Sunday, October 24, 2010

Niagara Falls race report! ...so many stories :)

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The (wo)man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.”
Dale Carnegie
Niagara Falls downtown…Saturday afternoon. Ripley’s Believe it or Not…check out the “guy” going up and down the building on a cable.
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We went to the expo…and bought a few things, including this cool t-shirt.
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Then we listened to Kathrine Switzer give a short talk…this woman is very inspiring and it amazes me that her experience occurred in my lifetime. Essentially, I can train to run in an official marathon thanks to her.
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 Then I went for a free massage…and this girl did a great job!
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Oh…and when I went to register for the 10K, it was full. This is what the nice man said to me, “Well, either you tough it out and do the half or you wimp out and do the 5K” :) …yeah, okay. So I decided to go for the half…of course! Note that since my last half-marathon on September 5th, I was injured twice and had only run 10K once…no more. For three weeks I did not run a all and then I started back very slowly. Was I a little worried about doing the half…yes, a little. But, I felt good and I hoped that my base was strong enough. Also, I had already decided that I would play it safe, so NO to my Garmin and YES to my camera. How did it go…you’ll have to wait for it.
First, Saturday night fuelling…we shared.
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After a relatively good night’s sleep, we had our pre-race breakfast in our room.
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 Then off we went and while we were waiting for the bus, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting up with Marlene. She is such a gorgeous young woman, inside and out. Great personality…I’m really glad I got the chance to speak with her, as she reassured me regarding my last-minute switch to the half-marathon.
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 Then it was off to the start line. Here’s the view in front of me…isn’t it beautiful!
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 Here I am, on the run, near the beginning.
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 Now here are a few pics of the water stations along the way.
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Here I am around half-way…still feeling good.
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 Nearing the Finish line…
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 I DID IT!
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It seems that my base is solid enough and my injuries are truly healed! I was careful to walk whenever I felt any discomfort and I was careful with my form. I felt pretty good considering the lack of training and the fact that I just got over a cold last week. My time: 2h21m14s :) I’ll definitely take it! BTW, the cool black rain jacket I am wearing is what we got instead of a t-shirt…I love it!
The weather was perfect, between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius (high 50’s to low 60’s Farenheit) a peak of sunshine, a few raindrops and minimal wind. Uber H and I were happy…speaking of which. 
Now for the second part of this story…the main reason we came to Niagara Falls this weekend…Uber H was running his first marathon. I am so freaking proud of him! His goal was to try and come in under 4 hours.
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 His time: 3h59m06s…Woot woot! He freaking did it and he was so excited.
I am so proud of him!
Celebrating :)
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Finally, here are a  few pics of the Falls…breathtaking view.
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Overall, a wonderful weekend…
Cheers!

38 comments:

MomRunningFromCancer said...

Oh my gosh - you did the half and had a great time . . . not that I didn't think you could do it . . . but heck you were injuried and didn't really get a chance to train. Oh- I am so happy for you. ENJOY and congrat's to hubby. Great day for both of you.

Alma said...

Congratulations to you AND Uber H! Nice work with the PR on the full and so glad you were able to have a lovely run, pain-free. What did Ms. Switzer talk about?

Heather said...

Congrats to both you and your hubby on a great race day!

Claire said...

Congratulations on having a FUN and unpainful race!! How wonderful! And HUGE congrats to the hubby!!

Lisa said...

congrats to you and hubby for great races. i like the rain jacket instead of a tshirt too. very cool.

P said...

Wow and WOW!! Congrats to you and Uber H for terrific races!! Love all the pics! Great job taking it easy and enjoying your race.

Jill said...

YAY!!!! You did the half!! You've proved you're strong enough to tackle the endurance, how cool is that!??!! Congrats to you and to Uber H, that's awesome he finished just under 4 - high fives to both of you two!! Smiling very big for you right now!!

Char said...

Well done to both of you!

kat said...

Congratulations on a great race, it's an amazing feeling when injuries start to heal, very happy for you, congrats to hubby as well.

Amy said...

Wow - talk about being a comeback kid! Great job - and congratulations to your husband for a wonderful first time marathon! Love the jackets and medals!

Steel Springs said...

Congratulations to your husband! Yeah! I'm so happy about your half, too. It must have taken quite a bit of courage to change your plans like that. It seems like a great trip. Cool jackets!

Black Knight said...

Congrats to you and hubby. Thanks for sharing all those beautiful pictures. You made the right thing, camera instead of the Garmin, so you didn't have to worry about the pace even if you got a good finishing time.

ajh said...

