On the other side of Canada from our home
in British Columbia, Quebec is the largest province by area and the second largest by
population. My ancestors have called Quebec home for generations since it was a french colony
and my girlfriend Audrée is herself Quebecoise. It's also the home of the Quebec Mega Trail. New for 2021, the 100-mile course has over 6,500
meters of elevation gain, taking runners from the banks of the St. Lawrence River to the top of Mont
Saint Anne, through beautiful boreal forests and technical single track trails. And while Quebec
might be known for its extremely cold temperatures in the winter, in the summer runners could expect
heat and humidity. Audrée and I couldn't pass up the chance to run what would prove to be
one of the most challenging races in Canada. I wonder what the actual name of the
road is oh it's 'Boule de Neige'. Check in first? It's a huge suite! Big patio. Oh, check out the pool. - Oh
yeah, oh it's humid out here. We just finished unpacking and I'm just gonna
head out for a little shake out run here, maybe 20 or 25 minutes, just to get the legs
moving after a long flight yesterday and sitting in the car today for a couple of hours. It's
pretty warm, probably about 27 degrees celsius, but it's really muggy. It's just really humid.
When it's humid, your sweat doesn't evaporate and it's harder to cool down. So that's going to
be a different kind of challenge for me I think. After only 20 minutes of really easy running, I'm
just sweating buckets. The last time I felt this kind of humidity was running in Hawaii I think,
so we're really going to have to stay on top of our hydration during the race. But now it's time
to head back to the hotel to have a quick shower. We're gonna hop back in the car and drive about 40
minutes back into Quebec City to pick up our bibs. Okay, we got our numbers and a couple last minute
supplies. A little bit more lube. You can never have too much lube. Alright, so we've just
finished preparing our race kit and our drop bags here. There are three aid stations where
we can have drop bags. So three drop bags. But one of them we're going to see twice. It's
roughly every 40 km. The last one we'll see 40 km from the end and then again 20 km from the
end. The most important one for me is this one at the halfway point around 80 km. I'm gonna have a
spare change of clothes, like a shirt and a towel, a hat, and another buff and socks. I'm also gonna
have a pair of shoes I'll probably change into. I'm gonna wear my soft grounds for the first half
but I think I'll switch into my Salomon Sense Pro 4's for the back half. And then of course a
little bit of extra food that I'll resupply at each point. There is food at the aid stations
but I want to have some of my own stuff as well that I know I'm gonna I'm gonna like and be
craving. I also have a spare set of poles. It's likely I would only break one if I do it all,
so I divided that up. I have one pole in each of the two final drop bags. And then as far as my
race kit goes, as I said, I'm going to be starting with my Salomon Soft Grounds for the first half
of the race before I change into the Sense Pros. I'm going to be using the Salomon Sense Pro
5 litre pack with a couple of soft flasks. Of course, I've got my Black Diamond Carbon Z poles.
And then as far as required kit, we are required to carry a hard shell, a waterproof rain jacket
as well as a buff. And I'm going to bring some arm warmers and gloves just in case it gets cold
at night with some of the rain that we might have. We have to carry a space blanket.
We need masks and hand sanitizer. I'm going to carry a little bit of extra
Squirrels Nut Butter so I can re-lube as needed. I've got two headlamps. I'm going to use as a
primary one the Fenix HM65R-T which is a really powerful headlamp. I'm going to use it on the 400
lumen mode. And then as a backup I have a slightly smaller one, a really lightweight one from
Fenix, just as my emergency headlamp. As usual, I'm going to use two watches. My primary one being
the Suunto 9 Baro and as a backup I'll have the Coros Vertix, just to make sure I can get a really
solid track. We have to carry a disposable cup to reduce waste. Of course, I've got my GoPro and
a few GoPro batteries, some nutrition to start, along with a bag of electrolyte tablets,
Tums in case I get an upset stomach, a couple of Advil and a couple of caffeine pills.
