Are You Mighty?

Finally I was back to training for a longer race. I had started training for the Flying Pig Marathon back in the Spring, but was finding that my base was not as great as I thought it was. I dropped out and then signed up for my favorite Fall half.

The last time I ran this, I was going for my first sub-2 hour half. I surprised myself by not only doing it, I came in first for my age group.

Pressure was on for me for this time out. I have gotten a bit competitive in my “old age”, and I wanted to win my age group again.

A Family Affair

My husband and daughter-in-law (1 of 5 in-law kids!) were also running the race. Because the three of us had separate goals, we took off separately.

My strategy when running half or full marathons is to start with a pacer that is slower than my goal time. This helps me to negative split, which I seem to be able to do naturally as long as I don’t get too excited and go out too fast.

So I started with the 2 hour half pacer. At the start of the race, the director told the crowd that the pacers were to run steady…not bank time at the beginning. I really appreciate this, because I know some people who aren’t able to finish in their goal time if they start out too aggressively.

Dave started at the 2:10. That was his goal, but he was hoping that if he didn’t get too hot he would be able to break 2.

Dominique (Dom to us) was going to hang with the 2:30 pacer and see what she could do. She runs a Montessori Day Care and has a 2 year old of her own, so could not get a lot of training in.

Racing

The race starts at Art Park in Lewiston, NY.

Lewiston is a beautiful town on the Niagara River, between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. You can see Canada on the other side, and Art Park is a wonderful piece of property with trails overlooking the river.

The start is downhill, so everyone really has to concentrate to not go out too fast.

After mile 3, I break away from the 2 hour guy and start speeding up a bit. I don’t go all out, but I want to make sure to get ahead of him enough that the 2 hour group won’t catch up with me.

I want to make sure I at least break 2.

By mile 6, I am holding steady at the speed I want to run the rest of the half. I’m feeling good. I’m surprised I feel good because the last 2 weeks of training before the taper were in Massachusetts and Maine in very hilly areas, and I felt I should have backed off on the speed work.

Then the taper was in a time frame that I was very busy, so I didn’t think I got in enough miles. At the same time, I was gambling on the hill work giving me enough of a boost. But I was still very nervous about this race. My glutes and hamstrings felt very tight and fatigued in my shake out run the day before the race, and in the warm up right before.

Between mile 7 and mile 8, two of my sons and two of my grandkids plus another daughter-in-law (the other son in the group belongs to Dom) were cheering from the side of the road. It was amazing! I still felt really strong, and seeing their faces gave me such a boost.

Mile 11 is where I had to dig. I was passing some younger guys (always fun for a grandma) and kept telling myself there were only 2 miles to go and I could do this. I told myself not to slow to a walk, and checked in with my body and quickened my cadence a bit.

The last tenth is brutal. You are running down the road and can see the finish line, which (to me) looked so far away! But then I saw my family again, and I sped up to finish with a PR!

Dave and Dom

Dave came in at 2:05, beating his goal by 5 minutes which he was very happy with.

Dom came in at 2:16:59! She ran the whole thing and felt really good. Dom loved this race as much as we do, and is wanting to do again next year.

I was so proud of both of them.

After Party and Awards

The race ends at Porter on the Lake Park.

Lake Ontario is right in front of you as you finish, and on a clear day you can see Toronto (which we could). The weather was perfect for racing…mid 50’s and clear.

This race is (so far) the only after party we go to. The bands are always really entertaining (and at this race, there are bands all through the course). There is beer, hot dogs, and all the usual after race recovery food.

You can get wristbands for non-racers to be able to get the beer and food, so my family hung out with us while we waited for the age group awards.

I did it! I was first in my age group again. I was so happy to have reached all my goals for the day.

Run this race!

If you are in the Buffalo area (or even if you’re not), this is one of the best races to do.

The route is fantastic…you start at a gorgeous park, can see the river and lake at different points, run through Old Fort Niagara and the park you end up at is such a beautiful place.

The director of this race does a magnificent job. I’ve run a few races by them besides this one, and it extremely well organized and so much fun. The volunteers are awesome. Water and Gatorade stations are plentiful.

There is even a station put on by a homeowner along the route that has home brewed beer, bacon and donuts…how can you ask for anything more!