Back in April I went down to Elizabeth City to run the Coast Guard Marathon. A friend who ran with us there (Dan), recommended us to do the Buffalo Marathon in May.
As it is my habit, I picked races from after hearing someone’s recommendation. Dan has done it like 10 times. It got me hyped up.
I am happy to be getting back to doing (road) marathons after a several years of running ultras especially hundred miles. I have not had a new state for a long time. My goal always was to reach 50 states by when I am 50. It is a tall order since I have only couple years left. It would require me to run 10 or more races per year to reach my goal. So far I have only completed 15 states. Of course I am a nucklehead. I have visited 22-25 states already but only ran a road marathon in 13/15 states. I am a purist to count only the states I have done a road marathon.
Anyway, I was very happy to cross off North Carolina this year, a state I ran a 100 mile not too long ago but not a marathon.
I quickly checked my phone to do some planning that night as I was coming back from the race to check if there’s a schedule conflict and plan out the logistics of how to get to Buffalo. I have gotten quite good with signing up races.
Lo and behold, the first thing I saw on the race website was the race was sold out. Oopsie. They allowed adding our names to a waitlist. So, it was time for some praying and constantly checking my position on it. We were like in 200th place. I suggested, why not join the charity program, since the registration itself was around $200, the charity program only cost about twice the entry fee. It was not an impossible amount to overcome. It was for a good cause. We are not rich. Actually, money was getting tighter because of the nation’s economic condition and the on going war in the Middle East (gas price being high and other comsumer goods rose along with it).
So that was a disappointment. We reached out to the Race Director/or the support hotline. to asked to be allowed in, we don’t need the medal or shirt, just a bib. You know with a race for 3000 people, 1-2 more would be that much to break a race, or so we thought. We could carry our own food and water, since we do that all the time for ultras. The answer we got back was not what we wanted to hear but fair. Rules are rules. We were directed to the charity route.
So we decided to wait like everyone else and were not willing to spend extra to get in.
Every morning, I would see my name moved up a dozen of so places. After watching it for a week or so, I believe, I would get in by end of the month.
After another week of waiting, my name was pulled from the waitlist along with 200 other runners, It seems the RD opened the flood gate to let everyone in. I was super excited that now I could make concrete plan for the marathon.
Since Buffalo is also where Niagara Falls is, there is no way I am not checking that out. I’ve been there several times but still it is magical to see it again. So the race was just an excuse to see the Falls and also my girlfriend has been telling me about the original Buffallo Wings were originated at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo (where they have a real anchor!). She went there with her friend. I wanted to go there too. She was a sailor and she told that they have an anchor in the restaurant. We did try to look for the anchor but I did not find it.
So there was a lot I wanted to see. I always thought Buffalo wings means meaty chicken wings or that they were made of real buffalo meat but never thought that it was invented or originated from the city of Buffalo.
If you know me, I have this weird desire bucket list going on, I want to eat the Orange chicken in China or Orange County, Peruvian Chicken in Peru, and Singapore Noodle in Singapore. Little did I know, all those are American inventions or something like that when a friend busted my bubble about Singapore noodle, or there’s no Orange Chicken in China. But Buffalo chicken is really from Buffalo! So I had to try them there.
And I did. We went to the original Anchor Bar the first thing when we arrived in Buffalo. By the way, Buffalo (well might have been JFK but then we landed, redirected to Buffalo for the night before continued on to Washington) was the first city I entered when I arrived in America many years ago. So it is some special place for me to be in Buffalo.
After a hearty meal at the Anchor Bar, we went over to Canada side. I wanted some bragging right that we stepped into another country for the weekend!
What about the food? Nothing much to be said about the chicken wings. It was a cool thing. Niche and nice. They are like any chicken wings I had before. I ordered the orignal flavor. I like the spicy sauce. The Burbon flavor was better than the original sauce, which I glad we ordered. I wish we had picked a sampler. The meal was good. I would have like a pint of beer with that but we had to cross the border and I did not want my breath to smell with alcohol or to appear in any way under the influence and prevented our trip to Canada.
Border crossing: There was a long wait to cross over to Canada. Flip side, apparently not many wanted to enter the US due to our president wild talks. Canadians don’t want to come to the US any more.