And last but not least, I've got my laminated chart here with elevation profiles and aid station
breakdown here that I can carry with me. So like Jeff was saying, we'll have three different drop
bags. But I'm also relying on my Dad to crew me. So I'm actually packing a fourth drop bag for
him to carry around along the course to bring me, which is super convenient. So the only difference
is is that I'm packing the third drop bag fairly heavy. I think for me this is where I'll want
to change shoes because I'll be starting with my Sense Pros. But I find that after 100k or so
my feet start to hurt so I'm gonna switch into something much cushier and roomier to finish the
race in. At least, I think that's what I'll do. We'll see how it goes but that's kind of my plan.
So yeah, I've got a pair of spare shoes for very late in the race as well as a change of clothes
for the halfway point and the very last eight station just in case. Other than that, I've got
my race kit ready to go and a jacket for the end, which is probably optimistic. It's still
going to be very warm when we finish. Audrée used to race canoes growing up in
Quebec, so her dad is no stranger to crewing for endurance events. But an ultra marathon
would be a completely new experience for him. So since I have the luxury of
having my Dad crewing me this time, I bought some extra food for him to bring at eight
stations for me which I'm super stoked about. Sushi, that's always a winner during an ultra,
so we found this big package and both Jeff and I can have a few pieces here and there.
Got some cold pasta and some watermelon. We know there'll be a lot of that stuff
at aid stations but, I don't know, I always feel more secure having a little bit
extra. And of course, Coca-Cola. So that'll be really nice to have that support. And Jeff's
not really counting on it but it's kind of like if my Dad happens to be there like he'll help
himself but he's not like fully reliant on it. We did some last minute carbo
loading before walking over to grab the shuttle to the start of the race. We're just walking over to the shuttle now.
We're going to grab the shuttle at 7:30 over to the start line at Baie - what is it? Baie
St Paul? - oui, Baie St. Paul. - à Baie St Paul. The race starts east of
Quebec City in Baie St Paul. From there, the course will climb past Le
Massif de Charlevoix. It will then continue high above the St Lawrence River, before crossing
the highway and dropping down into the canyon back to Mont Saint-Anne. We'll then summit the mountain
twice, completing several loops on the back side, before circling back around to the base of Mont
Saint-Anne for the finish. What do you think, it kind of looks like Chamonix, hey? Yeah, just
like Europe. Just like Europe. Finish line shoot, minus the crowds. Minus the crowds. Well, so far.
We'll see. There might be a little crowd. There might be a little crowd, depending on what time
we finish. At two in the morning, I don't know. We're on the bus going to the starting line
and we're gonna get to mostly the middle of the race. So here we follow the road for a while
and we're just getting to the middle of the race and then we cross to the other side of the road.
So can't wait to start. That's the halfway point. On the map, it looks like we were literally on
the road. We're not actually on the pavement. Medical checks were done to check our blood
pressure and weight. These numbers would be used as benchmarks when we'd be checked
again at the halfway point of the race. We then had about a half hour to kill
before gathering at the start line. Am I going to get into Jeff Pelletier movie
here? You are if you run right - there you go, now you're in it, now you're in it.
I'm going to watch that clip 30 times. - I'll put it in slow motion
for you. - Appreciate it. Okay, so I'm just over two and a half hours in.
We just passed the first aid station at the 20 km mark. We've climbed about 1,000 meters so far.
Rolling terrain, a little bit of flat stuff, but mostly it's been up. It's super humid. My
clothes, my shorts included, are just soaked completely through. So I drank the the litre that
I started with and I kind of had to catch up with my fluids there at the last aid station. I drank a
whole bunch of water, electrolytes, a bit of Coke, took both some water and electrolytes in my
flasks, some watermelon, a handful of pretzels, a couple other bits and pieces that I
grabbed on the way out, ate while I walk. I'm kind of going out a little bit harder than I
normally would in the hopes of running some faster miles here at night, knowing that I'm gonna be
forced to slow down in the heat of the day. It's not usually the strategy that I would go for
but I also don't normally start at night so we'll see how this goes. I made a real tactical
error in leaving my Salomon water filter at home. It's something I've carried with me on all
my races the last couple of years and it would have made such a huge difference
for me over the first half of this race with temperatures reaching 40 degrees celsius with
humidity overnight. But Audrée was much better prepared. Four and a half hours into the race.
