Magog Marathon

There were about 150 marathon runners for this event, so it was not big. However, there were shorter associated races that drew many more people here. Check-in was Saturday from late morning until late afternoon - in a big tent set up in a parking lot, right in the heart of downtown. That went off without a hitch. They gave socks away - instead of the more typical T-shirt. But they had T-shirts of various styles for sale. The marathon started within a few minutes of the scheduled time - hiccups with the timing equipment, I think. This was a double loop course. We exited downtown, and were initially on the roads. It was a long incline that took us about 6km north of town. There, turning left, we made a steep descent, still on the road. At about 7.5km, we moved on to the trail. The trails were where we did most of our running. Trails were either asphalt-type, or crushed gravel. The trails looked to have been carved out for bike and foot traffic. Anyway, part were through residential & commercial areas, some through the woods with streams, some by farms and pasture. It was really quite diverse and pleasant. Toward the end of the loop we crossed over the freeway, turned left and on a ridge we could see that part of the town in the valley below. It was just beautiful. Taking the road down, soon we entered into neighborhoods again, and followed the roads back toward downtown. There were course marshals along the way guiding the runners, and there were adequate hydration stations spread along the course too. They had water and orange Gatorade, and some had maple ReKarb gels called "energy syrup". Not unlike maple syrup, they tasted great; they seemed effective too. One station was providing dark chocolate after they ran out of gel. This finish line co-located with the start line and so after completing the second loop, we were right back where we started. For post-race food they had soup (a great choice!), yogurt, locally grown Spartan apples, and chocolate milk. The weather was okay. It was overcast, about 6-8 degrees C (low 40's F), and no precipitation - though it was in the forecast. This race was not without challenges. In this province, they speak French, so everything was in French. I was able to get enough information from the RD early on such that I could get registered and figure out where to show up. The pre-race e-mails that were sent out had the English translation below the French, so that was a big help. Then the pre-race briefing was in French too; I could not understand a word of it, but I had met a fellow named Phil at the start-line who translated for me. I did figure out that "thank you" in French is merci, and I found myself saying that to volunteers a lot along the course. Of course, most could speak English too, so "thank you" was quite appropriate as well.

Don't try a very fast time. Numerous hills break the beat (pay a look on the elevation map)The last km.are quite discouraging: you have to climb and climb and climb... A great marathon but you must be maso a little bit!