OCRC McMarathon Relay Recap - 5 runs in 1

credit: @RunCarlosRun

55+ km to visit 15 McDonald's across Ottawa.
Each runner starts the stage by eating the designated item, and then runs to the next location.

No designated eaters. No designated runners.

Each team uses a pre-loaded gift card 'baton'... 

 

Time for a bit of end-of-year fun, this was a different kind of physical challenge and a memorable race! There was a lot going on so I'll try to provide a short summary of my runs within the context of the event.

 

Greg regularly runs with the OCRC who organized this unusual tour of Ottawa, and most teams were 4 or 5 people - but it was a good excuse to reunite the 'Moose' team (having not run together since Hamilton), so we decided to have a go as a trio. This recap is just from my perspective.

 

Start

The stages (locations and menu) were released the week before so we split the event up based on logistics and food choices, either looking for favourites or trying to avoid items - I had no interest in trying to sprint a mile after a fish burger!  We decided to pretty much alternate stages, with the two team members not running using a car to get to the next venue.

 

The teams assembled at the first location at 10:30 am, with some icy wind-chill and snow in the air.

I had managed to oversleep, so breakfast was a large coffee. I couldn't bring myself to eat at the first restaurant knowing I had five courses to look forward to... 

 

Stage 1/5 (3/15) Cheeseburger + 5.6 km

Cheeseburger

Greg took on the first run, and handed the baton to Tony, before I got my first turn.  I was really hungry by the time I started, and we had a slight lead with the other teams close behind, so the pressure was on.  With adrenaline pumping I wolfed the food down and ran out the door - probably too fast and the cheeseburger threatened to reappear in the first km.

I was relying on my phone for directions which caused navigation issues, leading me down a path to the Transitway.  This 500m 'shortcut' helped us to stay just in front of the second team as I handed over to Greg for stage 4 (Tony Stage 5). 

 

Stage 2/5 (6/15) Small fries + 3.3 km

We were two teams jostling for first position as we approached the halfway point. The small fries were relatively easy to take care of but predictably super salty which left me feeling dehydrated for a while.  The stage was a short one and I ran my fastest km of the day to finish and pass the baton to... myself, as I was running stages 6 & 7 back to back.

 

Stage 3/5 (7/15) Junior Chicken + 3.2 km

Eating and then running hard was proving to be quite tough, but having no real break before repeating it was something else.  The other leading team had divided their stages into groups (so each runner doing 3 or 4 stages in succession) which I think I would have really struggled with.

I ate as quickly as I could but as soon as I started running again I could tell it was going to be near impossible to get the morning's pace back. The stage had a couple of small hills and some tricky road crossings and I was glad to get it finished and hand over to Tony for Stage 8 (Greg Stage 9). 

 

Stage 4/5 (10/15) McChicken + 7.2 km

McChicken

By my 4th stage I had no appetite and it was a chore to eat. It was also one of the longest stages and muscles were starting to feel tight. For nearly the whole distance I felt queasy and uncomfortable.  I was grateful for my team providing an impromptu water station on the route, but the road seemed never ending and I was relieved to put it behind me and get Greg started on Stage 11, back towards downtown. 

Tony ran stages 12 & 13 back to back, which worked out really well as the rendezvous would have been hard to juggle with shoppers and tourist traffic clogging the routes.

 

Stage 5/5 (15/15) Big Mac + 1 km

After Greg's quick sprint across town for the penultimate leg, I was ready and waiting to get the event finished. Tony joined me for a Big Mac sandwich but I was out the door before he'd finished eating, and went as fast as I could to the finish line at McDundonald Park.  The crossing lights were on my side and it felt like I was flying along for the final km, but in reality my legs were tired and I was still very full so not as fast as I would have liked. 



After just over 5 1/2 hours we finished a respectable second place, less than 15 minutes behind the winners, and about 30 mins ahead of the third team.

 

I don't know if I'll look at the golden arches in the same way again, and it will be a while before my next visit - I'm not ready to sign up for the 2018 relay just yet.

The day was a lot of fun, and the event was well thought out and put together. 

 

My personal tally ended up being 20.3 km and based on Strava approximate calories burned vs. menu details (about 1800 calories) I was almost calorie neutral!



Finish