I ran out of water about half an hour before the the last aid station which is a little annoying
but luckily I have a filter. I just passed a creek and I was able to chug a bunch of water and fill
up again which was a huge relief because there's no way I would have made it with just the one
litre to the next aid station which will be just past the 40k mark. It's
already getting lonely out here. I haven't seen anyone in a little bit. But
this section of trail is actually quite nice in the trees. Not too technical. No rain yet and
still very hot but so far things are going well. Okay, so we're four and a half hours in. Just
over 32k down and I'm officially out of water. I'm on some really fun single track here. We
were doing a lot of downhill running for a bit. We're just climbing again but these first two
legs are pretty tough. There's about 20k between aid stations. From there on in it gets easier
though, it drops down to like 13k and i think even shorter in some sections, which is good because
during the day I'll be drinking even more water. I would have liked to have
an extra half litre at least. This next aid station cannot come soon enough. So I drank a lot of that last aid station and
managed to catch up on my hydration. I took some salt pills, I had some coke, a whole bunch
of watermelons, some banana bread, and I replenished my run food for my drop bag. I grabbed
another flask as well so I've got three flasks, a litre and a half. I should be well set up now
for the next 13k until the next aid station. We're back into a pretty, I'm not sure I'd call
this a technical section, it's kind of more like a marshy non-trail trail section. Gotta keep an eye
out for these black arrows and orange QC flags. There we go. Here's someone else.
I haven't seen anybody for a while. It's 5am now. I just turned off my headlamp which
might be a bit ambitious. It's still kind of dark but it's getting lighter and lighter. I forgot
how much I love running at night! I went through the second aid station at 40k feeling good but
definitely hungry. I did not pack enough food for that first section but I ate a lot and I had
a drop bag. So I picked up a lot of my nutrition. So I feel much better now and I'm
still moving fairly well. I also met with our two friends Stéphane and Danny,
so we ran a few km together which was fun, and met this guy Drew who was sitting on the
side of the trail having a bit of a hard time about half hour before the aid station, but
he kind of rallied and kept me company for a bit which made the last couple
hours of night time go by quick. Well I just hit 50k, which doesn't mean much other
than the fact that I've still got 110k to go. I do find that it helps to kind of break down
a 100 miler into these smaller increments and to celebrate these smaller wins along the
way. You know, 50k or even thinking about it as two 50 milers, or even four marathons.
Same thing with aid stations. I find that sort of counting the miles to the next aid station
and celebrating when you get there helps to give you some short-term goals. Because otherwise,
100 miles can feel like a pretty daunting task. Snickers bar for breakfast? Don't mind if I do. Daytime is here. I put the headlamp away.
Feels good. It was kind of digging into my forehead by the end there, so it was about
time. I am on the Sentier des Caps I believe and it is beautiful. Definitely my favorite
section so far. It's very green under the canopy. It has a very east coast forest feel which
is great. And I am making my way up to the next aid station which is called Cap Gribane. Almost fell! Looks like our view is mostly fogged in today. Just quick in and out. Refilled my bottles,
my usual, got some coke a bunch of watermelon, a few things for the road,
some other sugary snacks. Got rid of my buff and my headlamp. Wait, am I
going the right way? Yeah. And put on my hat here. It's quite technical here. We're always either
going up or down. You can really see where the elevation gain comes in - in small increments.
So it's quite tough to to get a rhythm. So it is eight in the morning
now and I've got 60k covered. Still feeling pretty good. It's still beautiful
out here but the trail got a fair bit more technical. So I am moving a bit slower. There
were just a couple of short but steep drops which I didn't love, I never do love those, but
that's okay. I'm still in a very good mood and I got some snacks and I'm good
for water. So yeah, can't complain. Wow. Look at this. It's so nice here. What a treat. That was a funny stretch. I felt really good for
the first half, climbing really strong, in good spirits. Then I sort of hit the wall a little bit
in the second half. Maybe I'm hungry for some real food. I might take a few extra minutes here at
this aid station and eat some soup or something. Whoa. Porcupine. Hey. That's cool. That was a good stop at that aid station. I
had half a banana, a few pieces of watermelon, a couple of small boiled potatoes with
salt, and those went down really well, a piece of pita bread, a cup of
soup, and some homemade fudge, along with some coke, a bit of water, and of
course I refilled my bottles for the road. So I'm feeling a lot better now.
