I found this race a couple months ago that seemingly no one I knew had heard. It was called the Niagara Hospice Dash in Niagara Falls. This was the first year they had a half-marathon option (previously it was only a 5k). I knew I would be in town and with the proximity, it also gave me an opportunity to visit my Grandfather, who lives in Lewiston. The race course started in Artpark in Lewiston, which incidentally is about 3/4 mile away from the house that my Grandparents used to live and my mom grew up in. The course went through Lewiston, north along the Lower Niagara, through Fort Niagara (literally through the Fort) and continued north to the finish line in Youngstown. It was an extremely well run event and also included a lot of water stations and live music at several points on the course, which was very cool.
The race itself went pretty well, I finished in 1:25:41 (6:33/mile pace), which is about the pace I was expecting and was 4 minutes faster than I ran in Buffalo earlier this year. Additionally, the 2nd half of the race was as fast as the first half, which is probably the first time that's ever happened for me in a running race. I usually start way too fast and slow down big time. So, I took that as a positive sign for both my pacing and my fitness level. Also, I think my nutritional strategy worked well as I never felt out of gas and was even able to pick up the pace pretty well in the last mile.
The visit with my grandpa was also a nice added benefit as I don't get enough opportunities to visit him with my travel schedule.
Tonight, I'm headed to Buffalo for my good friend Matt Knodel's wedding. There's sure to be a story or two to come out of the next 4 days...stay tuned for the blog recap of that one!
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