NEWSLETTER CONTENTS - Marathon Maniacs

Marc Frommer Lan Nguyen
NIAGARA FALLS MARATHON (10/24/11)
http://www.marathonmaniacs.com
by Marc Frommer (MM#9)
I haven't had time to write a report but since I'm 36000 feet up in the air somewhere between Toronto
and Houston (yes, I'm taking the direct route home to PDX) I thought I would get it down on "paper" and
send it out later. By the way, this is probably the emptiest flight I've been on in a long time, if not ever --
maybe 20 folks. Kind of odd but pretty comfy.
Gary Thompson
First, the race. The course is one of the faster ones I have run but my training has been horrible leading up to the race. I sprained
my ankle a few weeks ago, then got a cold, and finally my back started bothering me about a week before the race. Even before all
that, my training was inconsistent even for me. You can see the last few weeks were a bit ridiculous and the weeks before were
very up and down. However, before the ankle sprain and cold, I was feeling pretty good and was going to shoot for a PR on the
course, if the weather cooperated. The weather cooperated but there was no way I was going for a sub-3:20 given my training.
So, I decided to start at 5:00/Km, which happened to be what Lorne wanted to run as well.
We got up early Sunday morning to catch the bus to Buffalo, where the race started. We had to bring our passports to clear
customs at the border and, unfortunately, one of the participants from the Netherlands did not have proper documentation. They
took him off the bus and we had to sit and wait for him. It added more than 30 minutes to the trip and you could hear all the
hydrated runners squeezing their bladder muscles for dear life (maybe too much info). Finally, we arrived and made a bee line to
the porta potties. The starting area was at the Art Museum in Buffalo, which felt a little odd. I'm sure the staff were quite nervous
with runners walking among Monets, Van Goghs, etc but it turned out OK. It was nice to wait inside since it was a little cool but the
sun was shining brightly (luckily I did bring my sunscreen). The race started at 10AM and I decided to wear a SS shirt with arm
warmers (first time I ever wore them and they worked out great), throw away gloves/handwarmers (disappeared around mile 9 or
so after crossing over to the Canadian side). After a couple of National Anthems, we were off for around 4 miles of running in
Buffalo, over the Peace Bridge (the only real hill on the course), and then into Niagara Falls, Ontario. The course basically ran along
the Niagara River and is great. There was hardly any crowd support and no music or bands -- my kind of race. Just you, the
scenery, your thoughts, and peace -- it is the anti-Rock N Roll race. The aid stations were fine and the crew supportive.
Lorne and I got into a nice rhythm and were clicking off 8:00 miles until we
hit the Canadian side when I decided to record 5K splits to get into a
Canadian mind set (there were mile markers along the way). As you can
see below from my splits, I ran a very even race -- probably my most evenly
paced marathon. Lorne and I split up at an aid station around mile 18 and I
just continued on in my zone.
I did slow up slightly over the last 7K when I began to run out of a little gas
but not a major blowup. So, overall I'm very pleased with the result.
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