Mighty Niagara - Race Report

Took Friday afternoon off work so we could leave on good time to make it for packet pickup.  Brought the passports for the border crossing.  Welcome to the USA!  We made it with enough time to go to the motel first.  Then to the mall for our bibs.  The shirts are orange.  The next morning having breakfast at Dunkin Donuts I noticed that their company colours matched the race shirts.  They're not even a sponsor.  Mile 6 was presented by Tim Hortons cafe and bake shop. We didn't know our way around town well enough to be able to find one of those. Tim Hortons is the best! A common theme amongst runners we chatted with was a dislike of the new colours.  Maybe the medal will be blue.  That's why we signed up, for the blue medal that's shaped like a guitar pick.   

The alarm went off at 7.  I opened the curtains and just froze.  It was raining.  A solid drizzle enough to soak you in minutes, and light enough to be able to continue all day.  The last item on their FAQ was, "What if it rains". Answer: "You run in the rain".  Here we go. Running is the best!

Shirt with built-in mittens

Return of the ninja

I anticipated this, and had packed the ninja gear. I had the tights, but Jen was wearing shorts, so I wore my shorts too. Someone commented, "nice optimism with the sunglases".  Well, the idea was for the sunglasses to ward off the rain.  The hat works nicely for that too. I don't like the feeling of raindrops bouncing off my head or running down my face.  I've run in the rain before.  We were both at the porta-pottie when the starting horn sounded.  There's over a thousand people, so they were still streaming through the gate by the time we got over to the starting line.  

The volunteers were dressed for the rain

Fund raising for the hospice

It was quite a surprise to find myself warm and taking off my jacket after a couple miles.  We saw a "trample the weak" shirt, like at the Toronto marathon, so we struck up a conversation.  Turns out the shirt is from the Zombie Run.  This was her first half, as it was Jen's.  It was warm enough that the rain wasn't a problem at all.  Everyone was happy and running and we all had a good time.  By mile 6 I felt the pace dragging, and coaxed Jen into stepping the speed up a bit.  

The rain let up after an hour or so

Lake Ontario

She did well, and maintained a run right to the end.  Most of the run was along the river, with a view across the gorge to Canada.  Then we went through the old fort and past a lookout to Lake Ontario.  It's hard to imaging looking out at that, not seeing the other side, and thinking, "I could swim across this".  People do crazy things like run marathons, race Ironmans, and swim Lake Ontario. 

Mud on the legs

They had beer for us at race end!  The server asked Jen, "are you legal?"  "Sure" Jen responds.  "Are you legal here?" she then asks.  but no, Jen is 4 months young from the cut-off and gets passed over.  She gets a Dr Pepper and a water. and 2 chocolate milks.  Love that chocolate milk.  That's definitely my first choice of drink after a race. Chocolate milk is the best! Then beer. 

It looks like a guitar pick

The medal is orange. At a distance, it looked to me like it said, "Are you naughty?".