minutes. It seemed like my glycogen levels were just fine since the wall never even came close to manifesting himself to me. Looks like oranges are going to remain a part of my marathon routine. 

Slowly but surely, more groups poured across the finish line. Each mentor and each kid filled with such emotion that these pictures only show a small sample of what it felt like to be there.

All in all, of the twenty that started the marathon, ALL OF THEM crossed the finish line. The last two, even with the roads now open to traffic, even with the finish line closed made it after 7 hours and 18 minutes. 

This is the third year of existence of EDLC and every one of those 51 kids who have made it to the starting line have made it to the finish line. I find it hard to imagine that these are the same kids we started running with 20 minutes per day, three times a week. Those first times, some of them couldn’t even complete 20 minutes without stopping now they completed a marathon.

Running a marathon is one thing, running a marathon with these kids is something else entirely. If you think you have a lot of emotions crossing the finish line, it pales in comparison to the emotions one feels seeing these kids fight with all they’ve got during the marathon and finally cross that finish line completely drained physically and emotionally and then… seeing their faces change to reflect the success of what they have just accomplished.

I’m already signed up and ready to start with another group. End of October, we start again with another group of kids this crazy journey we call the marathon.