Excellent job finishing the half and getting a good time. Congrats to your husband! Love the t shirt you bought and I also love the rain jackets. Great idea! And meeting Marlene! What a weekend!

Jennifer said...

Wow! His first full in under 4 hours! That's great. Sounds like you did really well in the half too, a very nice time, great job even with the last minute change! Looks like a fun place too. Cheers

Julie said...

Woo hoo! Congrats to you and the hubs on great races! I enjoyed your race report and appreciate the wonderful pictures:) Sometimes running with a camera can be challenging but it is so worth it when you go back and look at the pictures after the race. Way to go Anne!

Kelly said...

Wow, you did the half!! Sounds like you had a great time.

Laura said...

Congrats to both you and the hubs!! Am glad the weather wasn't too bad as Niagara has had a bad rep for weather.
Great pic of you and Marlene!!

Anabela (Bela) Neves said...

Congrats on a great race. I also did the half and I thought it was a great course! How did you manage to get black jackets? Mine was red!

lish said...

Congrats to you and the hubby!!! Wonderful...Loved the pictures and you both look so happy..smiles all around! Woot Woot!

Marlene said...

Anne, you are too kind! I'm sooo happy we were able to meet! Hopefully our paths will cross again soon. I love Montreal so hubs and I may try to plan a weekend next year.

CONGRATULATIONS on your half! You ran smart and you finished feeling good in an excellent time! You should be so proud.

Way to go Uber H! Stellar first marathon performance!!!

Hope you have a safe drive home!

Johann said...

Fantastic! Congratulations to both of you! Sometimes the “downtime” is just enough to rest the body properly for a good run. Lovely pictures! Have a good week and rest well!

Hi! I'm Erin said...

Congrats to both of you! You both did amazing!

Jamie said...

Congrats to you both! You did fantastic! Love all the pics. It looks like a fabulous weekend!

TMB @ RACING WITH BABES said...

Great job Anne! You did fantastic! Love all the pictures!

Emz said...

You take so many photos! I love it!

Dinner looked amazing.

And
FABULOUS JOB!!!!

kilax said...

So you ended up doing the half afterall! Awesome! And congrats to uber hubby as well! You both got great times!

I love the shirt you bought! And what a great color on you.

Giorgio said...

What a beautiful photo of you! It shows your happyness when you were running next to the finish line. Excellent half and beautiful report Anne! Moreover, Uber's time taken under 4 hours is great!
I'm glad you had a fabulous weekend.
And now have a nice relaxed run :)

chris mcpeake said...

great pics. Congrats to both of you on a good weekend of racing

Andrew Opala said...

Wonderful - so many people said they enjoyed Niagara Falls ... maybe I should try to run longer!

misszippy said...

Fantastic Anne! And how great that your husband met his goal. You two have much to celebrate!

Matty B. said...

What a great post-race run-down! Having your base built-up to the point that you can run a half-marathon out of the blue is huge! Also, I enjoyed the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion for those on the Southern side of Ontario.

Hopefully you're walking healthily and you're ready for your next challenge. Oh, and BIG congrats to Uber H, sub-4 is a fantastic feat!

Wifey said...

Congrats to you both! You rocked the half and he the full. Love it!

Great pics, too!

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey

Meg said...

What a great post, smiles all around and the looked like so much fun!
Congrats on being injury free, you've worked so hard for this!

Teamarcia said...

Congrats to you and uber dh!! Tremendous job both of you! I love that you took the leap and did the half and it paid off--you ran beautifully!
How great you met Marlene too! WTG!

Laura said...

Congrats to you both, looks like a really great race :-)

Kate said...

I'm so glad you came by my blog! Thanks for the sweet comments. :) Congratulations on your surprise half marathon! Amazing. And congratulations to your husband--what an accomplishment!

Reading backwards through the last few entries, I'm thinking May for my first marathon. And I can't believe that I'm saying "first" and "marathon", as if there will be a first AND others!

Beth said...

Yeah! What a great post! Congrats to both of you. You did awesome!! I love the jacket, too. I'm so happy for you.

Iron Mike said...

Anne this is such a great race report!
And funny.

Thank you for bringing your camera and sharing all of these photos. We last visited the Falls almost exactly 10 years ago. One thing that struck me (and it hasn't gone away) is all of the Haunted attractions.
I knew I wouldn't be able to read your report without NEEDING to go back.

Way to tough it out and defeat the Half. That is very cool. And Uber H, well, you can't pace much better than that!