Montreal's Marathon 2018 Completed! Achieving A Goal Is A Pure Joy!

Hello gang! I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday! If some of you don't know me, I'm Al and I joined WA a year ago. My journey here at WA have been great in general, with ups and down (probably like some of you) but now more focused than ever. Keep learning day by day right?

I recently, I had the chance to run my second marathon and I just wanted to share this moment of my life with you guys...

A Passion Since Day 1

Since I was a little boy, I loved to run. I played soccer my entire childhood and I being always active. Running a marathon was a goal that I set myself 2 years ago and I was able to accomplished it twice in the last 6 months!

Since I see so many incredible and beautiful histories here, I though this one could motivate (at least 1 person) to accomplish something that seems impossible by surpassing yourself, exceeding you limits and feeling awesome.

The Journey

This year, the Montreal's Marathon start-up line was directly downtown as you can see on this picture!

Picture from canoe.ca website

Previous years, the Montreal's marathon started on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, an iconic place that runners loved before. The new site great too. A good way to bring more people and create a party kind of atmosphere.

Credits to AmaraInTraining website

The course

The new course had some higher elevation starting kilometer 25. A more physical and demanding distance from there on.

That's where you need to be strong physically but even more mentally.

Staying mentally Strong

From that point, I was skeptical about finishing the race. It was so painful! When I tried to stretch my leg, I was getting another cramp to the other leg! lol Those couple of kilometers were the hardest of the entire 42.2 km.

Trying to ''survive'' was my mindset at that point. Trying to put aside the physical pain and deal mentally with you own self. Every second from there on. You can see my struggle on this picture! ha ha

To my rescue, I had some people in the public cheering me up and one specific person that stayed with me during that period of suffering. It woke me up and from there, I was able manage my run intelligently by slowing down and find a way to battle against that soreness.

And Up to the Finish Line!

I crossed the finish line after 4 hours and 18 minutes of commitment with myself. Yes, this marathon was harder than I expected but I was able to keep fighting and that's what I'm proud of. Sometimes when you push you limits, you can be surprised by you own self!

OK, Enough of taking you time guys! I'm out! :) Have a good one.

Al