I think I was just really hungry. And after that long climb to get there it sounds
like we now have a bunch of descending to do here. Can you hear that? It's the sweet, sweet sound
of rain. Cool, refreshing rain. I'm hoping with this rain goes a little bit of the
humidity and that later I can feel a bit cooler. For now, this is quite nice
and I'm not getting too too wet because I'm still under the
canopy here. But yeah, this is very lovely. There have been thundershowers in the
forecast and I think they've arrived. The sky's opening up and I can hear thunder in
the distance. So we'll see if that helps or hurts us. Either way, we're gonna get more
wet than we already are, if that's possible. I just left Cap Gribane or Brigade, I don't
know. I can never get it right. Anyways, next up Saint-Tite-Des-Caps which is going to
be the halfway point. Unfortunately now the second place female has caught up to me. She
arrived at the aid station there as I was leaving. But I'm not surprised that she made some ground
because I was moving pretty slow through that part. Lots of descent that I didn't like. So
I think maybe she's stronger on the downhill than I am. It's all good. Still a long race.
I'm feeling good, although I was very thirsty when I got there. I ran out of water again,
also very hungry, fairly low on calories. So I took some time to replenish. I
also took some salt pills because, I don't know, maybe I'm sweating more than
usual. My left toes have been cramping which is not so fun when you're trying
to run. But I'm in a very good mood and, at the halfway point coming up
here in another 14 km, I will see my parents for the first time since I left
last night. So something to look forward to. It's really coming down. Nice and cool at least,
but we're gonna have some pretty bad chafing. So here's the real rain that we've been expecting
all night. It's been pouring down on me for a good 20 minutes with no signs of stopping anytime soon.
For now, no complaints. It feels very refreshing. Later, I might get uncomfortable though.
And the trails are getting slick and muddy. This last stretch to the aid station at
the halfway point is just taking forever. Just when I think I'm going
down, the trail turns back up. Tt starts taking us along a technical ridge and
starts dropping down again, before going back up! I've got six km to go but I'm just watching the
clock tick and tick, and of course I'm doing math in my head about what this might mean for
my finishing times, which I shouldn't be doing at this point. It's too early for that. But man,
I cannot wait to get to the 81 km aid station. Okay, so I just made it to the halfway aid
station. Did my medical check to make sure I didn't lose any weight. Apparently, I lost
none, so I've been drinking lots of water. Now I've just got to go do my mandatory
gear check. Okay, now time to eat. Finally made it back to the 138 at the
halfway point. That was a long stretch again. Almost missed the trail there. I see,
we're going under the highway this time. I was lucky to catch Audrée's Dad there and get
some support from him. But the biggest surprise is that Audrée came in right as I was leaving
there. She's having a great day, I think a better day than I am. I think she's second female
and she's looking really good. So that's awesome! Back at that aid station I took
care of two important things. First, I changed my shoes. The Salomon Soft Grounds had
been serving me well in those muddy conditions. Now that it's drying up and really just because
we're at the 50 mile mark and the Soft Grounds aren't really designed for 100 miles. So I
changed into my trusty Salomon Sense Pro 4's along with some clean socks. It feels pretty good.
