saint hubert = "sain ew-bear" & other enlightening oddities that prove i'm not francophone
it's decided! "mon-rrreal" is a really fantastic town. anyone wishing to go to france some day should use it as their "warm-up" trip to begin partial-immersion in the french language.
granted, you might pick up a few quebecquois accent oddities (oui vs "whey") but it's not nearly as scary as actually going to france is, if you're a french-newbie like me (or rather, illiterate & dumb). everyone there can roll seamlessly between french and english like they may as well be the same language. it's magnificently fascinating. i guess thats what happens when you force all non-locals to put their kids in french school as soon as they set food on montreal soil.
but language-enchantment aside, the food was awesome! and the shopping was perfect - a blend of funky, progressive boutiques from local designers + all your usual name brands (that i find boring when i travel, but which hints that people in the area must have some semblance of taste & a little money to spend frivilously).
the architecture was a cool mix of really old european + super modern + an underground city + lots of above-ground funky streets to stroll up and down while sipping coffees + tons of parks + a variety of cultures & classes. i loved it all.
the weather was gorgeous -- hints of fall mixed with blindingly sunny days. we only suffered one bout with clouds and rain. it was one of those "cold in the shade, hot in the sun" kind of weekends... which turned out to be not-so-great during the race, for my stupid body (which has no ability to regulate temperature)... but which made for some perfect site-seeing conditions overall.
the marathon was really fun. conor's stepdad & one of my developers both ran it with me and we were a site for sore eyes later that night. but it started on a really awesome bridge, and to get to the starting line we wandered through a quaint park, past a dixie band, and up onto what felt like the top of the world. then we ran all through some great parts of town - some poor, some old, some nice, some flat, some hilly. the race really helped me get a general feel for the spatial plan of the city and the variations between neighborhoods -- all things i love to study and explore when i travel.
and i'm surprisingly not really very sad that i didn't qualify for boston! i gave the marathon my all and i have zero regrets regarding my preperation or performance from the day.
for one thing, due to the zero-shade factor for the first 3/4s of the race, i got overheated - i know, totally annoying considering that the air was cool. who gets overheated when it's not scorching outside? but direct sun + humidity kills me. my legs & feet were blisteringly hot to the point where i was running on the white lines painted on the road to keep my tootsies as cool as i could.
i dodged for every shady spot i saw, which means my nike+ ipod system clocked me doing 28 miles instead of 26 in the end (granted, i also think the callibration is off, or very UN-trustworthy). my cheeks were burning early in the race, but all the while -- my hands and arms were freezing cold. go figure that out!
so -- i had to stop for water more than i would have liked due to the (aforementioned) sun exposure. which means that most of the 15 minutes over my goal time (3:55 actual vs 3:40 goal) was very likely attributed to those stops. they were often (roughly every 3 miles for the entire 2nd half of the race) and they pissed me off. but when you feel dizzy, you have no choice otherwise you might not even finish, and that's a worse fate than anything.
my splits are interesting. i felt FANTASTIC to start out. i easily averaged the perfect just-sub 8:00/mile pace that i wanted to, and was cruising steady there until i got almost exactly halfway. thats when i deteriorated into a dazed & pathetic excuse for a runner, over the course of about 2 miles. and i never recovered. thankfully my deterioration plateaued and i finished steady... but the initial dip was too much to salvage my boston dreams. whatever. there are other races i can run!
conor met up with me at kilometer 31 (about 6 miles to the end) and was my beacon of hope that steered me home. he also had the fortune of jumping in when we finally got some shade/tree coverage and the clouds simultaneously came out (phew!). he ran the entire 6 miles to the end with me, instead of the planned 3 miles that he was originally going to do. usually i'm the one encouraging him along during a run so it was fun for us both to have the tables turned. and i have to say, it's a great feeling to run down the shute at the finish line when you're arm in arm with your fiance... particularly when you aren't sure how you're still standing up & you are so happy he's there to help support your weight!
not long after donning my finishers medal, i stumbled into first aid and a very very kind doctor took my vitals, wrapped me up in a blanket on a cot, and informed me that i wasn't dehydrated like i thought i was. the naseau, blue lips & finger nails, pasty tongue and shaking was mild heat stroke instead. lovely. but oh look - there's that guy i ping-ponged with for the last half of the race... apparently he can't move his legs anymore... somehow i felt better seeing my commrade. it was like we were fighting the same war and had just returned home from being on the front lines of battle.
marathons are HARD.
done casually or not, well-trained or not, they beat the shit out of your body, and i'm still paying for it today. yes, it's wednesday, and i'm just now finally able to walk down stairs without doing push-ups down the railings!
the quads? still sore. the calfs? super tight. the tendonitis in the left knee? back in force.
the euphoria that i:
a) finished a marathon and
b) did it in under 4 hours?
very high.
oh yeah, for those who reassured me a few months back that puking after a run is hard-core? well, you'll be happy to know that i've maintained my hard-coreness through all this. you would have been quite proud.
