I took a late night flight out of LAX with Air Canada. It was my first time flying with this airline. It cost more but it was a direct flight and I didn't want to fly with Continental. I was pretty excited as this was going to be my first international marathon! I was able to finally catch the movie, Skyfall.
Watching Skyfall on AirCanada
Saturday
I landed in the Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport early in the morning. In the airport, I bought a 3 day pass which gave me unlimited usage of the bus or the Metro rail. I went outside to catch the 747 express bus which took me into downtown Montréal. At first the machine to purchase a pass/fare was not accepting my credit card. The US is a little behind on credit card technology. Most machines outside of the US read cards with a smart chip. After about the 10th try, it finally took my credit card. I almost had to use my emergency cash. Riding on the bus was a bit stressful as all of the stops were announced in French. Everybody spoke French all the time. I knew zero French. Luckily I did enough thorough research beforehand and was able to get off at the correct stop (René-Lévesque / Union). I then walked a few blocks over to the Place Bonaventure for the expo. We all had to queue up in a long line since the expo did not open until 9am.
Everything is in French
After the expo, I walked over to the McGill station to take the green line over to my hotel. I got off at the Berri-UQAM station. I stayed at the Auberge Le Pomerol located on Boulevard de Maisonneuve Rue Saint-Hubert which was just a short walk from the station which was extremely convenient. My room wasn't ready for me to check-in yet, so I went out back out to eat lunch. I took the green line over to the Guy-Concordia station and walked over to Ramen Misoya to check out their ramen. I ordered the Kome miso ramen and added an egg. I also had their gyoza. The meal came with a daikon salad. The daikon salad was a nice appetizer and the gyoza was also pretty good. Now for the ramen. The broth wasn't overpowering or too greasy. The flavor was good and the chashu was also not bad, probably the best part of the bowl. The noodles were also not bad. It was a pretty decent bowl. I'd come back here.
Daikon salad
Kome miso ramen add egg
Gyoza
After finishing lunch, I went back to my hotel and got checked-in. It was a nice room and the one thing that sort of stood out was that the toilet seat was squarish.
Square toilet seat
I stayed in my room and relaxed until it was time to eat an early dinner. I walked around the Quartier Latin a bit to check out my options and ended up eating at Pèlerin-Magellan. I had their filet mignon with gambas and a glass of Syrah. However they brought out the steak with brie instead. It was somewhat a fortunate mistake because I love brie and it went very well with the steak. They were apologetic about the mistake and brought out the gambas later. The steak was delicious. The meal came with a nice salad and some fries. They were friendly and able to speak to me in English. If the weather is nice, they will most likely seat you in the outdoor patio area in the back which was really nice. Inside the lighting was a bit on the dimmer romantic side.
Syrah
Filet mignon with brie
Gambas
Before heading back to my hotel, I stopped by the convenient store across the street from my hotel to pick up some drinks for the race. After I got back to my room, I went through the expo haul and got my race gear together. This was one of my favorite race shirts, definitely a keeper. I originally planned on wearing a cap since they were predicting some precipitation. It would turn out to drizzle a bit at the beginning of the race, but we were never caught in any downpour.
Shirt and bib
Race gear
Sunday
Every morning they hung a breakfast basket on a hook just outside of your room. It was such a nice convenient amenity. I never had such thing at an US hotel.
Breakfast basket
Breakfast basket inside
Per the race instructions, I took the Metro over to the Papineau station where we waited for the security sweep before we were allowed on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. I checked my gear bag in one of the yellow school buses before heading to my corral. Everything was well organized. You have the left lane to get to your corral and inside the corrals there were a couple of portapotties to take care of last minute necessities.
Waiting to head to gear check and corrals
Gear check in school buses
Starting line
They released us one corral at a time. The course started on the downhill of the bridge, so the first mile was pretty fast. It was a beautiful rolling course for the most part. We had overcast the whole time so the weather was cool for the duration of the race. It was my first time in Montréal and I found it to be such a nice place to run through for a marathon. I liked that the course had a lot of out and back portions where you could see those in front as well as those behind you. I was dealing with leg cramps as well as arm cramps in the later miles. The race ended in the beautiful La Fontaine Park. It was located close enough to my hotel that I had a nice walk back to my hotel room.
4:15 pace group
Almost to the finish line
1: 7:39
2: 9:00
3: 7:47
4: 9:22
5: 8:53
6: 9:27
7: 9:30
8: 9:53
9: 9:22
10-11: 19:10 (9:35)
12: 9:22
13: 9:36
14: 10:46
15: 10:44
16: 11:35
17: 11:45
18: 13:14
19: 12:28
20: 11:23
21: 12:00
22: 12:02
23: 12:43
24: 12:58
25: 12:30
26: 11:22
26.2: 1:58
Finish: 4:36:29
Well, what a nice marathon for my 99th! This race alone made the Tour Pass worth it. The organization was superb and the course itself was very nice. This race was my 10th Rock n' Roll race for the year so it qualified me for the coveted Rock Idol medal. Unfortunately they were not passing out heavy medals at this race and was informed that they would mail it to me. I can't believe that I had waited until my 99th marathon before going international. With my upcoming trip to Berlin for my 100th, I had to save some money... so instead of going out to eat, I ate the beef jerky that I had brought with me and whatever was left in the breakfast basket.
Medal
Monday
After eating my breakfast basket, it was time to pack up my stuff and check out of the hotel. Before heading to the airport, I ate lunch at Imadake. I had their jellyfish salad and the beef tataki ramen with original broth. The broth was just right, full of flavor but not too salty or greasy. I also love rare beef, so this was the ramen tailor made for me! The soft boiled egg was also excellent and made correctly. The ramen also came with a regular salad. I loved the jellyfish. From looking at the menu, it would seem like this would be a great place for dinner or late night Japanese pub food. I will have to come here if I'm ever in Montréal again. Their wait staff were very nice and friendly here. I got to the restaurant a bit early and they let me wait inside for the restaurant to open. The waitress even setup her own mobile hotspot for me to use as the restaurant's wi-fi was not working. The restaurant was very easy to get to via subway. It was just across the street from the Station Atwater.
Beer and menu
Jellyfish salad
Beef tataki ramen with original broth
After lunch I took the Metro and caught the 747 bus to the airport at the René-Lévesque / Bishop stop. Thus ended a short but surprisingly pleasant trip to Montréal, Canada for my first international marathon. It really made me want to run more races outside of the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment