Niagra falls marathon

They bused the marathon runners out to some obscure portion of Canada. Of course it all seemed obscure to me since it's another country. All I remember while sitting on the bus is that this trip was taking quite a long time. And that I'd be running the distance back. It was dark and a bit dreary; a bit of rain here and there but nothing too dramatic. Upon arrival at the starting area - almost a full two hours early - the runners were to wait in some tented staging area. Cold, wet and intermittently rainy as the conditions were, most runners were jovial enough.

As the time for the start approached, and after many trips to the earth's urinal, I heard the unmistakable sound of serious rain. Any other time I would have enjoyed the rain; it's really quite soothing. But for some reason the idea of running the next 26.2 miles in what was amounting to be a heavy downpour was less than exciting. Actually, to be truthful, I found it amazingly funny. Here I was some in some random Canadian locale about to run for the next several hours in Cold, Windy weather and now, just for a bit of extra spice, let's throw in the rain. Why not.

And with that, myself and over a thousand others graced the starting line, already soaked but strangely excited about the prospects. Now the hardcore runners were of course in the first wave at the line. They essentially sprint the entire course; more power to them. Myself and the majority of others are more in the 'comfortable pace' category.

And so with this we began the run, winding through some rural Canadian development, eventually working our way onto a business district road, through a Niagara parks area then down the river that flows into the Niagara falls. 26.2 miles in all; scenic and interesting, quite flat but entirely challenging. Runners are cool people; they are nice and supportive of each other as were the Canadian and other folks who lined the streets to cheer us on like some Olympic event.

I learned a lot about myself that day; much of what we do in life is mental; it's psychological. I was entirely convinced that I could do this thing; the challenge was, however, choosing to actually do it. Sounds simple and perhaps even rather obvious but there's a significant difference between knowing you're capable of something and actually doing it.

Oh, and as for my two goals: 1. I did finish the marathon with a total time somewhere around 4 hours and 11 minutes. 2. Yes I did run the entire time; no walking, not even for the drink areas. I thought if I began to walk I wouldn't stop. Granted I didn't set any land speed records but I ran for the duration. But don't think I wasn't tempted!

So that's my story; I have lots of other insights into the entire experience and the running culture, being the budding ethnographer that I am. I will however save these for more appropriate mediums. And, just so you don't forget, you're still welcome to contribute to the charity.

One last thing: If you'd like to check out the standings, follow this link. I'm number 547.