so i decided to treat my hard-core body with a lot of wine that night and plenty of chocolate. i think i'm digging this whole marathon vacation concept...
granted, you might pick up a few quebecquois accent oddities (oui vs "whey") but it's not nearly as scary as actually going to france is, if you're a french-newbie like me (or rather, illiterate & dumb). everyone there can roll seamlessly between french and english like they may as well be the same language. it's magnificently fascinating. i guess thats what happens when you force all non-locals to put their kids in french school as soon as they set food on montreal soil.
but language-enchantment aside, the food was awesome! and the shopping was perfect - a blend of funky, progressive boutiques from local designers + all your usual name brands (that i find boring when i travel, but which hints that people in the area must have some semblance of taste & a little money to spend frivilously).
the architecture was a cool mix of really old european + super modern + an underground city + lots of above-ground funky streets to stroll up and down while sipping coffees + tons of parks + a variety of cultures & classes. i loved it all.
the weather was gorgeous -- hints of fall mixed with blindingly sunny days. we only suffered one bout with clouds and rain. it was one of those "cold in the shade, hot in the sun" kind of weekends... which turned out to be not-so-great during the race, for my stupid body (which has no ability to regulate temperature)... but which made for some perfect site-seeing conditions overall.
the marathon was really fun. conor's stepdad & one of my developers both ran it with me and we were a site for sore eyes later that night. but it started on a really awesome bridge, and to get to the starting line we wandered through a quaint park, past a dixie band, and up onto what felt like the top of the world. then we ran all through some great parts of town - some poor, some old, some nice, some flat, some hilly. the race really helped me get a general feel for the spatial plan of the city and the variations between neighborhoods -- all things i love to study and explore when i travel.
and i'm surprisingly not really very sad that i didn't qualify for boston! i gave the marathon my all and i have zero regrets regarding my preperation or performance from the day.
for one thing, due to the zero-shade factor for the first 3/4s of the race, i got overheated - i know, totally annoying considering that the air was cool. who gets overheated when it's not scorching outside? but direct sun + humidity kills me. my legs & feet were blisteringly hot to the point where i was running on the white lines painted on the road to keep my tootsies as cool as i could.
i dodged for every shady spot i saw, which means my nike+ ipod system clocked me doing 28 miles instead of 26 in the end (granted, i also think the callibration is off, or very UN-trustworthy). my cheeks were burning early in the race, but all the while -- my hands and arms were freezing cold. go figure that out!
so -- i had to stop for water more than i would have liked due to the (aforementioned) sun exposure. which means that most of the 15 minutes over my goal time (3:55 actual vs 3:40 goal) was very likely attributed to those stops. they were often (roughly every 3 miles for the entire 2nd half of the race) and they pissed me off. but when you feel dizzy, you have no choice otherwise you might not even finish, and that's a worse fate than anything.
my splits are interesting. i felt FANTASTIC to start out. i easily averaged the perfect just-sub 8:00/mile pace that i wanted to, and was cruising steady there until i got almost exactly halfway. thats when i deteriorated into a dazed & pathetic excuse for a runner, over the course of about 2 miles. and i never recovered. thankfully my deterioration plateaued and i finished steady... but the initial dip was too much to salvage my boston dreams. whatever. there are other races i can run!
conor met up with me at kilometer 31 (about 6 miles to the end) and was my beacon of hope that steered me home. he also had the fortune of jumping in when we finally got some shade/tree coverage and the clouds simultaneously came out (phew!). he ran the entire 6 miles to the end with me, instead of the planned 3 miles that he was originally going to do. usually i'm the one encouraging him along during a run so it was fun for us both to have the tables turned. and i have to say, it's a great feeling to run down the shute at the finish line when you're arm in arm with your fiance... particularly when you aren't sure how you're still standing up & you are so happy he's there to help support your weight!
not long after donning my finishers medal, i stumbled into first aid and a very very kind doctor took my vitals, wrapped me up in a blanket on a cot, and informed me that i wasn't dehydrated like i thought i was. the naseau, blue lips & finger nails, pasty tongue and shaking was mild heat stroke instead. lovely. but oh look - there's that guy i ping-ponged with for the last half of the race... apparently he can't move his legs anymore... somehow i felt better seeing my commrade. it was like we were fighting the same war and had just returned home from being on the front lines of battle.
marathons are HARD.
done casually or not, well-trained or not, they beat the shit out of your body, and i'm still paying for it today. yes, it's wednesday, and i'm just now finally able to walk down stairs without doing push-ups down the railings!
the quads? still sore. the calfs? super tight. the tendonitis in the left knee? back in force.
the euphoria that i:
a) finished a marathon and
b) did it in under 4 hours?
very high.
oh yeah, for those who reassured me a few months back that puking after a run is hard-core? well, you'll be happy to know that i've maintained my hard-coreness through all this. you would have been quite proud.
so i decided to treat my hard-core body with a lot of wine that night and plenty of chocolate. i think i'm digging this whole marathon vacation concept...
posted by megan at
7:50:00 PM
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