RUNAROUND125 v1.0
text : Butch / photo : Gophrette Power
We weren't all born and raised in Montreal, but this is where we are from.
So it was 5:45AM. Saturday. December 1st, 2018. Here we were, 6 runners of varying ability from NDG's Run Rite Athletics Club, 1 weather-hardened photog on his trusty single-speed, and 1 saint who borrowed his mom's car to shepherd us between checkpoints.
The idea was simple and the organization was... well, let's call it "straightforward", a diplomatic re-phrasing of the far more accurate "hastily thrown together". We would relay run an outline of Montreal island in roughly 5km legs, for a total of 125km. A daunting task, to be sure, but what if we told you it consisted of "roughly 4 streets and 3 left-turns"?
Strava : Distance : 124,47km - Altitude : 171m - Time : 9:00:34 - Pace :4:21/km
The athletes involved in this project are : Carole Marti, Marie-Christine Ruffo, Lecia Mancini, Stephane Boucher, Martin Saint-Pierre, Justin Pugliese and Laurent Caudrelier (driver).
We set off from Atwater Market at 6AM and wouldn't stand in that spot again until 3PM. The journey itself went as expected. Each of us running faster than we said we would. Each of us closely followed by the car-load of eager comedians, ruthlessly heckling while we feigned the focus of a more serious athlete. Each of us providing the appropriate amount of optimism and support. Enough rambling! The details are better conveyed through pictures, and there were more than enough of those. Enjoy!
A few days have since passed. Now that our legs are beneath us again and our minds have already directed themselves towards upcoming endeavours, what remains is PRIDE (there it is, friends! The #1 unavoidable, undisputed champion of cliche post-run feelings, found in every write-up worth a damn. You're welcome.) paired with overwhelming perspective. Our scrappy group managed to circumnavigate on foot in 9 hours this patch of land on which we find our homes, our work, our friends, our lives... where we are from.
