When I am planning my race calendar each year, I tend to stay close to home. This year, I decided to break from tradition and register for not one, but two out-of-town races.

I tend to be quite laid-back when it comes to packing for a weekend away. My attitude is that if I forget something, I can just buy it when I get there. Factoring a race into my packing was a new experience for me. I had to make a list, check it twice, and obsessively check my bag of running stuff a gazillion times before we hit the road.

I headed down to Niagara Falls with my family on Saturday morning, and we drove straight to the race kit pickup area. I was given my bib and a canvas bag, and then I had to move down a row of tables while volunteers put things into the bag. I got the usual tech T-shirt (which is a little ill-fitting, but I like it and will wear it because it bears the word “Empowered”) and the usual running magazines and flyers for races and foot doctors. I also got makeup, a variety of toiletries, a miniature first-aid kit, and best of all, a bottle of wine.

This was the best race swag I had ever received.

On Sunday morning, I was a little pressed for time getting to the start line. The hotel we stayed in was fantastic, but they managed to screw up the breakfast vouchers. After a small amount of stress, I was able to grab my peanut butter toast and coffee, and I got to the start line with about forty minutes to spare.

All forty minutes were spent in the porta-potty lineup. This surprised me, since the race website had made a big deal of promising an abundance of porta-potties. In reality, this was the slowest-moving porta-potty lineup I’d ever been in, which I guess makes sense because this was a women’s race and everyone knows that women take longer. When I was done, I ran to the start line and then just kept running because the start siren went off.

It was an overcast day and just a little bit cool, but I could tell that it was going to get warm and humid. I was glad that I had decided on shorts and a short-sleeved shirt with no jacket. Before the end of the first kilometre, I was warming up, and about two kilometres later, the sun was starting to peek through the clouds. The race took us past the Falls not just once but twice, and the mist given off by the thunderous fall of water provided a very refreshing cool-down.

For most of the race I ran at a consistent pace of around 6:30 minutes per kilometre. I felt good: I was reasonably confident that I would hit my target of 2:20:00. Somewhere around the halfway mark, I was feeling so good that I increased my pace quite substantially. I paid for it when I hit 15km or so. My legs suddenly turned to Jello and I started to struggle. I wouldn’t say I crashed and burned, but I definitely slowed down for the next 4km.

With 2km to go, I picked up the pace again, knowing that I only had about 13 minutes of running left. At the final aid station, volunteers were handing out mini-donuts and candies. I grabbed a little cup of jellybeans and munched them down. Not my usual race fare, but at that point I knew that I could really do with a sugar-rush.

Shortly before the 20km mark I slowed to a walk just for long enough to drink the last couple of mouthfuls of my Gatorade. I started to run again, and after what felt like an eternity but was only about six minutes, I crossed the finish line. I was absolutely spent but still had the energy to raise my arms in a victory salute.

My time was 2:17:52 – just 20 seconds off my personal best. It was a performance that gives me great hope for new personal records this season. I even had an extra little sparkle at the end of the race: for the first time ever, I heard my name announced over the loudspeaker as I crossed the finish line.

As always, I am immensely grateful to the race organizers and volunteers for putting this event together. Apart from the shortage of porta-potties, the race was very well organized. The aid stations were well-run and the route was fantastic. I am also grateful to the people who took time out of their day to stand on the sidelines and offer much-needed encouragement to the runners.

(Photo credit: Kirsten Doyle)