Montreal

eds. note - I wrote this while I was in Montreal but was unable to upload it, and its been sitting in my computer for a few days. I'm posting and backdating it. ~sm

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Greetings from Montreal

Writing this from Montreal, but won’t get to post it until I get home. I’m here for work related reasons, but have plenty of downtime to enjoy a city that I like a lot.

I promised myself to take it easy here with respect to running. I don’t want to stress about getting in quality workouts, and I’m due for an easy week. I stuck by my resolution yesterday [Thursday], as I ran for 35:09 – call it 4 miles. For those of you who might know Montreal, I started from the bed & breakfast I’m staying at, right on St. Louis Square and on the top end of the Latin Quarter, went up Rue Prince Arthur, through McGill University Campus, west on Sherbrooke, past Parc la Fontaine and back to the B&B.

Today [Friday] I was a little more ambitious, and ran Mont Royal Park. I did a similar run when I was here last summer. This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (also designed NYC's Central Park and San Fran's Golden Gate Park) and consists of a wooded area around the largest elevation in the city (about 780 feet). At the summit is a large cross that is visible from much of the city. Running to the cross involves taking a wide dirt path through the woods that has a very similar feel to Forbidden Drive, only it’s all uphill. Took me 26 and a half minutes to get to the point where the road started downhill again (last year it took me 28+ minutes). I love this sustained uphill workout, where the grade is steady up but rarely steep. There are also a steady stream of runners, cyclists and walkers, which makes for some interesting people-watching.

Is it because I like this city that the women seem good-looking, or is it because the women are good-looking that I like this city?

But I digress. The nice thing about going 3+ miles uphill is that you get to run down it afterwards, and then back to the B&B. Aimed for 90 minutes and had to run around St. Louis Square three times to make that quota (actually 89:42). Call it 11 miles.

Blues tonight, hot damn!

[Saturday I didn't run]