Rock n Roll Montreal Half-Marathon: A Race Report

I know that this update/race report is long overdue (as well as updating this site), but I have been super busy since my trip to Montreal. 

Because I had an ankle injury, I was planning to run this in 2:05 but I really was shocked that I did it in 1:51. The weather conditions were awesome . . . for me – sunny and in the mid 50s. It was a little warmers than I had expected and I kind of wished that I would have worn shorts instead of my tights. That said, I was very excited to run my first race outside of NYC and the US of A.

It may have been too hot for this guy. There is always one of these folks.

Before beginning this report, I will state a few pros and cons with this Half. Granted that these cons may be issues with the Rock n Roll organization rather the race’s location.

Pros:

1. It’s laid back, compared to the multiple security checks associated with the NYC marathon.
2. The course is mostly flat (except for a few hills near the end) and you get to run through places that most tourists don’t visit.
3. The post race goodie bag was amazing – two apples, juice, some version of gatorade, water, tomato juice (yuck), and yogurt.
4. The bands, singers, and dancing groups along the course were pretty awesome.

Cons:

1. The corral assignments were a mess. This could be due to people putting in incorrect finish times in their registration. Many people were walking within the first mile for the half, yet their corral numbers were higher than mine. I was supposed to be in corral 4.
2. You don’t see too much of the city for the half, because most of the race is the two islands, Iles Sainte-Helene and Notre Dame.
3. Baggage pick up was a mess. It took about 50 minutes to get my bag after the race.
4. I kind of wished that the post race festival started earlier. I guess the main party/music fest started after the full marathon, but I wanted to hear some music…It is a Rock n Roll event.

Prerace:

Preface selfie

The race started at 830am and getting to the start was easy breezy (except that the trains were really crowded) compared to the NYC marathon. I left my airbnb at only 7am; I remember having to be at the Staten Island Ferry station by 545am. So there was not a whole lot of sitting around in the cold while waiting for your wave to start. Plus, there was a band to keep you entertained before starting.

Miles 0-4:

This portion mainly took us around Île Sainte-Hélène with notable sites being a Six Flags park (La Ronde) and the Biosphère. The crowd was pretty slim during this part, but most of the runners were excited for the run. Plus, there were some awesome bands along the route. It’s interesting that the bands and singers were from Montreal but most of them were singing english rock songs from the States. I was expecting to hear more French-Canadian rock music during the race.
 

Miles 5-9:

Islands #2 and #3. This portion of the race took us through the second and third islands, île Notre Dame and Montreal itself (yes, Montreal is an island). I will say that this probably was the most boring part of the race, because there were hardly any spectaculars during this portion. On Île Notre Dame, there were nice views of Montreal and Île Saine Hèléne … I think that we passed a casino. Getting into Montreal was a bit of a struggle because the main bridge, Pont de la Concorde, was not completely shut down for the race. This meant that we were squeezed into a small space across the bridge, so it was a little hard to maintain your pace. Plus,there were spectators and a couple of injured runners on the bridge and that made it a little difficult to navigate.

It was at this point when I realized that I could do a sub 2-hour Half with my ankle injury.  I was a little sad that there was not massive crowds to cheer us on once we hit Montreal. I was expecting something like the crowds in NYC’s marathon when you cross the Queensboro Bridge and enter Manhattan. It was kind of nice to run through the outskirts of the Old Montreal, but there was not too much interesting scenery.
 

Miles 10 – 13.1

This is where things got a little interesting and tough. This portion pretty much brought us through the village (Le Village) to the finish, Parc La Fontaine. It is funny how right at mile 10, we made a left and BAM a big ass hill. Okay, I guess it was not that big but it was annoying. This is where the race became a little fun because we got to see different neighborhoods, it was a little more festive than the first 2/3rds of the race. Plus the pink “stones” in the gay village were kind of cool.

The finish was a little tricky, because after mile 12 most races will have half or quarter mile markers. Yes, everyone has Garmins, Fitbits, and Apple Watches but my Fitbit overcompensates my mileage by 1/4-1/2 of a mile. Basically, I did not know when to do my final push. However, I was not too upset about it.

The finish was pretty congested and a little disorganized but “traffic” was flowing. I mentioned the issues that I had with baggage claim.

I love when spectators come up with creative signs. Plus, it was cool that they had them in french and in english.

