Setting a goal to run and finish 1000 marathons, I stood at 70 in January of this year. I did the math and decided that four marathons per year for eight(!) more years could get me there. Or perhaps I need to run a few more at my current (relatively) young age? Then I came across an advertisement for the Niagara Falls Marathon in Niagara Falls Canada. The timing was right (late October), the course looked good (flat) and the race was of reasonable size. So, on my birthday in June, I signed up and put a training plan of sorts in motion. Picked out a flight and a hotel and hoped for good weather.
See my full race report at Niagara Falls Marathon – Welcome
I was traveling on my own and fine with that. I made my way north, leaving 90-degree late October weather, up to Toronto where the cold air caught me like a fresh breeze through an open window. Just past the peak of fall color, fall was hanging on in western Ontario, though thinking hard about winter. A drive down along Lake Ontario, enjoy the scenery; a dinner time check-in at the Marriott Falls View, upon entering my room I was met with this view from my window.
I went to sleep on Friday evening to the soft rumble of the falls. And then woke up to this:
After a final taper run, I drove down to the packet pickup, a very low-key affair. you give them your bib number and they hand you a bib, a race shirt, and an optional drop bag. I scouted out the parking and start line area and asked them about race day parking, and then drove up a back road to the falls proper. Tons of pictures and toured a very well-appointed gift shop / dining / information center. It was busy with people though not overwhelming. I can only imagine this place in high summer.
Saturday evening, I laid out my kit and prepared for a somewhat restless night, also interrupted for 30 minutes by a midnight hotel fire alarm. Up again at 5:00 AM for breakfast and to dress out, the plan was to drive the 1.2 miles to the race site and arrive an hour early. Just in case. I found the car covered in frost, scraped it off with the AVIS provided ice scraper, turned up the defrost and headed over. Pit stop, checked my gear and ready to go. The course was interesting. It ran north about 3K right along the falls, and then turned back south, past the start area and continued 11 miles south along a two-lane river road. I felt good at a steady pace, alongside of the five-hour pace group and ran well to the halfway point before my pace started to drop off a bit. Small but vocal groups of spectators supported us and I felt in my marathon element, my painful though happy place. It became a little warm at mile 16 and then cooled back down as a fresh wind came up under partly cloudy skies.
Somewhere on the back half a woman runner came up running beside me, and we swapped places for a few miles. We were both laboring a bit. She stopped for extra water from a spectator and a man on a bike came up beside her twice, offering support. She started to cramp up a bit and I came up beside and offered her salt tabs. She said thanks but “I have been taking them all along, I don’t know what has gone wrong”. I wished her well and we separated again. Eventually she caught up and passed me on a restroom break. Her and the bike rider were both waiting for me at the finish, we chatted and he took our picture. Angela from Barrie Ontario. That was nice because I did not know anyone there. Good luck to you Angela, run far and fast and happy.
When you hit mile 23 you know that you will finish, the pain is an expected and constant companion at that point in the race. Per George Sheehan: “It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.”
I finished at 5:22:36. Coming off several disastrous and injury compromised races, I came in with a smile on my face. Somehow, I finished 3rd in my tiny little age group. Training and fitness can make a difference; I can progress and hold off decline. Sheehan: “If marathoners finish, they win”.
My 72nd marathon and my third race in Canada. I reflect on what it takes to get to the start (and finish line) of any marathon, to prepare to be fit to run, remain injury free, avoid sickness, travel to the race site, arrive on time to the start line, none of these are promised. My trips to Canada have always sent me home happy, the climate and hospitality, the sights and sounds and excitement of an international race. Many thanks to the organizers of the Niagara Falls Marathon.
Let us see what the winter race season brings in Texas, and where I may travel next, wonderful unknown adventures lie ahead. Perhaps I shall return to the Great North. Perhaps Ottawa beckons. Or Hamilton next fall?
Tartan Ottawa International Marathon – Run Ottawa
Thank you to friends and family and those who support me close.
