I ran from Toronto to Montreal | 5 minute read

Last Wednesday night I, along with 10 teammates, set out from Riverdale Park in Toronto to the top of Mount Royal in Montreal, 650 kilometres away.

We were running there.

Split into 67 segments, this relay race — which included 15 other teams and nearly 200 runners and supporters — required each runner to tackle several runs over the course of the following few days.

It started off great. Paces were fast, moods were high. But then the weather turned.

A hurricane was making its way up the east coast and bringing with it windy, rainy weather that made it difficult to drive in, let alone run in.

I ran through Pickering, Port Hope, Prince Edward County, Kingston, Cornwall, and parts of Quebec.

On the final day, I was running (literally) on about 6 hours total sleep over two nights.

But, we soldiered on. Around 8:30pm on Friday night, Shubha, our final runner finished his ascent of Mount Royal.

The entire team congregated around him. We were ecstatic. Proud. Accomplished.

I’ve had a few days to decompress from the experience and I’m still feeling the high. Here’s what it taught me.

You have much more to give, even when you feel like you’ve hit your limit.

After a particularly long, wet, cold, uphill 11k segment, I laid in our team RV thinking, “I can’t believe I got myself into this.” I felt finished, even though we were only about halfway to our destination. I also felt weak, mentally.

But I got an hour or two of sleep, woke up around midnight, and was ready to keep going. I gave my teammates an impassioned speech before hitting the pavement in the cold, dreary night. I knew I had much more to give.

We’re living in the good ol’ days.

I’ve written about my penchant for nostalgia. I think most of us tend to glorify the past. But the past was once the present and, if we don’t take the time to look around and appreciate it, we might not realize how amazing it is.

I’ll one day look back at this experience and think, damn, what a time to be alive. I tried to keep that in mind, even during the hard kilometres.

People can give us a huge boost.

During my segment through Port Hope, it was raining (shocker) and cold (shocker). I thought I had taken a wrong turn and the support car was way ahead of me. I still had quite a ways to go. While I was questioning my life decisions for the 20th-or-so-time, I heard a car honk and my name being called.

It was my sister Taylor, who was driving to work and went out of her way to find me.

“I think I took a wrong turn,” I shouted to her.

“You’re going the right way,” she replied. My girlfriend Andrea had sent her the map so she could find me. At that moment she was like a guardian angel. Suddenly, I had a little more pep in my step to finish the segment.

Later that day, I was running along Highway 33 in Prince Edward County. I was at my lowest and, probably, slowest point.

Then I heard someone yell from a vehicle, “is that you?”

It was my friend Janet. I would later find out she was in communication with Andrea, who was trying to figure out where I was so Janet could stop by and give the team some support.

She brought delicious snacks and a mental boost that brought me back to life. I think of this visit as the turning point in my race. It made everything easier afterward.

There’s also the team I ran with. 10 other runners, our driver, and our “RV manager”. Each one made this experience more special. We picked each other up when we were down, shared stories and laughs. Shared food, beds, and support. I went into this experience only knowing one of them, our captain and my friend from university, Celyeste. I came away with a bunch of new friends.

I owe it to myself to see what i’m capable of.

One day, if I’m lucky enough to live that long, my body won’t be capable of doing things like this. We’re all on borrowed time. In that time, I’m going to continue to see what I’m made of.

I’ve already told Celyeste I’ll be back for the Run to Montreal next year.

Outside routine is where the livin’ happens.

It’s easy, enticing even, to stay within the comfortable confines of our daily routine. Wake up, work, do some chores, go out to dinner, watch Netflix, take a yearly trip, rinse, repeat.

But new experiences are the things that challenge us, become our best stories and, perhaps more importantly, tend to slow time — so, in effect, they make our life seem not only a little more fulfilling but also longer.

So, there you have it. I’m not sure it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s probably up there. Maybe it’ll encourage you to seek out your next adventure.

The pebble

The challenge

Break from your routine and do the damn thing you’ve been putting off. You know what it is. It doesn’t have to be a run to Montreal. It doesn’t need to be physically demanding. It just has to challenge your norm.