BougeBouge Verdun Race Report

By Randy Chafy

I wasn’t initially planning on doing another race report this year but decided to do one after realizing that only Ifi and I represented K2J (and I don’t believe anyone has reviewed this race previously).

BougeBouge Verdun takes place on a paved recreational path along a canal between Montreal and Nun’s Island – part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The course weaves along a 10.5 km loop around and through a nice tree-lined park. Runners can choose the full marathon (four loops), half (two loops), a 10K, or a 5K. There are also 1K and 2K distances. So, the event offers a full slate for runners to choose from and interest has been growing; it was once just a small local run, but this year it sold out – there were over 450 runners in the half marathon alone! The race course was accurately measured and certified by the Quebec Athletic Federation; it’s a Boston Marathon qualifier. The race is also fairly inexpensive — $70 for the half and just $80 for the full marathon.

Getting there: We elected to drive from Ottawa and stay in a local hotel. On Saturday morning, Google Maps told us it was to be a 2-hour, 12-minute drive, with no traffic. It took us half an hour longer than that; the Queensway in Ottawa and the 20 in Montreal were both very slow. The trip home was much faster, with very little traffic.

Lodging: Unfortunately, there are no hotels near the race course. We found one hotel, essentially the only one, about 20 minutes away – Le Chabrol. The hotel was sold out when we checked in, so book early if you plan to do this race.

Le Chabrol was a mixed bag. It wasn’t especially nice, but it was clean enough, with a comfortable bed, and quiet at night. There were some oddities, like a newish shower with absolutely no shelf to put soap or toiletries, just four walls and a floor. And a sliding shower door that opened on its own (not a good feature!). Although the room had a fridge, there was only a single microwave in the lobby. The hotel offered a basic breakfast, which we planned to miss, but when they told us breakfast closed late, at 11 a.m. with a 12 noon checkout, we realized we’d have plenty of time to come back to the hotel, shower, and have breakfast. Turned out, we even had enough time for a nap before we left. With a hard-to-beat price of $158, this hotel was a good value! (Note, however, restaurants in the area are mostly of the fast-food variety. We ended up getting frozen pasta from the Super C across the street and using that single microwave.)

Race morning: We got up at 5 a.m. to prepare for the 7:30 start. The weather was predicted to be on the warm side for September, and we noticed that Verdun is consistently 1-2C higher than Ottawa at night. It might be caused by air pollution – Montreal was definitely much hazier than Ottawa during our visit, though we didn’t notice or smell anything different.

Our hotel was only 7 km from the start line, but the drive there, even at 6:30 a.m. was super-slow because we had to drive through multiple neighborhoods at 30 km/h and multi-lane roads were all 40 km/h. And surprisingly all traffic lights were on full cycles. Ifi and I were both actually laughing about it because it was so ridiculously slow for several kilometers with nobody on the road.

Race kit pickup ended at 1 p.m. on Saturday, so we weren’t able to get to Montreal and pick our bibs until race morning. The web site cautioned against this, saying race-day pickup was only for “emergencies.” Still, we had no issues doing it that way.

Parking did not go as expected. The race website mentioned a location near a community centre, but that seemed impossible to get to with all the runners and barricades. We were told to park on a street, most of which were already crowded, but we lucked out when Ifi spotted an overlooked spot right near the start. If you plan to do this race, scout out street parking ahead of time.

We lucked out with a porta-potty near our parking spot. (There were others on the course, too.) The community centre had a full bathroom; long lines were forming by 7:10 or so, and I suspect some folks did not make it in time.

Half- and full-marathoners congregated around the start line, which was easy to find. Lots of music, a juggler, a pop-up cafe sold croissants, pastries and fresh-ground coffee (the coffee grinder was hooked up to a cycling contraption—the employee could get fit while grinding coffee), and several vendors had booths with giveaways. At 7 a.m., the temperature seemed pleasant, it was definitely warming up by the 7:30 start. The race language was exclusively French; all announcements were in French (but even Ifi, who is fluent, couldn’t understand the fuzzy audio). Race officials spoke only French, including at water stations, some of which gave out both Gatorade and water. For most Canadians, this is a non-issue, but I was raised in the States and never really picked up spoken French – but even for me, no issues at all.

The race

Ifi wanted to run a half marathon to help her qualify for the annual K2J award. I signed up mostly to accompany Ifi; this race was not on my radar. I’m in the middle of marathon training (with TWM coming in October), so I haven’t been thinking about half marathon pacing. I didn’t like the idea of a race, so my initial thought was to just make it a training run. But I don’t race that often, so I changed my mind a couple of days ago and decided to put in a good effort.

