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Published: July 31st 2011
Trying to find the finish
It is around here somewhere......What an awesome day! Only bad part was setting the alarm....once we were up though, it was a great day. We drove to Grignan for la foulée de la Marquise race. This was an 11.2km trail run up and down and up and down along gravelly, rocky and a tiny stretch of paved, trails. At times, the trail ran alongside ancient farmhouses and vineyards so close you could reach out and pick a grape as you ran past. It was kind of like running the Seaton trail back home except the hills were longer and higher. Lori chose to start at the back of the pack, graciously not wanting to make everyone pass her. However, she found that she quite liked all the hills and on every hill would pass around 5 people or so. She found herself looking forward to the hills so she could catch the next bunch ahead of her! She came in under an hour in spite of stopping 3 times in the final 500m: first someone on the side shouted out something about "le fin!" so she thought it was done, then they yelled "Keep going" so she started back up again. Then she almost missed
Getting interviewed
Not a great shot but gives you an idea... the turn to double back across a field to the finish line (which was well disguised) and the race official at the corner spoke no English and so there was some confusion at that corner, then when she finally made it almost to the finish line (5m to go) she thought she was done again and stopped to chat with Nigel for a bit then finally passed by the guy recording the bib numbers.....So, not a bad time for a very hilly (mountainous really) tricky run along ankle-twisting trails! Not sure yet but Nigel thinks she was in the first 7 women and in the top half overall. Her goal was to not be last! Actually, her backup goal was to be the first Canadian but then when she spoke with the race organizer, she found out that there were 3 other Canadians in the race so that blew that goal....
Once she finally did cross the line, the race organizer was right there pulling her aside and conducting a full interview in front of everyone with a microphone and speakers blaring across the field (he only did this with one other person!) Nigel got video of the whole
Post-run post-interviews
After all the crowds faded away, we had a moment to get a photo finally! interview and we laughed for hours later watching it as each time he'd ask a question (in his limited English), he would thrust the mic in Lori's face and she would pull her face back before answering (so he wouldn't poke her in the nose; nearly falling backward a couple times) in some lame french but mostly English. It was hilarious. The interview went on and on. When he finally thanked her, she moved off to the side and a woman approached and asked could she take a family photo and get a story for the local paper (le Dauphiné, Grignan edition). Sure, we said! So, she took some photos and asked Lori a bunch more questions about what we are doing here, why this race? are we having a nice holiday? etc..
Also, after Lori's instant fame from all the interviews, it became known that we were Canadian. Moments later, we were approached by a man who asked where we were from. Turns out he is from Toronto too but lives part of every year right here in Grignan with his husband Tim (a runner in the race) who can telecommute as he is a writer. We chatted
Cave book store
This little book store is actually built in a cave! with them for a while, they were very nice. Turns out that Tim is J. Timothy Hunt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Timothy_Hunt) who you will see on that link is a famous author! He wrote The Politics of Bones.
Interviews done (we hadn't planned for this), we made our way to a brocante set up in the village of Grignan right around where the run had finished! There were at least 100 vendors set up with lots of cool stuff. We also enjoyed seeing the castle and another old church. Nigel and the kids ate their picnic lunch while Lori joined the runners for a lunch. Pretty good deal actually - €11 for entry fee which included t-shirt (or a bottle of wine if you preferred) and lunch (which was a cold chicken breast, 2 salads, chunk of baguette with Camembert and a fresh peach!) This was followed by a prize ceremony but as she couldn't really understand the quick french, she didn't stay for long. The race was a really fun, friendly event. Very social, not just run and leave. There was the run, followed by a swim and hanging out, then lunch at noon followed by the prize ceremony.
You
Skinny building
Here's skinny one in Grignan would think that would be enough for the day, but now it was time to visit the Crocodile Farm! This was very close by. There were 350 crocodiles here in various exhibits. There was a huge indoor exhibit and also some outdoor exhibits too. There were also many varieties of turtles to see.
On the way home, we passed by a crêperie near our house. I was pretty sure I heard it call my name! But instead of making a u-turn, no need as there is a roundabout every 100m so we just took the next roundabout all the way around and went to the crêperie! Yummy!
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