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.




We went to the expo…and bought a few things, including this cool t-shirt.

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.



 Then I went for a free massage…and this girl did a great job!

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.
 
After a relatively good night’s sleep, we had our pre-race breakfast in our room.

 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.

 Then it was off to the start line. Here’s the view in front of me…isn’t it beautiful!

 Here I am, on the run, near the beginning.

 Now here are a few pics of the water stations along the way.



 
 
Here I am around half-way…still feeling good.

 Nearing the Finish line…
 
 I DID IT!


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.
 
 His time: 3h59m06s…Woot woot! He freaking did it and he was so excited.
I am so proud of him!
Celebrating :)

Finally, here are a  few pics of the Falls…breathtaking view.

 
 

Overall, a wonderful weekend…

Cheers!