Z Valdir's races

Back to the index Here I am on Saturday morning, ready to leave the house to go to the race: I have run the Montreal Half four times in the past, one of them (2019) was my PB, I finished that one in 1h52m09s. So, today my plan was to try and stay close to the 1h50 pacer. I was able to do that only up to km 7, then I had to stop to walk a bit and I never saw them again. My plan after that was not to allow the 2h pacer to pass me. I was doing ok most of the time, but on the final K, already with the finish line on sight, I turned and saw that pacer just behind me. I thought to myself: "You're not going to pass me, no way José!" and I did a final sprint that took me over the finish line in 1h58m53s. Not great, but a sub-2 is a sub-2. And here am I chilling with my medal: The post race meal was rather Spartan: Here is the medal, front and back: On the back we can see the iTab with my time.   Back to the index

Back to the index As my first race of the year I decided to do a 5K rapid walk as part of the Tour de l'Horloge de Montréal.  Here am I getting ready to leave the house on Sunday morning for the race: The race happens in the area around the watchtower of the old port of Montreal. There are many events happening on the same day. When I arrived, the people doing the 8K march or run were already competing. I had to wait for half an hour or so for my event. I participated in the 5K march. The problem is that the 5K run happens at the same time and quite a few of the 5K runners were slower than the fastest walkers, so the race was a bit chaotic to navigate. Well, even the start was confusing. The marchers were supposed to start two minutes after the runners, but there were so many runners that we ended up not having our separate start, it was one big mess. Some of the places we went through were narrow, there were places where we were going on single file, it was impossible to over...

Back to the index I woke up at two in the morning. Obviously I couldn't try to go back to sleep, because I might miss the wake-up time for the marathon. Just before seven in the morning I went down to have breakfast, I thought it would be crowded with runners, it was even quite empty. I didn't eat much, so I wouldn't be too heavy for the race. I left at eight in the morning and walked to the nearest subway station: Here is the entrance to Vijzelgracht station: I struggled with this machine to buy my ticket, I couldn't make it... Then three Italians arrived, bought their tickets and helped me buy mine. When I went down the stairs, the train was already there, it left before I arrived: I was alone at the station: I was going to go only three stations, until the final one, called Zuid: The Zuid station is off the ground: The transfer train was overcrowded with athletes: Fortunately, we only had one station to go... Getting to the stadium was easy, I just had to follo...

Back to the index I) Sightseeing before the marathon We had a few days in Munich before the marathon, so did some sightseeing. We visited the Glyptothek: The city museum: The famous clock at Marienplatz: We had a wonderful time in the city. II) Marathon Day I had my breakfast early in the morning. The breakfast room was much more crowded than usual, most were runners getting ready for the big event. When I got back to the room Rose was getting ready, she had decided to have breakfast and go with me to the stadium. I returned to the breakfast place with her. We left shortly after 8:30 am and headed for the Olympic stadium. There were a lot of people going there. We took some pictures of the people in group A, they were ready to go. Me, just before entering the stadium: When I tried to enter the area reserved for athletes, I couldn't, they said I could only enter later. We watched the departure of groups A and B and then I was able to enter the track. We said goodbye and I went...

Back to the index This year my wife could not be with us in Ott awa for the marathon weekend because she had to travel to Brazil to take care of her ailing mother, so I was alone in the city for most of the time. My son and his wife took me from Montreal to Ottawa. There we met my daughter and grand-daughter: We had lunch together and then the two couples went back to their lives and I stayed in our nation's capital for the big race. Here I'm getting everything ready for the race the next day: This race was hell. I had not suffered this much in a race for a very long time. I had to walk most of the second half, which explain why I took one hour more on it than on the first half. By km 23 I had an encounter with paramedics, they almost took me out of the race, I think I was close to having a sunstroke... My final time was 5h32ms14s, one of my worst results ever. Here is my finisher medal: I came back home by train: This is a race I want to forget...