Montréal, Québec

Published September 21, 2019

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 19^th 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 🍁

: Bienvenue au Canada

: Dorchester Square

: Marché Maisonneuve

: half-day guided tour

: Parc Olympique

: Mount Royal Park

: Roll ‘n Roll Montréal

: Canada 🇨🇦

Basilique Notre-Dame

: Notre-Dame Basilica

: Gothic Revival style

: history of Montréal

: circa 1858

: setting of Celine Dion’s 1994 wedding & husband’s funeral

: Sister Marguerite

: Iroquois originals

Montréal, Québec

Posted in Canada | Tagged kyrkan, museo | Leave a comment

Breck Road Marathon

Published September 15, 2019

Not often I register race-week & NEVER EVER a double. Until now.

Plan A. Motor after-work, mountain hotel, Saturday marathon, interstate-commute to Wyoming. Reality. Room-search in Colorado ski country proved crazy expensive (even in September). Plan B? 3am alarm. Road-trip! Run shorts, hydration vest, layers & a V8. Who doesn’t dig early morning tomato? LOL>

I-70 West. Denver ⇨ Continental Divide ⇨ Breckenridge. Same east-west where all the great hikes happen. Same Silverthorne exit where Ash & Tom married two years prior. Notta lotta snow on the peaks this late in summer – but WOW, whatta sunrise! Nothing/nowhere/anywhere, our Rockies. Stunning. Always.

South Gondola parking. 20-minute bus ride. Start temp just above freezing. Race elevation 10,000ft. Lodgepole pines, thin air, sun now a-blazing. First couple miles like a REVEL event – straight DOWN. But unlike REVEL, whole lotta climb thereafter. UP 800ft, down next mile. Another push UP, lungs burning/O2 searching. Colorado-native no big deal, right? Reality. BIG elevation jump – my backyard @ 5500ft vs today’s 8800ft average. Past month of flat-world running also done me no favours.

High-altitude sunshine. Muy bueno scenery. Hills? Oh mama. That last climb at mile 22? Mountain folks are crazy tough. No crocodile tears, no regret. 5-hour finish, all FIGHT, NO FAIL 💪

Gas station cola & a bag of salty chips. Journey on. Day One.

Texted a friend – please find/contact the Race Director in Cheyenne, gonna miss bib pick-up. Burning trailer near Georgetown. Highway accident. Need a Plan B. 6pm Wyoming arrival (thanks Larry).

Hotel, shower, sleeps. Sunday 5am at the Depot (RD bib meetup). Body tight/achy after Saturday’s all-day hill repeats, skin still radiating sunshine. But — I’m here. Wyoming. THIRD time this year. Cap off, National Anthem. Cowboy country & I LOVE it 😊

Day strategy. Hit it hard first Half. Walk/run after mile 15. Elevation similar to home, easy comfortable course. Tunes early. Notta lotta runners. Several miles on an empty military base. Hill at marker 9 or 10…but not Breckenridge hilly, just an incline. Day 2. Perspective. Push, push, push. 2:05 first Half. Sun high, getting warm. Legs like lead.

Walked mile 14. Called it two miles later. Sorry Cheyenne – ya deserved better. Mentally not plugged-in for a March-of-Dimes walk. Montréal next week, Europe week after.

17 miles. Check, done. Colorado HOME by noon.

Lick my wounds, run another day. Well maybe…in two or three other days. LOL>

BRECKENRIDGE ROAD MARATHON

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

35 K R HAGA 05:23:41 M Louisville

: Colorado road-trip

: pine, thin air & elevation

: all FIGHT, NO FAIL 💪

: Saturday all-day hill repeats

: Day 2 DNF

Posted in Continental Divide, Marathons/Ultras, Rocky Mtn West | Leave a comment

Saskatchewan

Published September 8, 2019

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?