Plain Can Be Lovely

Three weeks after running the Disneyland Half Marathon I set out to run the Rock n’ Roll Montreal Half Marathon. It was my third half and I felt a little crazy running it so soon after the Disneyland half. Almost everybody who we had run the Disney World Half with (Kristen, Paul, Anna, Eddie) was also running Montreal.

I was originally on the fence about signing up, but they had a special on Feb. 29 where I could sign up for $29 off. So I got a good deal and figured worst case, I couldn’t run it and would just eat the very cheap race fee. Dan opted not to run it since it was taking place on his birthday (fair enough).

We arrived on Friday night and met Kristen, Paul and Sue in Old Montreal where we ate at The Keg. Dan was very tired so at the end of our meal he ordered a coffee. The waiter asked if he wanted a regular coffee, a cappuccino, a latte etc. and Dan said “Regular…yeah regular…cappuccino.” We all looked at him and the waiter said “Do you want a regular coffee? Or do you want a cappuccino?” And Dan said “Regular coffee. I don’t know why I said cappuccino.” We were all killing ourselves laughing and since that day we’ve nicknamed him Regular Cappuccino. Sometimes we call him RC for short.

Old Montreal

Selfie of Kristen and I at The Keg.

The next day we got up bright and early and went to the race expo. As usual I was excited.

Me at the race expo. Clearly very excited.

Brooks was a major sponsor of the race and the expo was huge! We decided to meet the others in the Brooks section at the expo and after a while I had to text Kristen and tell her to hurry up before I spent more money.

The race expo was huge!

This was all part of the Brooks section in the race expo.

More Brooks gear at the Race Expo. I bought a finisher’s shirt for the half.

They had a photobooth set up at the expo where you could get your picture taken with props and they would post it on Facebook. We had a lot of fun with this.

This is like our behind-the-scenes photo for our photobooth picture.

Kristen and I are ready to kick ass.

Kristen and I also bought matching sparkly purple headbands. You know we had to.

We even wore our matching headbands on the subway.

After the expo we decided to go to Schwartz’s for lunch. Established in 1928, Schwartz’s is an icon in Montreal and a place where tourists like me flock to. Celine Dion is also now a part owner of Schwartz’s. On our way to Schwartz’s it also rained like crazy and we talked about what we would wear for the half if it rained. (I mean it poured). I was glad I was wearing my waterproof running jacket!

Lined up outside Schwartz’s. We were first!

Enjoying a black cherry cola

Dan splitting a pickle

Montreal smoked meat sandwich

Montreal smoked meat in its natural element.

After Schwartz’s we wandered around before heading to Juliette et Chocolat for dessert. I basically go from meal to meal, snack to snack when I’m on vacation.

At Juliette et chocolat. Kristen had the crepe with dark chocolate and strawberries

Dan at Juliette et Chocolat with his sundae.

My cappuccino. Not a “regular cappuccino.”

My fleur de sel medley. Brownie with a vanilla icecream topped with Juliette et Chocolat’s decadent salted caramel sauce. om nom nom

Naturally, we spent the rest of the day shopping.

That night, we all met up again and wandered around Old Montreal. We stumbled upon a restaurant called Venti Osteria and ended up having dinner there. They served home made pasta and it was amazing. It was definitely a gem in Montreal and we’re lucky that we got to eat there, with such a big party and no reservations.

The open kitchen at Venti.

selfie at dinner

I had the tomato salad with cheese. amazing.

Gnocchi was also amazing (this was slightly different from gnocchi. It was longer but I can’t remember what it was called).

Kristen and I were hoping the catch the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal light show and we were running a little late. We left some money with the others to pay for dinner and then ran off to try to make it for the show. We literally ran down the street, carrying our shopping bags and wearing our boots. I commented that it was a good thing we were both runners!

We managed to make it to the show just in time. It was really informative and gave us the history of the Basilica and set us up for the grand unveiling of the stained glass (it was covered by a curtain and came down in the end). The Basilica is grand and beautiful. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to worship there. We were in awe. The pictures don’t really do it justice.

Inside the basilica. Amazing.

This was once the largest organ in North America.

view when you enter the basilica

Outside the basilica

After exploring the Basilica we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotels. We were ready for a good night’s sleep before tackling the Rock n’ Roll Montreal Half Marathon the next day.