Montreal is a city known for vibrant summers, cold winters and for being (in my opinion!) one of the coolest cities in Canada. This “cool” factor showed up literally for over 27,000 people who ran the Oasis Rock ‘n’ Roll Montreal Marathon this past weekend, with race day temperatures hovering around 11C and brisk winds that forced spectators to keep moving to stay warm.

In true Montreal spirit, the lululemon crew from our four Montreal stores bundled up in Scuba Hoodies and got ready for the day in Old Montreal, just past Kilometre 16. We hustled to fill as many cups with water before the first runners made it up the hill at Place Jacques Cartier and around the corner to us, and we kept on going right until the last runners passed us by.

giving thanks

As we handed out cup after cup of water, I was blown away by the amount of runners that stopped for that split second and took the time to thank us. Us?, I thought. Really? What we were doing was in no way as inspiring or tough as what they were up to that morning. But over and over, they thanked us - some gave us a little cheer, others mouthed a quick “Merci”, and many acknowledged us by taking a deep breath and picking up their pace.

It reminded me that at the end of the day we all need some support to achieve our goals – as much as we may want to just do it all ourselves. And that morning, at Kilometre 16, we were able to support the thousands of runners passing us by with something as simple as a glass of water and a smile.

the biggest cheer of all

As the clean up crews came by and the race drew to a close, we waited to make sure the last of the runners had passed us by. And we made sure we gave them the biggest cheer of all. With arms raised to create a little tunnel, every one of those runners gave us a little smile, stopped walking and then ran on through.

winter running, anyone?

Montreal, thank you for braving the elements and running your hearts out last weekend! If cool weather running is your thing, many of our stores have run clubs that continue all year. Find out more on your local Montreal store's calendar.