The border guard asked a few usual questions, and we were then cleared to enter Canada. This time was a lot easier than in my previous trip. I was happy to be cleared and on our way.
Because our trip was on Memorial weekend, hotels doubled their prices. We found a place near the Falls, about 10 mins walking, a motel. It was decent, clean, and good enough for a night. Canada is decent place. I was there couple years ago for a marathon too. So this time was like I know where to go and see the stuff I missed.
With long sunset, we had a few hours to walk around. We had good weather the first day. Sunny, slight breeze, and it was very comfortable. Normally in a previous trip, I would run along the rim of falls from one end to the other, maybe like 2-3 miles. I think I did a 10k before, just running on the trails there. I had the same idea this time but our time was limited and we were there for a marathon on Sunday, so we did not want to tire ourselves on the first night with running.
What we ended up doing was walking across the Rainbow Bridge back to the America side and visited the American Falls and various points. This was my first time being on the bridge (I drove across it before). The view was just Amazing. I highly recommend others to do this. You get the full view of the falls.
Being already full from the Anchor Bar limited me from eating more. At the American side, there is a cafeteria/gift shop that had a lot of fast food restaurants I ate there before on my previous trip and I was drooling to eat or order some to take back to the hotel that night. However, because I was already full, I did not buy any, just looked.
Canada side too has a lot of eateries but I did not get to try them. Kids and children were everywhere when we got back to Canada.
We crossed the bridge twice. The border guard asked is weird questions like where we were from, when we were trying to enter the US border and where are we were going. We clearly presented our US passports and said the US. Later, they explained that many people made the mistake between Canada and the U.S, like trying to enter Canada instead of the US but ended up in the US side, and so the guard thought we went to the wrong border. Hmm. OK, I gave him the benefit of doubt.
Canada side too was asking when did we last visited the country, and we said just a few hours ago. They probably did not expect people to walk across the bridge back and forth. They probably did not know we are ultra marathoners, and we can walk. We later told them we were there to do a marathon!
We headed back to our hotel that night and retired early hoping to catch a sunrise.
The next day the weather was not so good. It was cold around 50s and started with a light rain then got heavier. Still we wanted to see the Falls one last time before leaving. But it was too cold, so I ended up at a Starbucks for the next couple hours. Note, I wanted to go or remembered there was a Tim Hortons there but this time, there’s a Starbucks at every corner and no Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons has good breakfast if I remember correctly. So no breakfast for me that morning because I could not find a Tim Hortons. We saw a McDonalds. What did I ended up eating? I don’t remember.
So I went down to see the Falls with strong wind blowing and I was drenched from head to toes not long after. Our check out time was 10 am, so we had some time still to browse around. Somehow, I got lost on my way back to the hotel (unintentionally) and wandered around the whole neighborhood the next hour. I went maybe a mile out of the way and past the hotel, until I started to recognize some previous landmarks and QEW, the road we came in. We got back to the hotel around 10, immediately packed up our things and checked out.
We had promised to meet up with our friend Dan in Buffalo around noon at the Convention Center. So, we started our trip back to the US. I wish we had an extra day to visit Toroto too, for some dimsum, but that would need to wait for our next trip to Canada.
We got to the race convention around noonish. The rain was coming down still and I was wet again. So, we beelined to the bib pickup, got our bib and headed directly back to the car. Our hotel check in was not until 3, we probably could have done an early check in. Next, we went for our meal. I found a Korean restaurant nearby, actually, our first choice led us to out of business restaurant and had to drive across Buffalo for another. In the end, I got my hot spicy soup. I could not remember what I had, but it was something good. Maybe Bimbimbab.
We got to the hotel by 3 pm, checked in and settled in. Changed out the wet clothes and shoes and started preparing for our race the next morning. Unlike many other races, this one starts early at 6:30. So, we sould need to be at the start around 5 am, which means up around 3:30. It is a 15 min drive to downtown. So we set to leave the hotel by 4:45. We found out by 5 am the roads around the Convention Center were already blocked.
Somehow our friend Dan navigated us passed the barricades and we were able to park two blocks away from the start.
We were early and the Convention Center did not open until 5:30. We waited with everyone by the door to be let in. The air was humid and seemed we would have a hot day. Forecast originally predicted rain and cold. But, we dodged the bad weather. In the end it was 70s, no rain. Cloudy, a perfect weather for a run.
