Canada

Sometimes anticipation ruins a long nite’s sleep.  Rock ‘n Roll day! my first RnR event since 2015.  Host hotel registered.  Could see the African elites stretching outside…12 flights down.  85 & sunny this afternoon – in Montréal – closest I’d see elite athletes today.  Slow, steady, hydrate.

Walk, walk, walk.  Long way to my corral start.  Either goofed the kilometer-mile conversion again, or gonna see thousands break the 3:15 marathon barrier.  LOL>  Back-of-the-pack.  Walk, walk, walk.  Faaaaaaar in the distance, could almost sound out the O’ Canada theme 🇨🇦

And we’d wait.  And wait.  9 o’clock now.  Temps warming.  My corral peeps sitting on pavement.  Still, lotta buzz.  Runner chatter.  Mix of Québécois & Toronto Anglo.  Marathon day in Québec!

FIREWORKS.  Voulez-vous, qu’est-ce que c’est, vive la France – & we’re off.

An hour of dodge-n-weave (no hatin’ on walkers, honest).  Few mind-numbing suburbia/bike-path out-n-backs after the Halfer split – but overall, Rock ‘n Roll does a good job showcasing city sights.

Day fave?  Olympic Park.  Outskirts of Montréal, 1976-dated & I get crazy emotional.

Indoor Stadium ran.  Olympic rings decaled near the big screen.  Allez, allez, Keenan, allez.  Très bon.  Energy from the experience overwhelming/tear-welling.  Allez, allez, Keenan, allez.

Walked part of 19.  Heat struggled last 10k.  Post-noon, no food & crazy humid.  More fluids spewing out than going in.  New PW finish time for Canada – but a FINISH & a medal.  Très bon! 🏅

$20 shower negotiated at my hotel, taxi to the airport.  Crazy quick turnaround.

Monday work-day, passport-readied again.  Family vacation with Sis – to AUSTRIA!  #noregretlife

 

Oasis Rock ‘n’ Roll Montreal Marathon

Sunday, September 22, 2019

 

Bib       Name                 Time

22166  Keenan Haga  05:16:52

 

 

Roll ‘n Roll Montréal

 

 

Three times in 6 weeks.  Three very different Canadian adventures.

Yellowknife, my first territory.  Canada’s Arctic.  Regina, the Queen City, capital of Saskatchewan.  Canada’s Prairie.  Montréal, home of Justin Trudeau & hockey’s Canadiens.  the ’76 Olympics: Bruce Jenner, Nadia Comăneci.  French Canada.

Denver ✈️ Minneapolis ✈️ Montréal, downtown digs by 1am.

Play day, Saturday.  Up with the sun.  Showered.  Mile walk to Dorchester Square.  Ticket purchased.  Half-day bus tour.  What better way to see the Paris of North America?

Old Town (Veiux Montréal), Notre-Dame Basilica, Maisonneuve Market, Parc Olympique – last stop, Mount Royal Park, the island’s high-point.  Vast scenic overlook of Québec’s most populous city.  Temp 15 degrees above average.  Beautiful, sunshiny day.  Done by noon, great Canadian start.  Double thumbs up, Cécile!

Long walk-about.  Reuben sandwich.  More church bells (BIG fan), more 19th century architecture (same comment).  St. Lawrence River.  Chinatown.  Retrieved tomorrow’s marathon bib.  Doubletree hotel return.  Quick check on the weather.  Early sleeps.

Bonne nuit Québec.  Sunday marathon, Roll ‘n Roll Montréal 🍁

 

 

Basilique Notre-Dame

 

Montréal, Québec

 

 

Cornfields, wide open prairies & the CFL Rough Riders.  Friday nite travel to Regina – Saskatchewan’s provincial capital.  Geographically above North Dakota; skies that stretch forever.  Great Plains SMILE 🙂

Nothing direct to Regina.  Nada.  Calgary on the way out, Vancouver on my return.  Little dot on the prairie.  Clean, tidy landscape.  Neat yards, one large university, provincial dome mile from my hotel digs.  Expo Saturday at the Conexus Arts Centre, early sleeps, chilly 39 degrees marathon morn.  YES!

Redemption search.  Huge mental fail last Saturday in Ohio.  Air thick/humid/oven hot & an evening race (excuses come easy) – it’s the mental collapse, that’s always hardest to bounce back/recover from.

Hitched a ride with another runner to Sunday’s Start.  Our far North cousins – super friendly.  Lake along Lakeshore Drive completely masked in fog.  [Wascana Lake] Near perfect run conditions.

Queued back-of-the-pack.  Cap off, soaked up the country’s anthem.  Almost 8000 of us.  Held back first mile, steady even pace.  10K thick with Halfers.  No tunes/earbuds quiet ‘til after the split.  Easy, flat, forgiving course.  Just enjoying the day.  Museum, capitol dome.  Lotta bike path, lotta parks.

Shed a layer, carried my gloves.  Douglas Park, Rambler Park, Wilson Park.

Folks should give ‘the Queen City’ a little more love (Pile-of-Bones renamed in 1897, after Queen Victoria).  Beautiful day, happy town.  And my finish?  Back on track.  Completion 161, Canada medal #8.

Newfoundland to BC, Toronto to the Yukon.  2020: every Province, every Territory 🍁

Montréal in 2 short weeks.  Parlez-vous français, eh?

 

GMS Queen City Marathon

2019-09-08 • GMS 42.2K Run

 

BIB 101       K R Haga        04:34:31.0

 

 

Queen City Marathon, SK