Jeux FADOQ Provinciales 2023

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The day before

So this year's finals of the FADOQ Games were to happen in Sherbrooke, a city 150 Km away to the east of Montreal.

On September 19th, the day before the race, I took a bus from Montreal to Sherbrooke. A little more than two hours later I arrived at the terminus Sherbrooke.

From there I had to walk to the hotel, five kilometers in all. Yes, I could have taken a taxi, but I'm cheap, what can I do?...

I quickly discover that no matter where you want to go in Sherbrooke, it's always uphill! Mamma mia! Who designed that city?

I finally arrived at the hotel, took a shower and went to bed, the following day would be full.


Race day

The organizers put the main hotel of the event in one place, the accreditation site five kilometers away in one direction and the race course seven kilometers away in the other direction. So, I knew going in that there would be a lot of walking during the day.

I left the hotel at 6 am and walked to the accreditation site. Five kilometers in and five kilometers out to get a T-shirt and a bracelet to indicate your lunch type (mine was orange, for vegetarian). They could definitely do that at the hotel and save us that trip.

The race would start at 9 am. I was back at the hotel shortly after 8 am, did the check-out, left my bags there and went jogging to the park where the race would happen.

It was supposed to be 7K, but I did not find the street that crossed the main road (later I found out that right at the main road that street changes names; as they say in the US: thanks Obama!), so I got slightly lost.

Then I got really lost. And my cell phone was almost out of battery, so I had to save energy.

It was 9h30 when I gave up on participating and decided to go to the park just to have my lunch later.

As luck would have it, this year the organizers held the two races (10K and 5K) at different times. Usually they happen at the same time. When I got to the organizers tent they informed me that the 10K was already happening, but the 5K (my race) would only start at 11h. Phew! Saved by the bell!...

I walked the route of the 5K in order to check the terrain, I did not want any surprises during the race.

The 10K people finished their race and soon after it was time for the 5K runners to go to the starting line. We went off shortly after 11 am.

We did two loops around the park. The organizer had told us that the 10K runners had said they had run more than 10.5K, so I knew that we would do more than 5K.

In the end I did 5.33K in 26m12s, which gives a 5K in 24m35s, a very respectable time considering that I had walked 16K and ran 9K earlier today.

I finished sixth among seven runners in the male 50-59 group, but seventh among 35 runners in total, so not that bad at all.

As I had a bus to catch at 3h30 pm and I still had a lot of walking to do, I did not stay for the medal ceremony.

I walked back 7K to the hotel, got my bags, changed clothes and then walked another 5K to the bus terminal, where I arrived at 3h10 pm.

In total I walked 28K and ran 14K during the day today, from 6 am to 3 pm. So, that is a marathon in nine hours.

At the end of the day my Garmin indicated that I had done 52K steps! That is a record that I hope I'll never break!


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PB list Distance PB Event 5K 23m40s FADOQ 2019 (Montreal) (during the 10K!)* 10K 46m41s FADOQ 2019 (Trois-Rivières)** 3K (march) 18m46s FADOQ 2019 (Trois-Rivières)*** Half marathon 1h52m09s Montreal 2019 Marathon 4h00m50s Munich 2022 * The total distance of the event was 9.8Km instead of 10 Km, so this was not a full 5K; close, but not quite; ** The distance was 9.5 Km  instead of 10 Km, so this was not even close; *** The distance was not even 2.8 Km. Race list Click on the city name to read my full report of the event: Date City Country Race type Time Comment 2011/09/25 Montreal Canada Half marathon 2h52m56s Walking 2012/06/30 Båstad Sweden Half marathon 2h41m21s 2012/08/12 Mont Tremblant Canada Half marathon 2h30m22s 2012/09/23 Montreal Canada Half marathon 2h20m36s 2013/05/19 Copenhagen Danemark Marathon 5h24m33s 2013/08/11 Mont Tremblant Canada Half marathon 2h07m3
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