Quebec City Marathon Race Report

If I had to sum up the marathon in one word, it would be...  Ugly.

Training is not going well this year and perhaps I have forgotten how to taper.  Last year, my concern was with a crowded race schedule.  I ran 7 ultra races and by the last one (Run for the Toad 50K), the tank was empty.  I DNF'd Toad, so last year's medal collection included 6 ultra races.  Quite impressive, but I was wondering how much of an impact the race schedule had on my knees and back.  This year, I thought I would reduce the number of races and increase the training runs, by both distance and speed.  Neither happened.  Perhaps I need to enter many races in order to do well in those races - kind of a Catch-22 situation.  In other words, prior races become my training base.

Well, let's get the marathon out of the way first.  The Quebec marathon is well organized and scenic.  It starts in Levis, travels to the St. Laurence river, then west along the river on the south side to a big bridge.  Over the bridge then east along the river on the north side.  One interesting aspect of the Quebec marathon is that the kilometer markers start at 42K and diminish along the course.  This helps to indicate where the half and 10K races start and avoids having different markers for the different races.  Wow, it was wonderful to see the single digit markers!

I believe that driving for 10 hours the day before the race was not a good idea.  We left the house at 04:58 and where successful is missing traffic in Toronto and Montreal, but it was an early start.  On race day, we also had to catch a bus in Quebec City at 05:30, to take us to the start in Levis.  Since we had a 2K walk to the bus, it meant another early start!  I did not sleep well the night before driving and the night before the marathon.

I have not been successful in completing much speed training this year.  It is a bit frustrating, as I seem to have difficulty running at any pace either than turtle-slow at the start of every run.  With some alarm, at the start of the marathon, I watched the 4:30 pace bunny pull away from me.  I could not even maintain a 6 minute kilometer.  Eventually, I caught up to the 4:30 PB and passed him, keeping a comfortable pace.

At about 18K, (hmm, didn't this happen at the Niagara 50K this year?) I felt tired, not able to maintain even a slow pace.  I hit the halfway mark at 2:15, just before being passed by the 4:30 pace bunny.  This race was not going to be pleasant!  To add insult to injuries, at about 25K, I was passed by the 4:45 pace bunny.  Apparently my pace was not improving!  From 25K to 35K, I added walking breaks as the knees and back were hurting.  I increased my hydration, which helped to slow the slowing pace.  At 35K, although I was having difficulty running, I reduced the number of walking breaks and pushed for the finish line.  The final damage was 5:06, about 90 minutes slower than my previous slowest marathon.  It was quite embarrassing and I hope to never enter a race again with so little training.  I am entered into the Can Lake 50K, but will DNS, rather than experience so much pain and discomfort.

There is supposed to be good in every race and I think my take-away this time is that I can no longer "cheat" and run a race for which I am not prepared.  The miracle of finishing strong on under-trained 30 year old legs is gone.

Lee Anne did quite well, with a 4:25 time, good enough for second in her age category.  Also, my daughter Celeste had an impressive 10K race, finishing in 53:35, good enough for 12th out of 128 in her age category.

Although our stay in Quebec City was short, it was wonderful to walk in La Vieux Quebec.  We also visited the ancestral home, built by Pierre Marcoux in 1670.  I think it had an impact on Celeste, who is 14th generation Canadian.  Lee Anne and I plan to return soon to Quebec, as our french is in need of a tune-up.

Cheers!