Date: May 25, 2014
Location: Buffalo, NY
Finish Time: 1:30:51
Pace: 6:56 min/mi
At Mile 5 I would have never guessed that I would successfully set a new PR on this course. Aided by the flat course, the great weather, and the encouraging racers I managed to run a great race despite the feeling I had while running.
I was supposed to run a half marathon in Chicago in January, but due to the terrible winter, I was snowed in that day. I wanted to try to go up until about two hours before I was scheduled to leave when the winds really picked up and the temperature reached -40. There was an accident that day on I-94 near Lake Michigan where I would have been driving.
Despite my fortune, I was disappointed that I once again missed a race due to weather, and have vowed not to sign up for races in places where the weather might be bad that time of year. May in Buffalo seemed like a safe bet. While it was unseasonably cool for May, it was a perfect day for running and Buffalo turned out to be a cool city.
Janel and I decided that a 5 hour drive would be tough to do on an early morning so we made a weekend out of Buffalo. We left Saturday morning and drove across Canada to Buffalo, picked up our packets, and then went back to Canada where we had booked a campsite.
The campground was nothing special, but we were only staying for one night and for a few hours, as we needed to get up early for the race the next day. We visited Niagara Falls to see the water and found a small town on Lake Erie that had a tasty place to eat dinner.
We were both nervous about sleeping on the ground, me for a half-marathon, Janel for the 5K. Who knew what kind of aches and pains we might experience the next morning. However, we both felt rested and ready to go. Perhaps it was the cool night air that kept us ready to go in the morning, but when we arrived at the center to race, we found we had enough time to find the restrooms, stretch out, and line up.
Janel's 5K started 15 minutes before my race, but I had to be in the corrals for my race 15 minutes prior to start time, therefore I was unable to see Janel race. Both of us struggled during our training this time around because of a variety of factors including the weather. Janel managed to run in a goal time, but not quite a PR, yet as I told her, she did very well considering the little amount of training completed, sleeping on the ground the night before, and running her first race without someone else.
I decided at the corral that I was going to push myself. I lined up between the 1:30 and 1:35 pace runners. I didn't want to get trapped behind slow runners and I wanted to try for a PR. By mile 3 I was concerned that I had made a grave mistake. However, I was intrigued by the scenery in Buffalo and found several runners to run with for a while to keep me motivated.
Buffalo was much prettier than I imagined. The downtown is quite rough and empty, but the neighborhoods nearby are filled with old homes and apartment buildings, boulevards, and parks scattered throughout the city. Small shops, coffee places, and restaurants dotted the neighborhoods and made for a good crowd through most of the run.
As we came back through downtown, Janel was there to cheer me and I thought that I had worked through the worst of my running pains. However, at around mile 8, I found myself really struggling. I was hurting and I had several miles still to go. Mile 8 was right on Lake Erie and spent about 3 miles running along the lakeshore park. During this time the 1:30 pacer ran past me, along with the group of people who were also running at the pace. I found new resolve to ensure that group stayed in my sights.
When I finally reached mile 12, I knew I was going to be okay. I thought that my PR was probably out of reach at this point, but I told myself that I had to finish running the race, I couldn't stop. When I made the final turn, where there is still a good quarter mile to the finish line that was visible, I started to turn on my after burners. I wanted to leave no doubt that I gave it my all.
After the race a runner came up to me to say that he had been trying to chase me down on the final stretch and was unable to do so. He gave me a congratulations and I told him the same. We had both run a good race.
All in all, Buffalo was a good race. I wonder how many things there are to do in the city. There are some cool pockets to visit on a day trip, but I wonder if you could spend some time in Buffalo. The customs agents were as usual, slightly unfriendly, but nothing out of the ordinary, and besides a random search at the US border in Port Huron, our travels back and forth were uneventful.
I'm happy to have state number six on my docket and am planning for the next states: it looks like Indiana will be next!
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