Every runner suspects it: one day, perhaps, the last race will come. At 84 years old, marathon porpoise Paul Lajoie knows this all too well.
Published at 5:00 a.m.
(L’Isle-aux-Coudres) On his 80th birthday, Paul Lajoie looked out the window. It was a 1is november. The weather was nice on L’Isle-aux-Coudres.
The old marathoner – he ran 42 marathons – did not hesitate. He tied his shoes and went out. It had been years since he had toured his island. That day, he ran 23 kilometers and then some.
“It went well. As if there was nothing there. I walked just to one place, the coast over there,” says Paul Lajoie, pointing to a vague slope in the distance, which one imagines is awkward.
Paul Lajoie came back happy. The race had just given him once again that feeling that he had enjoyed for 40 years. This sport has given him so much. He made a lot of friends, visited a bunch of cities. In his early 40s, he even stopped drinking.
“At one point I came in and said to my wife, ‘Either I keep getting hit and stop running, or I stop taking a hit and keep running.’ I made the right decision. Since 1985, I have not had a drink. »
PHOTO GABRIEL BÉLAND, THE PRESS
Paul Lajoie
Be content
Paul Lajoie was never an elite marathoner, even if he was fast. At age 50, in Boston, he achieved one of his best times: 2 h 55 min. But on the island, he became a sort of local celebrity who could be seen parading under his window in summer and winter, even in the storm.
In his heyday, Paul Lajoie ran 150 km per week. It was not uncommon for him to tour the island twice a week.
PHOTO GABRIEL BÉLAND, THE PRESS
Paul Lajoie keeps the medals from his long running career in a small box.
But Paul has aged. After the tour for his 80th birthday, he told himself that he was going to do it again every year. “But the other years, it was nasty. Then afterwards, I tore my Achilles tendon. »
Paul Lajoie was injured while working in a hotel on the island, in 2021. A sailor all his life on the ferry, the porpoise – as the inhabitants of L’Isle-aux-Coudres are affectionately called – retired at 65 years old. But he continued to work to make ends meet.
Since his injury, he no longer runs. At 84, the former marathon runner had to mourn the loss of running. It’s complicated, he admits, “but that’s life.”
“I got there. I wrote the other day to a friend from Quebec, with whom I ran for years, and I told him: “I watch you run and everything you do, I am no longer capable of doing it .” He replied: “One day, I’m going to come there too.” At some point, you have to be content. »
He hasn’t said his last word
His wife died in 2013. The bird she left him, a lovebird, died five years later. This is life, philosopher Paul. You have to learn to let things go.
When my wife died, it wasn’t a gift. But you have to form an idea: she is no longer there.
Paul Lajoie
Paul Lajoie, however, has not said his last word. Now he walks, almost every day. He leaves for 30 minutes, sometimes an hour, to walk the paths of his island. “Brisk walking,” he takes care to specify.
“But it’s hard,” admits Paul. I have been running for 40 years and now I realize that I am no longer capable of running. »
Walking is good. But he misses the pace of the race, the « pace »as he says. At least he’s still in good shape, even if he’s got a belly, he says, tapping his stomach with both hands.
“There are some worse than the rest of us. I look at children with disabilities on Facebook… That makes me sad. I’m old, that’s all! »
When his wife died, Paul took up the accordion. As a child, he dreamed of playing music. But at 16, his first job at the bog paid him 50 cents an hour. « I wasn’t rich, I couldn’t afford an accordion. »
He bought one ten years ago to “get rid of boredom”.
PHOTO GABRIEL BÉLAND, THE PRESS
Since the death of his wife, Paul Lajoie has learned the accordion.
In another work accident, in 2019, he lost his middle finger while laying a concrete pipe in a sewage field. Another of his fingers no longer bends. He learned to play with two fingers. He adapts. Paul Lajoie proves it: he takes his accordion out of its box and starts playing It’s around the time of New Year’s Day.
Then he puts on his coat and shoes and goes out. The reporter wants to take a photo of him as he walks.
He takes a few steps, then says: “I’m going to try to run a little, it’s been a long time.” »
There he lines up a series of strides, raises his head, gives a smile and says: “It looks like it’s holding up.” I think I’m going to try to start running again. I still have good breathing, I swear! »
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