The other thing I did was spend a few minutes with those Porta Potties. I know what some of you
are thinking - way too much information. But others are probably curious if we go to the
bathroom in 100 milers, and the answer is yes. So that was a pretty good break. So nice to have
my parents there to help me with everything. Feeding me, cleaning my feet, helping
me change my bra, lube my butt crack. I feel pretty good now. A little stiff, like
my heels of all places. Changed my socks, cleared out the rocks in my shoes, changed my bra,
but kept the same shirt and shorts for now because I don't think we're done getting wet. I might
do a full change at the next eighth station, I don't know. Also, Renée got there a few minutes
after me, the second place woman. But she left a few minutes ahead of me and she's
right there up the hill right now. So she seems to be having a good race as well
which is good. I might see her again in a bit. I ate lots, grilled cheese, sushi, watermelon,
Pringles, drank some Coke. So I feel pretty full now which is good. I haven't felt that satiated
in a long time. And I think we're about to hit the famous Mestechibo Trail. I think it will be a
slow going section which is okay because the last bit was a lot of running, so I'm okay
if I have to walk on big rocks for a bit, take it easy, and make it back
to Mont-Saint-Anne in good shape. This little section is really
quite pretty so far - and muddy. The sun is really coming out now. It was nice to
have cloud cover because it was much cooler but this forest is so pretty with the
sun now. I love it in here, wow. I was feeling so good coming out of that halfway
aid station. Then as soon as we started climbing out of the river valley here, the wheels kind of
fell off again. I think it's the humidity here near the river. There's no breeze like
there was up there. I just can't seem to handle the humidity. I don't know if I should
be drinking more water, maybe taking more salt, or if it's just that it is what
it is and I need to slow down. But i'll feel good for a few km and
push the pace and all of a sudden I just hit a wall and have to slow down and
almost stop. So looking forward to getting out of the river valley here even though it
means getting exposed to the sun climbing up M Good morning. Walking on those bridges kind of
makes you feel like you're drunk. It's very wobbly. It kind
of goes all over the place. So I have passed the Mestechibo aid
station now and I'm making my way on this very technical section back to MSA.
So Mont-Saint-Anne is the next stop in about 9 or 10k now. So I will see my crew
there one more time and looking forward to it. All I can say is that was a really earned five km. I'm just at the Mont-Saint-Anne aid station.
I'm just going to take a few minutes and rehydrate. Because next I've got to climb the mountain and
it's going to be totally exposed. So I've got to be mentally and
physically prepared for this. I just left the aid station,
we're at about 103-104 km. So I still have a 50k and some change to run. I just passed the Mont-Saint-Anne aid station.
I got a good help from my crew. My mom and my dad are still here, and now my older sister
Gabrielle with her two kids Florence and Louis, and my younger sister Rose with her cute
little dog Pumpkin. I'm not used to having my family crew like this. I could definitely
get used to it! But I think I did end up lingering there a little bit longer.
But that's okay. I also got a medic to cover up my blisters very nicely
because they were really starting to bother me on the last descent to the base of
Mont-Saint-Anne. It's quite hot. I've started the big climb straight up to the top of
Mont-Saint-Anne which I think is like 900 meters straight up the ski hill. So should be
interesting. So I made it to the top. Stopped for a quick bite at the aid station. Now we have
to drop back down for a second lap, although not quite all the way, about halfway down, and
then we'll go back up to that same aid station. It's much cooler now. There's a
nice breeze. The sun's going down so hopefully it'll get a little
bit easier here as we go. Not a person in sight. Where is everybody? This climb is very gnarly. Maybe I'm just tired. I think I'm almost there. It's so nice up here!
It's very windy. You can barely feel the humidity that I've been dealing with for the past 20
hours. Look at the St. Lawrence River behind me. It's quite nice. Looks like I've got a few
hundred meters more to go, but I can see it. And then drop down halfway the mountain
and then I go back up to the summit. Summit one of two of Mont-Sainte-Anne
this evening. It's beautiful. I really, really hate running down ski
hills and this one so steep it just hurts. So I just hit 120 km which means I have 40k
left, or four 10k's. Just four increments 10 km, even if they do take two hours each. So I actually got lucky at that last aid station.
With Audrée being so close behind me here, her parents were there and still had some
of the sushi and pasta and things that we had bought for them to hang on to.
