Race Recap: Niagara Ultra Series (Half Marathon)

Living in Buffalo, NY, we are able to jump in on some cool across-the-border Canadian races. Back in March I ran the Around the Bay 30K in Hamilton, Ontario with my best friend, Mo. It boasts that it's "Older than Boston", a fact which is weirdly emblazoned on the back of the race shirts. It was, however, a pretty good marathon tune-up. But that's not the race we're discussing today.

Last weekend I ran the half-marathon distance in the Niagara Ultra series. Coincidentally I'd heard of this race from a flyer (and enthusiastic club member) at the ATB30K expo. Runners could choose from the 10K, half marathon, full marathon or ultra marathon (50K) distances. I wisely went with the half, and decided to use it as a training run.

The race starts in Niagara-on-the-Lake, in a park, on grass, behind Kinsman Hall. This is also where runners pick up their race packets and (actually pretty nice) hooded sweatshirts. The races had half hour staggered starts, with the ultra runners going out at 7AM, marathon at 7:30, half-marathon at 8 and the 10K at 8:30.

At packet pickup. The Queen bestows her good luck.

A personal note here: these bathrooms (shown below, and called "washrooms" in Canadian) were a literal GODSEND. The race started at 8AM, but since I had to drive 40 minutes and deal with an international border crossing, I drank my breakfast and coffee in the car. By the time I got to packet pick-up, things were, um, starting to happen, gastro-intestinally. The doors to these washrooms were locked when I parked my car near them, so I decided to take my chances with the ports-potties near packet pickup. However after I got my number and sweatshirt, the line for the porta-potties had approximately sixty people in it, for the eight porta-potties available. I was beyond distressed. So, I made my way back to my car to drop off my gear and, lo and behold, the washroom door was WIDE OPEN. Lord have mercy, I think I was the first person to befoul use the facilities that morning. It was a pure heaven that only an early-morning runner can know.

OMG this was HEAVEN.

This race is pretty low-key, considering its distances. An example? As we lined up to start, the race director gave us some instructions and notes on the course ("Don't all jam up the start chute; no one's going to win the race in the first 50 meters."), said, "Ready, set go!" and we were off. The course is almost entirely on a bike path that runs along the Niagara River and Gorge. The full and ultra marathon distances take runners all the way to Niagara Falls, but the half and 10K turnarounds are way before that. The course is mostly flat, with some gentle rolling hills along the way. The "hills" are really like transitions from one part of the path to another. The path also runs in front of some gorgeous homes along the Niagara Parkway.

Overall this race, which is an out-and-back, has a park-like feel. The course was mostly shaded, but the open parts were really sunny. Considering this race is at the end of June, it could have been awfully nasty and humid. After a coolish start (mid-sixties) it warmed up quite a bit but wasn't totally oppressive. I ended up carrying my fluids (Tailwind in a hand-held bottle) because the water stops/aid stations were every 5K, and I didn't want to be too far away from water in the heat.

Personally I ran like garbage for the last part of the race. The first eight miles were decent. I had planned to stay right around 8-minute pace, which I held (sort of, was under for a few miles) through 8 miles. The last five were rough. I did a lot of walking, mostly because I just stopped caring about any kind of finish time. I did string an entire mile of running together from 9-10, but after that I just plain ran out of gas. Ah well. If nothing else, this race showed me where I need to improve, and that's never a bad thing.

The finish, as you can see below, was also on grass. This course was a literal out-and-back, so the last 20 meters or so were on the uneven surface. After receiving my medal and a bottle of water, I went back to watch my friend finish and then got the heck outta there.

Oh sweet finish line, there you are.

I'd definitely do this race again next year. For as home-spun as this race was, it was very well-organized and attended. The race pics were all posted on the Niagara Ultra's Facebook page by the next day. Imagine that: professional race photos FOR FREE. Despite my resemblance to Gollum in all of them, I was impressed.

Lookin', uh, yeah.

 So for now I have my point A, and it was my performance in this race. Looking forward to working towards points B and beyond.

Caught these two finishing hand in hand. Cute, right?