Day 42 June 17, 2011 Quebec City to Les Bricailles 53km
17 Jun
I met a fellow cross-country runner!
The drive out of Quebec City this morning from the Holt Renfrew parking lot to my previous end point took us across a very narrow iron bridge. I barely avoided scraping both the side of the bridge on my right and other vehicles on my left. The lanes were narrow and at one point on the three lane bridge two transit buses were coming at me side by side and there was no way that all three of us would fit. Luckily the bus drivers must be well used to this as the one in the middle fell back to allow us all room.
My start point where I had finished running the other day was about a 25km drive and by the time I started running it was already very hot. Mike ran the morning 30km with me while Paul did a great job of driving.
As Mike and I were running along a stretch of road with only farmland or forest on either side, we spotted a guy wearing an orange construction vest standing by an RV on the side of the road. We were joking around wondering what he could possibly be doing just standing there. As we approached we stopped to talk to him and it turns out he was the support for a 39 year old guy from Marseilles, France named Gwen who was also running across Canada. Gwen was running from Vancouver to Halifax and had started on the 31st of March.
Mike and I continued running and soon met up with Gwen. He told us that in 7km he was going to reach 5,000km, which means I only have 4,993km left! We stood for a while and traded stories. Gwen had started much earlier than I and so while I had a lot of cold weather and rain at the start in the Maritimes, he had run through a lot of snow through the Rockies. Despite running from West to East he said he experienced a headwind more often than a tailwind, which gives me some hope that headwinds won’t be that bad in this direction. He was initially running for multiple sclerosis but they didn’t want to take him on so he was now just running for himself. He took donations but mostly to help him get across. He had raised a total of $186 so far.
I asked him about his socks, which were yellow soccer socks that were cut and pulled down over his shoes. It was so that gravel didn’t get into his shoes (which it does with mine). He says that he runs 60-70km a day with only a 10min break for lunch in the middle. Every 8km he gets some water and eats a bit while he walks and then continues. When he started he was doing the same distance as me, so perhaps I’ll be able to work up to these distances too. He was taller and skinner, much skinnier than me. He definitely looks more like a runner. I bet he doesn’t have nearly as many people telling him he doesn’t look like a runner as I do.
We continued to compare stories, animals we had seen, distances run, routes, roads to take, etc and then were on our way. It was great seeing someone who was almost done and made my goal seem a little easier.
We stopped for lunch at a nearby viewpoint, this time taking a much shorter break than usual, having been inspired by Gwen and his lack of breaks during his run.
After lunch I ran 23km straight to make 53. Gwen has inspired me and I might try and run everything at once now and see what that’s like. I’ll have to run slower though.
Having taken a shorter break at lunch I finished running earlier than normal and so we decided to go to an RV campground to see what it was like. After talking to the owners there they let us stay for free. The campsite was right on the water along the St Lawrence, which we went swimming in after we got settled in. The current was pretty strong and so we couldn’t venture that far out from the shore.
The best part about being in a campground is hooking up to their water supply, which meant nice long showers!
Tomorrow I’m going to try and run the whole day all at once, Gwen style! Turns out he ran 76km today!