A few weeks ago, I started toying with the idea of changing my race to the marathon — the race allowed changes at bib pickup – but I reconsidered once I saw the warm and sunny weather forecast. At the 7:30 starting time, it was 18C, sunny, and humid, gradually rising to 20C during the half marathon. Although not quite as warm as Boilermaker, especially at the finish, it was warm enough for Ifi and I to put on our cooling Chill-Its bandanas at the start. And I, learning from Boilermaker, took advantage of pouring water over my head each time at each water stop, even if I didn’t think I needed it much.

I also tried something brand new: I’ve used black “cooling sleeves” before in races, usually to help me feel warmer in a cold wind at the start, such as races in April or October. It seemed to work. But as I’ve entered my 60s, I’ve recently been searching for ways to keep cooler in the hot sun. Video of Badwater showed several athletes using tight long sleeves or white cooling sleeves. And some athletes swear by this approach. So, I got a pair of white sleeves and did a test run on a hot day – seemed to feel fine. Still, it wasn’t a full test. This run would do that. I felt strange covering my arms at the start line. I was literally the only person I saw doing this during or after the race. I strongly suspected I would overheat and rip them off. But that never happened. I never felt warm in them. My sweat, and I sweat a lot, just seemed to help keep them cool. They were also useful for wiping my face. I wore them the whole way. I still can’t quite explain it.

Water was plentiful throughout the race. There were at least five water stations, nicely spaced out along the 10.5 km route. Someone was also handing out some kind of gummies or candy. There was also a lot of crowd support in English and French. When people are yelling for you, it doesn’t really matter if you can understand them!

The race itself went better-than-expected for me and pretty much on target for Ifi. In my case, I started intentionally slow, knowing that I haven’t really run much at half marathon pace in a long time. As I settled in, I picked it up, but I was very wary of that first 10.5 km loop. I ensured I would have plenty left in the tank for the second loop. The course was similar to the Ottawa River pathway; it was not hilly, and my Garmin showed a total elevation of 112 feet. Despite that lower number, the course tended to slope noticeably downhill heading south and uphill heading north. The toughest section started around 6K, with a 3K stretch of small hills, with some uneven pavement, and one short but steep pedestrian bridge. This 3K was also through a more wide open sunny stretch. Wind was almost non-existent, just a slight breeze heading north. I noted at the 3K stretch that that my speed was slowing slightly. The people around me, too. Ifi also found this stretch more difficult. On the second loop, I just made sure to keep things smooth through this stretch and prepare for the slightly downhill finish. Half-marathoners were redirected left onto a red carpet and the finish. Marathoners continued on for two more laps in the sun.

I finished in 1:43:16, which I was pleased with on the day. I had hoped to run a negative split and that worked out great. I just wish I could run that way in a marathon, but that requires a much different strategy. Ifi came in at 2:02:48. She was satisfied with that even if she said she started too fast and kept changing her pace. She finished 5^th in her category (women 50-59). I finished 1^st in mine, but a measly three of us turned out. If I broadened mine to include 50-59 year-olds (men 50-69), I would have come in 2^nd out of 23, which sounds a lot better. Only one 60-69 year-old finished the marathon, and only one woman finished the half marathon (and none in the marathon). What’s going on with the 60-69 year olds? Are we dying off already?

If you’d like to “run” this race on your treadmill, some dude took a crystal clear GoPro of the whole thing. I saw the get-up as we crossed paths; he looked pretty goofy, but took a great video and he ran well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yALg8kA7t9E

Post race: In lieu of a medal, we got BougeBouge caps, which were given to us on lanyards around our neck. I like the cap idea, though neither of us will likely use the lanyard, even if one side is reflective. We also got a goodie bag filled with drinks and snacks. Nice.

After my race, I hurried back to the race course to cheer on other finishers and wait for Ifi. Some of the marathoners (in the 3:50-4:00 finishing range) looked pretty spent at the halfway point; others looked fine. Ifi came along and looked pretty good, picking it up well to the finish. One of the women in front her completely stopped on the red carpet of the middle of the narrow finishing lane to snap some selfies. Four runners had to navigate around her. And I spotted several other runners with their phones out during the finishing stretch. Has social media become that important that we need to capture every moment and not wait for the race photos?

Overall, it was a great race experience. Plenty of energy, nice crowds and signs (most seemed to be from race organizers/volunteers), good race support, and good organization. We would do it again, although I doubt I would ever consider the marathon – just too many laps. Two laps for the half marathon were fine, and it was great to do a time check at exactly the half way point in the race.

So, go out there and “bouge bouge” (move move)!