Posted at 12:00 p.m.
The silhouette of the Jacques-Cartier bridge and the office towers are barely eclipsed when another dimension takes shape. An illusion of a village a few miles from the hustle and bustle of the city. It is in this vibrant hodgepodge of Vieux-Longueuil, where relics rub shoulders with the modern, that Anne Genest and Joan Roch discovered something in common. Love at first sight on the theme of literature and running. Some time later, they gathered their four children under the same roof.
Their period house, resembling a sugar shack, has obscure origins that some place between the beginning and the middle of the 19th century.and century. She was probably one of the few occupants of this territory which would have once housed the stables of Charles Le Moyne, according to rumour… Anyway, its rustic charm is undeniable, discordant in its urbanity. The land also conceals other gems, the most precious being a farm building that some might have wanted to demolish, but whose full potential the couple saw.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The old barn, measuring 20 ft by 40 ft, has been straightened and completely restored by Maisons Traditionnels des Patriotes. The interior is spread over two levels, the ground floor being devoted to the gym while a mezzanine accommodates the office.
“The easy way would have been to destroy everything. The interior was dangerous and the exterior gloomy, but we chose to save it instead,” says Anne Genest. Thanks to the intervention of a motivated entrepreneur who loves period houses, its facade has been straightened by 4 inches, the interior completely redone, while a concrete slab poured at its base now gives it solid seated.
The reconstruction project began in April and continued until the said day in September when the wedding rings were exchanged. “I didn’t want to get married on a mud field. Before going on vacation in August, we sowed the seeds saying to ourselves: come what may! When we came back, the land was green and grassy, ”continues its owner with a still palpable delight.
We believed in it and we got there, even if it’s just. If there’s one thing running has taught me, it’s that you eventually get to the finish line. One step at a time.
Anne Genest, writer and marathon runner
Practice with a horizon
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The battle rope hanging on the wall works the arm muscles at the same time as the cardio. The polished concrete slab was used to stabilize the base of the barn, but it is a perfect floor to practice on.
Every morning, the couple leave their home to train a few steps from their home. Twenty paces, to be precise. Those who separate the house from his personal gym. Housed in the old farm building, the space houses equipment that would make a marathon runner green with envy. Anne and Joan are just that. After a routine consisting of squats, weight lifting, boxing, running on the treadmill and other exercises known to athletes, they go to their office located on the mezzanine. An enviable 9 to 5, dotted with moments of relaxation and effort in their training space.
From the start, they knew they would turn the place into an office and a games room, a playful place for two sports enthusiasts running. This interest is in no way associated with performance, they say, but with pleasure.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
An 8′ high Artemano door, which Joan Roch had spotted a few years ago, has found its place on the mezzanine and delimits the office space.
For the author, it is an opportunity to create a void, to collect her ideas for writing, to daydream. Joan, who does photography, among other things — he has also published two adventure stories, Ultra Ordinary: A Runner’s Diary and Odyssey of a runner: Ultra-ordinary volume 2 —, takes the opportunity to create. His shots, captured in different corners of the city, show him in action in the environments he visits at a run and were to be the subject of an exhibition. Failing to have been presented in times of COVID-19, they now add more soul to the barn, serene and warm, a thousand miles from the thundering gyms where they have never set foot.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
A structure composed of plumbing pipes, grafted to an original beam, accommodates rings, rubber bands, suspension bars and other accessories using body mass. Bars have been installed at children’s height.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The two ultramarathoners cover kilometers of distance without leaving their homes. Their garage allows them to do it in the heat with two or three hours of training a day, broken up into short courses.
“This renovation was an investment in our health, but also in that of our children”, says the writer whose next novel, Sweat is a desire to evaporate, puts running at the heart of the story. “We run like we breathe. It has become a necessity,” she adds, as Haruki, the house feline, named after their favorite author, Haruki Murakami, listens to his masters recount their beginnings with a languor fueled by a few rays of sun beating down on his coat.
Every little step leads somewhere
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Photos taken by Joan adorn the walls of the workout space which doubles as an art gallery.
The couple confirms it: 2022 will be the year in which a podcast on running may be born, broadcast from the barn, and officially that of the Ultra Run Raramuri, a test of 190 km in 60 hours through the villages. from Chihuahua, Mexico, and for which he has already been training for months. “Even if the excuses for not training or going to work are sometimes easy to find, we have so much fun being in our barn that it’s a privilege”, underlines Joan.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Pieces salvaged from the barn and other old buildings preserve the rustic aspect of the building.
The interior smells of wood. A comforting smell. The light is beautiful and you can hear the birds singing from the mezzanine. “As a writer, I need silence. I finally have a room of my own, says Anne, her eyes sparkling. The pandemic has encouraged us to create a cozy little bubble. We open the door of the barn and immediately, we feel on vacation! This barn is our “cottage” at home. »