2008 Buffalo Marathon - 3h:29m:53s
This past Memorial Day weekend I ran the Buffalo Marathon & successfully completed it with a chip time of 3:29:53 (8:01/mile average pace), just reaching the goal I’d secretly set of a time somewhere in the 3:20s and besting my previous 2007 Niagara Falls time by nearly 9 minutes. Overall, I finished 124 out of 710 full marathon finishers & 8/43 in my age group. (Detailed results can be found by following the link from the results page.)
At the end, my GPS watch logged 26.63 miles, for which it reported a 7:53 average pace. (Even though most marathons are certified, it’s unlikely a runner will follow the exact measured route, and it’s therefore common for there to be slight discrepancy.) My splits for the race were:
- 7:27
- 7:57
- 7:31
- 7:32
- 7:04
- 7:23
- 7:14
- 7:38
- 7:33
- 7:27
- 7:38
- 7:56
- 7:20
- 7:29
- 7:38
- 7:27
- 7:34
- 8:10
- 7:47
- 7:59
- 7:59
- 8:37
- 9:13
- 9:20
- 9:35
- 8:20
- 8:04 (.63)
Had I ran the half marathon, my first half would have placed me in 7th in my age group, behind my friend Greg!
As we walked back to the car after the race, I knew I had a blister on my 2nd two of my left foot. When I took the shoe off, I was greeted by one of the biggest one I’d ever seen, but fortunately there was no blood in it. Later in the day I noticed a smaller one on the outside of my foot. I found this a bit odd - my right shoe had been the one that had fit uncomfortably on and off throughout my training.
While I’d run parts of early the entire course for training runs previously, I did not enjoy course. Aside from part of Delaware Park and the section behind the Albright Knox Art Gallery through Lincoln Ave & Bidwell Parkway, I felt it did little to showcase the city.
The beginning of the race took us through Lasalle Park, which I’ve always found to be poorly kept and only run through a couple times while training. The entrance/exit to the park (on the south end) was about six feet wide - a little too tight early on in the race when the majority of runners were still clustered together. After the exit from the park, we headed towards the Erie Basin Marina. Right at the corner, I spotted Greg’s wife Mary & winged the long sleeve shirt I’d started off with across the course & in front of a couple runners to my side. It landed perfectly in their baby stroller & was the most memorable part of the race to me. After that, the race continued to the Erie Basin Marina, where we did get to see the new beach. About half way into the marina I saw Greg running out of it (those half marathoners had a shorter distance to cover to get there…!)
Coming out of the marina, we headed past the also recently opened Commercial Slip & continued behind the HSBC Arena. We cut over Ohio Street and then ran out Furhman Boulevard part the Small Boat Harbor & back down Ohio street, about half of the Shamrock Run course from March. Just before the end of Furhman, I recognized & passed Greg’s friend, who was also running the half. That pumped me up quite a bit.
We meandered back to the city & just short of the finish line for the half marathon, the full marathon cut over a block. At this point, I felt great. Coming around the corner, I at first wondered why some guy was taking pictures of me, but then realized it was my friend John, whose knee was bugging him and had decided not to run the half. The course continued up Franklin to Linwood, a three mile hill that I’ve hated every time I’ve run it. The hill was tough, but I was able to force my body to run it at a decent clip. I passed quite a few people on the way up it & remember yelling encouragement at one of the wheelchair racers (who passed me later). Once at the top, we turned the corner, and were greeted by a religious zealot, who was holding a huge sign in one hand & trying to slap high-fives to runners with the other. I ignored him.
We then continued on to Delaware Park. It was in the park, at mile 18 that I first noticed the heat from the sun. We went only 3/4 of the way around the park, which was a surprise to me - I had expected to run past the zoo & back towards the city, hitting Ashland on the way back. I don’t know where I got this idea from, but continuing away from the park and further from the city mentally beat on me.
Miles 23 on were brutal. Shortly after mile 23, a girl I’d been tailing stopped in the middle of the road & sat down. She’d hit the wall. I stopped too & was able to talk her into running & went a short distance with her. She was able to continue & pulled away from me. I cramped up in my upper left outer thigh around mile 24 and had to walk a short distance. At that point, my mental capabilities were pretty shot & I thought my hopes of cracking 3:30 were gone. But as I walked, I was able to work out the math & knew if I pushed it, I could still do it. I ran the last mile with a group of 5 or 6 others & could tell we all knew we were nearly there. I really pushed it hard for the last quarter mile, so much so a co-worker of mine who at first didn’t recognize me told me later she at first commented to herself “boy, that guy looks like he’s doing good”. After rounding Niagara Square, I could see the finish line and… the clock. I completely tuned out everything around me, missing all my friends and family cheering me on, but made it with a whole 7 seconds to spare.
Training for a spring marathon was much more difficult than the previous fall one I’d done, as most of my running was done indoors at the track around the UB basketball court. The track is 1/6th of a mile long. The longest run I did there was 18 miles - that’s 108 laps! It’s boring. The only good thing about running there is that when you see a pretty girl, you don’t loose track of her when you pass her - you catch back up… It’s also as flat as it gets - having done as well as I did after the bulk of my training was done without any hills, I look forward to what I can do when I throw some hills into the mix.
I’ve already registered for my next marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon on October 26th. Bring on the miles…