Postrace: 

I am so glad that I rented an Airbnb that was a few blocks away that way I was able to go home, shower, and consume all of the calories that I burned by eating a huge plate of poutine.

Music:

Since this was a Rock n Roll even, I tried to take screen shots of the songs that were playing at the beginning of each mile, unfortunately I started after the first mile. I did not realize that this playlist had so many female songs for the beginning of each mile. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I will say that it was great to have “Titanium” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” at the start of my final two miles.

Some of my suggestions, which may or may not be feasible. 

1. More of Montreal for the half. Obviously, you will see more of the city if you do the full marathon (at least 16 miles of city with the full versus 5-6 with the half). Perhaps, the half and full marathoners could be separated earlier in the race. For example, the half could go directly into Montreal after Île Sainte Hélène rather than running Île Notre Dame with the full marathoners. Plus, this would lead to less congestion on the bridge going into Montreal.

2. Have a way to use mobile devices for getting your race materials. Fortunately, the organizers had paper race confirmation forms for us who did not print ours.

3. A little more prep work for the liquid stations would have been great. Around mile 6/8 most of the water was gone and the volunteers had to pour water on a cup by cup basis.

4. The post race festival could have been a little more festive. Even though the full marathoner were not finished with their race, there were plenty of half-marathoners, 10Kers, 5Kers, and 1Kers around. Oh and another beer truck would have been helpful in preventing long waits for the redeeming your beer tickets.
 

All of that said, I would definitely want to run another race here. Hopefully, that race would be the full marathon since that is what I originally planned to do. But, I was satisfied with the half, considering that I was coming off of an ankle injury.

"Speed" Demon

Just a quick entry, while I wait for my experiment to finish. 

Since I have been slightly off with my marathon (now half-marathon) training, I realize that I have been neglecting the speed work what is necessary for a long-distance training program. Ack!!! Now, there is less than 25 days and 10 hours until my race in Montreal. 

Yesterday, I decided to do three "speed" ladder intervals - 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m with minimal recovery in between intervals. I remember hating this type of workout back in high school but I did notice that my times  improved with it. With 25 days until the race, there will not be enough time to notice any differences from my speed work, but it will prepare my legs for quick sprinting that I will have do during the half-marathon. Overall, the run was kind of fun, because it was a nice change to breaking up the distances. I think that it gives your mind a chance to rest and regroup, which you do not really get an opportunity to do when running 10+ miles. Speaking of minds. I must have had early Monday morning brain because I screwed up the calculations for the first two intervals. As I showed above, the distances are in meters; whereas, my GPS tracker measure distance in miles. With my brain fart, I was equating 100 and 200 meters with 0.1 and 0.2 miles, respectively. This is crazy because: 

1. I have been involved with track and field for years, so I should know these distances quite well. 
2. I am a scientist who deals with using the metric system on a daily basis. I still do not understand why the U.S. does not use the metric system, but that subject is the topic of a different blog for a different day. 

The route in Saratoga Park in the Bed Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. 

Even though I messed up a bit with my conversations, it worked out a little bit because I ran an extra distance that I had originally planned to do. What does not kill you will make you stronger, right?

All in all it was a fun run, because the park, with its oval walkway, near my apartment building is perfect for these types of runs. 

Song of the run: Shakira's "Ciega, Sordomuda." 

Although much of Shakira's style has changed, call it an artist's evolution, this song still is one of my favorites for getting some speed out of my legs. 

Ok, so moving forward in the week. I plan to do a 7-8 mile (depending on what time I wake up and how hot it is outside) tempo run. I am going to aim for an 8:10 - 8:30 min/mi pace. Plus, I plan to do my last long run (a 12 miler) this weekend, so I can get an adequate tapering period. I have not given much thought to the route but I think that it will include the Williamsburg Bridge, downtown, and the Westside Highway in Manhattan. I do not believe that I have done any runs on the Westside of Manhattan.

Why do I run?

Running for me was a bit of an accident.

Back in the day, the late 90’s to be exact, I used to run track and cross country in high school. In high school I did the long distance races, 1600 and 3200 meters. I liked running track and cross country but I was no elite athlete by any means. I mainly did these sports to become a well-rounded student that everyone says you need to be in order to give you the competitive edge for your college applications. It is kind of interesting that now it seems that colleges are interested only in the academic aspects of a high schooler’s application. But, that is another story for another day. Matter of fact, once I received early admissions for one of my top choice school in October of my Senior year, I pretty much did not participate in any extracurricular activities for the rest of the year.