So I was able to actually eat something. I was so hungry for some real solid food
that isn't sweet so I feel much better now. Now we're just on to the cross country trails
I think for most of the rest of the race here. It's actually quite runnable. And just like that, it's night time again. I'm
pretty happy with how those two Mont-Sainte-Anne summits went. Now i'm making my way to the
Berge de Fondeur to the 126 or 128 km mark. I'm not sure. I'm a bit confused now. Gonna
see my crew just one more time there at the Fondeur. I also have my last
drop bag there waiting for me. I need to change shoes. My feet are killing me.
I think my toes need a bit more room. I'm still in a fairly good mood ,although the energy level
certainly has dropped. But yeah, I'm just trying to keep moving consistently, not taking too many
unnecessary breaks, and I am forcing myself to also keep eating enough because it's easy at this
point to feel like you're on the home stretch and neglect your calories, and the next thing you know
the last 10 or 15k could really hurt me. I know that Renée, the second place female, is still
not very far behind. I don't know how far, but not far enough for comfort. So the plan
is to keep moving through the night as consistently as possible and make it to the
finish in one piece. Finally, it's nice and cool! There's a nice breeze. I'm climbing like a
champ! Man, I wish I felt like this last night. This is what all those hill repeats have
been for! I feel like I could climb all night but this is our last climb, then it's
pretty much all downhill to the finish. I'm just finishing up a loop
here. It's about an 8k loop back to the aid station I just
left about 45 minutes ago. I'm on my way back to the other aid station
we were at before doing this loop. It's 6k, mostly downhill, with a couple of little
climbs, and then there's just 10k to the finish. That wasn't so bad. It gets much harder to film in these
later stages of a race when you're not only extremely tired but are just so focused
on one thing. Getting to the finish line. 100 miles. I managed to finish feeling
surprisingly fresh despite, or maybe because of, a very difficult
50-mile stretch earlier in the race. While I may have been a few
hours off my own time goal, Audrée executed her first 100 miler perfectly. Only 45 of the 89 runners who started
the race would make it to the finish, thanks in no small part to the extremely
difficult conditions we faced early on. We're just in old Quebec City, taking in the
sights and doing a little recovery walking. Quebec was originally settled by
french immigrants. My ancestors arrived in 1641, long before Canada was a country, having left their home in France for what was
then called New France in search of a better life. Of course, New France, like
the rest of the new world, was only new to Europeans. Indigenous
Peoples had long lived in the area. By the time that Canada had
become a country in 1867, the Pelletier lineage had already
lived within its borders for 226 years. Maple ice cream. Audrée, how are the legs feeling? - Pretty
sore actually. I'm not loving these stairs. I grew up in Vancouver, in British Columbia, and my grandfather on the Pelletier side moved to
British Columbia. My dad was born there as well. But I've increasingly felt a connection to
my french heritage. It's why I love spending time in France so much. But since
being with Audrée, I've also felt a connection to my Quebec heritage as well.
Not to mention, a much deeper love for poutine. We were just up there. -
Oh yeah, Mont-Sainte-Anne. We just found this cool museum. We're going to pop in here and see if they have
any information on my ancestors. Shortly after arriving in Quebec, the Pelletiers
farmed a parcel of land here on the island, before eventually settling on the
southern bank of the St Lawrence River. I'm lucky in that my Dad actually
wrote a book on our family history tracing our ancestry back
over 500 years to France. So after immigrating here from France
my family lived on the island here, somewhere around here, but only for I
think about four years from 1663 to 1667. This map was made in 1709 so
unfortunately it's not listed on here. You find something? So we found a record here. This is my great,
great, great ,great, great, great, great, great, grandparents who moved here from
France. Yeah, it says here they arrived 1641. And then there's Jean who came with them
and then here it shows all of his kids as well. Our trip to Quebec was an amazing experience and
the event is definitely one I would recommend. Audrée couldn't be happier with her race and she's
looking forward to a few weeks off from running. I didn't quite have the race that
I'd hoped or had trained for but I should be able to recover a little
quicker than I might have otherwise. It's a good thing too because my racing
season is not quite over just yet.
