Best part of my weekend was having a wonderful dinner on Saturday night with a beautiful smart woman in an amazing Montreal restaurant the night before the race. The restaurant is called l”Academie and is a training ground for top aspiring chefs out of school in Montreal. No reservations are accepted so L and I showed up early and were seated at an intimate table at a corner overlooking bustling St-Denis Street on the second floor. At this restaurant you bring your own wine, so I had picked Peter Lehman’s Clancy to complement our dinner. L has a pre race routine where she always has two glasses of red wine before a race. This not being my normal practice but not thinking it wise to turn down a beautiful woman I decided to also drink up (we probably had two and a half glasses Oops). The food was incredible and the conversation was top notch. It was clear that I was falling for this woman (read: slowly). I was taking many deep breathes reminding myself of my past mistakes. I had a wonderful lasagna that has eggs and various cheeses inside of it (probably one of the best I have ever had and I love lasagna). L had the penne in vodka sauce which was also divine. When the bill came it was only $29 and no corking fee…wow…I left an $11 tip for this out of sight meal. We walked back to the hotel oblivious the craziness in Montreal that night. A top event in the Ultimate Fighting Championships was taking place and the testosterone level was astronomical on the streets. After to short a walk L and I parted company at her hotel and I made my way into a heavy wind up the other way (I was hoping the wind would die down for Sunday). Sleep was fitful…partiers in the other rooms and when everyone left the fight from Bell Place, it was screaming, racing yelling and partying everywhere. Oh well, I would be ok. 6h30 am – Quick breakfast of bagel, peanut butter, coffee and orange juice 7:30 Take the metro to the race grounds; the weather is cool in the wind warm without it. I listen to my ipod, Theory of a Deadman’s latest album is my ammo, and it’s me against the world music…(gotta love it) I get a locker, stow my gear, get my number and kit and my chip then meet L for 5k warm-up. At the start I am 10 or 12 rows back, (This is the Canadian Half Marathon Championships) Samuel Ndbera (3 time champ) and his sister and first timer here Catherine the Great Ndbera – 4 times Boston Champ is here too. Wow, she actually ran beside me for 5 minutes warming up and does she have muscular legs…wow. The gun goes and I click my watch but notice 3 or 4 minutes in that it did not work…so I decide to just race. I am running in my 6oz racing flats for the first time ever (Mizuno Ronins) They are so light but will they offer me enough protection? There are at least 150 people ahead of me at the start and I start slowly pulling some in. L started with the elite women and I can see her ahead of me. At about 4K I catch up to her and we chat for a while before it’s down to business. There is a group of runners ahead of me from the Montreal racing team (Vainqueurs – if I remember correctly) and for some reason I decide to surge …at 4K (what am I doing)…I surge for 3 minutes or so and go by the whole group, L has not stayed with me but is going at her pace. After a few more of these I realize that my engine might just stall if I am not careful so I stick to a steady pace..the 3 Vainqeurs past me again (uh) I try to keep them in sight. It’s darn windy down some stretches and I try to shield myself as best I can but being one of the tallest does not help. I persevere. Around 13 or 14K, I catch up to the Vainqueurs again and surge (what the hay am I doing – I rarely if ever do this kind of stuff). I pass them and they do not respond. With 5K to go I have a strong woman on my left and a man on my right, I surge again, dropping them. I am not sure what the time is, but just decide to keep the pace as best I can which I expect is sub 4 per K. My breath is ragged but my legs are great…shows I have to do more mileage. Surprisingly my first 35 training run the week before has not hampered me. L has told me she wants to run 38K or 3 hours with me the next 3 weeks to prepare for the marathon (ugh but I know she is right). With 3.1k to go my watch reads 10:10 which means if I can run sub 4 I can maybe squeeze a sub 1:22 over the last part of the race which is now heading into the wind. I concentrate on the runners ahead of me as I start going anaerobic (yuck). I reel in a few and concentrate on the next ones, I pass 4 more in the last K but with 300 meters to go my body wants to throw up (not sure this is real or near end of races that’s how my body reacts) I can hear the last guy I passed try to make up ground as we near 100 meters. No this is not going to happen…I sprint and see the clock somewhat up front…what is it…1:21:59….ugh. I come thru with the clock showing 1:22 but with the 9 seconds at the starting line…I find out I ran 1:21:51 chip time (Yeah I delivered on my promise and took the pain for my Boston friends – at least I hope I did). I came in 72nd out of 1800 runners, 8th in my AG (what a competitive group) But it was a great race for me on tired legs from the training with no February miles in me…I feel I will peak for the Ottawa Marathon in 5 weeks. I might have left 30 or so seconds out there but that was it. If my lungs were better trained I could run quite a bit faster…..so I need more base. L came in second masters woman (awesome run although she was disappointed. Overall fantastic race: I recommend this one to all runners in the area and yes Samuel and Catherine won the men’s and women’s race. Although I loved the racing…I loved dinner even more… Tall – At home now Tired and Happy after the two hour drive from Montreal to Ottawa.

Sweet Tall. A wonderful (inexpensive) dinner with a beautiful runner Goddess and a super-fast race. Not bad for someone not in prime shape. Geez. You are fast. Bill

YOU DA MAN!!

Congrats Tall, fantastic time and great report and what a dinner. Expect a great run from you in Ottawa.

Well, gutsy performance and you met your stated goal. I am extremely jealous only having been to Montreal once (birthplace of my anglophone mother, where my oldest brother was born), but I can envisage it from your report so well. And what a dinner! Looks like you have met someone that can easily keep up your hectic pace, and then some So is two glasses of wine a thumbs up then? You are so dang FAST!

Congrats Tall, A good dinner, a great dinner companion, a good wine and then a super fast race. Priceless! Wow 8th place ? tough field

You made your predicition and you met it. Congratulations, Tall. It sounds like a great weekend. Congrats also to L. TomS

You are something else, Tall It was only a few weeks ago that you were falling apart, now here you are dining with beautiful women in the even and running super races in the morning. Things are looking up! Have a great run in Ottawa