Pretty much from Senior year of high school to my first year of my postdoctoral fellowship (a good 12-year span), I did not run at all. Actually . . . I lie. I think that I may have ran five miles once in graduate school.  Too be frank, I used to get quite annoyed hearing about friends rambling about training for half- and full- marathons. Also, the NYC Marathon used to be a big thorn in my side, because of all of the street closures.

So what caused the change in my feelings towards running?

In 2010/2011, I used to ride my bike to work everyday. It was a short commute  (about 4 miles from Roosevelt Island to the Upper East Side) but I had to cross two bridges, so it was a decent 25-30 minute workout.  However, my road bike has very thin tires, so I would get flat tires constantly, which are a pain to change. One day in February 2011, I get up, put on my cold weather (it gets cold in NYC in February) gear to ride my bike, and I see that I my bicycle had flat tire. Since I was ready to go, I  rolled my eyes and grabbed my allen wrench to start changing the flat. Then, I thought to myself “Screw this, you can just run to work”. I may have used other choice words than “screw”.

After that day, I became a runner . . . again. I started to run to work almost every other day, unless the weather was below 32F. I am a scientist in Academia, so I really did not have to dress too nicely . . . jeans and a T-shirt is appropriate dress code in my line of work. My coworker, a runner, noticed that I was running to work and suggested that I participate in some of the races that the New York Road Runners (NYRR) sponsored. Then, I was really hooked. My 5K races became 10K races and my 10K races became half-marathons. Then, I was a like if I can do a half-marathon, why not train for NYC’s marathon. It is interesting that while training for the NYC marathon, I told myself that I would never to do another marathon again. However, when I finished the marathon I made a bucket list of running marathons in  other states and other countries.

It is kind of cool for someone who was not that interested in running became more involved in the running community all because of a flat bicycle tire. The interesting thing is that I think that I am a better runner as a 36 year old man than when I was a 17-year old “kid”.

What I meant to say . . .

1. Adjusting plans

2. Changin plans

3. NYRR's France 8K

1. Adjusting plans

I have been going back and forth over running Montreal's Marathon and I have decided that I am not going to run it. This has been a horrible summer, rather 16 weeks, to train for a marathon. I am a little disappointed but I would rather drop out than do something that would injure my body. This realization came last week when I attempted to run an easy 8 miles in preparation to run 16 miles during the weekend. Even though it was very hot and humid last Thursday, I just was not into the run and I kind of knew that there would be no way that I could complete a 16 mile run. 

Although I did not care for the run, I was kind of happy that I was able to revisit Roosevelt Island for the run.

Instead, I decided that I will run the Montreal Half-Marathon rather than the full marathon. I do not think that I have it in me to run the full marathon but I know that I can complete the half-marathon. I know this because last weekend I easily ran 10 miles. 

2. Changing plans

Since I really wanted to run a marathon, I think that I will run the Shamrock Marathon  (March 2017) in Virginia Beach, Virginia . . . my original hometown. It will give me to reason to visit my family while accomplishing a goal for myself. Plus, it will be cool to have some family support . . . along with some good food during that weekend. 

Although it will be cool to run a marathon in my hometown, I do find the route to be a little boring. I find it boring because it's one of those "been there, done that" routes. Being from the area, I guess it would be hard to close down a bunch of streets, like the marathons in big metropolitan city such as NYC, Boston, and San Fransisco. However, it is worth a shot. Plus, the marathon is in March, so training would be easier because my long runs will be done during the colder months. So, I will see how this goes. 

3. NYRR's France 8K

Although I had a horrible time running 5 miles on Roosevelt Island, I enjoyed NYRR's France 8K on Sunday. Initially, it was super muggy, BUT there was an INTENSE downpour during the run. The downpour felt good and bad. Obviously good, because the weather was cooler. Bad, because I hate running in wet shoes. 

According to my running apps, I ran the race with a pace of 8:09 min/mi but the official results were 8:21min/mi, which is really slow for me. 

It was nice getting back into some friendly competition at an NYRR race. Also, I need to completed only 2 more races to qualify for the NYC Marathon in 2017.