I did not have a drop bag. We entered the Convention Center to use its bathroom. Then we waited some more, not too bad, mostly for the line to the bathroom that stretched many miles. They did have potta johns outside but I think everyone preferred the nice indoor bathroom. When it was time for the start, we walked out and crossed the road to the other side, there were people directed us to our starting place. I did not want to line up too close to the front, but the crowd was great and there was no where I could line up, so I was put with the 8 min pace people. I run around 12-13 min.
We sang the anthem. People around me were excited. I made a few friends, many were their first marathon or first half marathon. We all started together. The Full Marathon pretty much ran the half marathon course first, then we did a second half by ourselves.
I prefer doing the first half with all the people, the second half was quieter. I did have my beer. Read on.
I was just recovering from my 100 mile the week before, also, I was not in great shape, so it was hard for me to run. I tried. First mile gone by. There were still a lot around me. Slowly people passed me. Mile 2, then 3, and 4. Slowly, I drifted back to my pace group.
Then there was an urge to pee. I looked over the potties lined at each aid station, there were always a line. I did not want to stop for too long. So I held it in. So mile 5, 6, 7. I think by mile 8, I found an empty porta-potty and I stopped to pee. An accident. The person before me didn’t close/lock the door, so I thought it was empty and opened the door. Oopsie. So I waited till it was my turn. and when I could let it out that was the best feeling in the world. I didn’t care about my time by then. I knew I would finish. Eventually.
We got to the Harbor. I saw the small light house. We passed by where we had our pasta dinner with the RWB people the night before. That was interesting. It was my first time on a navy ship. It was really cool.
Anyway, I continued to run. I saw Dan, he was a mile ahead of me. I tried to look for Caroline, but somehow did not see her. There was the young man I saw at the start and he was struggling with a leg cramp. I offered him my bars but he refused. I told him not to give up since the halfway point wasn’t far away. He did finish.
Then mile 9, 10, 11. Almost halfway. I was still moving great. I started to look for my pacer. There were still faster people running past me.
Then I saw Caroline up ahead. Poor her, hmm. I usually catch up to her around halfway. She asked if I would run with her. Surely, no, not today. While, I was not targeting a particular time, but I wanted to run my best. So I passed her.
Mile 12, 13. Not much I could remember. The second half were way less crowded. There were always someone in front of me. I started to get into my pace. I was not passing people and less people were passing me.
I stayed with a guy who said it was his first marathon and he did not train for it. We stayed together until mile 18. I again offered one of my candy bar. I told him, don’t eat it all, but eat it a bit at time when he is feeling the wall. He did not carry any water or gels. So he was screwed. But I told him to run and walk and he will finish. I did not get to see him again. I hope he finished the race.
I started slowing down myself. I think mile 20 or 22 was the the turn around point. I was running through a neighborhood, and they offered me beer. It was quite refreshing. By then, I really did not care about time. I stopped and had a good cup of beer.
I knew just few more miles and I would reach the finish. The course was good enough to have mile marker at every mile.
RWB people had their aid station at mile 25. I made it my goal to get there to thank them and for their pasta dinner they hosted us the night before.
I also wanted to chase down Dan. At Coast Guard, I came in before Dan, so I felt I had a chance. So I started to lay down the fire and pick up the speed. I did beat my Coast Guard time by a min or so, but Dan was no where in sight. Later, I found out he finished 15 mins ahead of me, likely bested me by a mile and half. He is in his 70s, with 321 marathons under his belt.
Caroline came in 15 minutes after me. At the after race lunch, I met some local famous runners (forgot their name). They made into the evening news, for having done like 100 marathons.
Overall, I enjoyed the marathon. I was running my best. I used to run faster, hopefully, I could work on my speed and get the time down to 4 hours. I have long put away my dream of being Boston Qualified. That requires me to run sub 3 hour. Impossible for me now. I run just to enjoy and to go to new places.
Our next stop will be Ohio for the Air Force Marathon in September and then The Marine Corps Marathon in October in DC. Yes, we are doing the military challenge. Too bad, the Navy and Space Force, and Army don’t have a marathon.
In awe 
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