Z Valdir's races

Back to the index For this year we decided to return to Copenhagen for the marathon: We arrived on May 3rd and went directly from our hotel to the M arathon Expo, to get my bib: Here is the bag and the t-shirt. This ye ar they decided to go with the colour black for the t-shirt, it looks very  nice: On May 5th I arrived forty minutes before the start of the marathon: The line for the washroom was so long that I spent all my forty minutes in it. I was still waiting to go when the marathon started. But, with fifteen thousand people waiting to start the race, I still had to wait with the crowd: I started the race more than twenty minutes after the elite had gone. I was with the 4h20 bunny at the start. The first two kilometers I had to go slower than I intended because the crowd would not allow us to develop our regular speed. But in the kilometers after that I was able to run the time that I wanted.  I started to struggle around kilometer 16. Up to that my averages per kilometer were

Back to the index Usually in April I run the Montreal half marathon in the P arc des Îles, but this year I wanted to do something different, I chose the half marathon in St. Je an sur Richelieu. My wife took me there on the morning of the race and went to visit a friend who lives in th at city. It was a bit on the cold side, but it w as sunny, which was good. We could pick up our bibs on the s ame day, so we didn't have to arrive in the city the previous day as is usually the case with these events. Here I am, half an hour before the race: We started the race at 8h32, we were a small crowd, seven hundred people took part in the half. The event also had a 5K and a 10K race. It had rained the days prior to the race, so there were puddles of water on the course. I had gone to the washroom before the start of the race, but I guess that because the day was cold, I felt the need to go again, so at km 2 I had to stop and go into a port-a-potty. I hate to waste time like this in a race s

Back to the index Before the race As part of the celebrations of my 60th birthday, my wife and I travelled to Europe, to Spain and Greece more specifically. We didn't have a lot of time in Athens, so we didn't do  a lot of sightseeing. Our hotel (Mirame) was fantastic! A small, unassuming place, but with a lot of charm. The breakfast was more than we could expect: No trip to Athens is complete without a visit to the Parthenon: Inside the Acropolis museum they had an Acropolis made of lego: Getting the bib for my race was a nightmare, because the subway station near the expo had absolutely no signage, we did  not know where to go. We had to end up taking a taxi to get there on time: We also visited the national archeological museum. It was disappointing as half the place was closed. In 2013 we spent hours in there, there was so much interesting stuff. This time, after less than an hour and a half we were out of there: Race Day The mand atory selfie before le aving the hotel: A b

Back to the index Before the race As part of the celebrations of my 60th birthday, my wife and I travelled to Europe, to Spain and Greece more specifically. In Barcelona we hit all the big tourist spots, like the Sagrada Familia: We also visited many museums, like the Barcelona History Museum: We saw many monuments, like the statue of Columbus pointing in the direction of the Americas: The big fish sculpture near the beach and the casino: De s ign is one of our points of interest, so we always try to go to the design museum of the city we are visiting: The museum of Catalan art is housed in a grand palace: We had the most wonderful time there. Race Day The race didn't actually happen in Barcelona, but rather in Sant Cugat del Vallès, uma comunidade ao norte de Barcelona. On Saturday I went there to pick up my bib; the "expo" had one tent. That is it! I had never seen such a small expo in my life... On Sunday I went back to the city and passed by the multi-sports center ne