Tourists on the Run

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 by Sarah Elbert.

Weeks ago, I wrote about my training for a half-marathon. Well, I did it, and I didn’t collapse in a puddle of sweat and banana peels. I may have slightly embarrassed myself, in fact, by sprinting across the finish line as if any of the spectators were paying the least bit of attention to me and my triumphant two-hour journey through the streets of Montreal.

Since I’ve never run a “long” race before, I don’t have a lot of perspective about how well organized or attended the Marathon Oasis de Montreal is compared to other races around the world. I can tell you it was magnifique to hear spectators cheering us on en français, a language I studied for about 10 years and during a semester abroad in France. Not surprisingly, I found spectators were more likely to respond to my efforts to engage them the closer we got to the finish line (dancing, raising the roof, etc. … OK, so maybe I did embarrass myself in multiple ways, but who says you can’t cheer runners two miles into a race, even if you are just waking up or just got off your barstool?!). The Olympic Stadium also wasn’t quite the glamorous finish I had hoped it would be, and I was surprised to find that after crossing the finish, we were forced to stop in our tracks and wait in line to collect our medals. (I didn’t really care about the medal and just wanted to walk it off, but a running friend says bottlenecks at the end of races aren’t unusual.)

Running through the streets while occasionally slinging back water, Gatorade, goo and bananas is a truly unique way to see and experience a city, and I believe marathons and triathlons are gaining popularity among travelers—novice and experienced athletes alike, along with spectators. We started on the Jacques Cartier Bridge with a great view of the city and ran through Old Town and downtown Montreal, the Plateau neighborhood and some areas I can almost guarantee I wouldn’t have seen otherwise (for better or worse).

And aside from the race, I had a great weekend away with friends in a charming city. We had rented an apartment in the Plateau neighborhood that’s part of Chez Francois Bed & Breakfast, right across from Parc La Fontaine. We ate at a great French bistro, l’Express, where I tried my first steak tartare and tried to ignore some guys swigging liquor from brown paper bags who were staring at us through the picture window. The maître d’ went out to investigate, and when he came back in, he told us they just wanted to pass along a message: “They love you.” How can you argue with that? We carb-loaded in style at an old-school Italian restaurant, Le Muscadin in Old Town, where a local Italian family had taken over most of the restaurant for a surprise 60th birthday party, complete with accordion and raucous singing. Fantastique.

Grocer in Montreal

Now it’s onto the Twin Cities 10-mile race. I’ve decided I’ve done enough training, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’m looking forward to seeing my own city on the run, with people I know cheering me on. Even if it is in plain old English.