40 degrees. And then the wind chill from the gusting headwinds of up to 10 miles per hour for the whole 26.2 miles. Spandex shorts, two short sleeve shirts - yeah, I was a little underdressed, and perhaps a little crazy. But it was my first skating marathon, and I was on a mission.
Most of the course was nice and flat with good stretches of well-paved road, and a few unexpected patches of road worse than the gatorback section of A2A, but shorter. We went from Buffalo, over the Peace bridge, to Canada, and through the Niagara countryside, having cleared customs ahead of time. Overall, the scenery was nice, and the fellow skaters and runners, and foreign (Canadian) athletes a pleasure to converse with.
Things good and bad..
Good: friends and companions from the Rochester inline skate club (a shout out to Alice, Greg, Michelle, Ian, Patricia, John, and Tom)
Bad: waiting for 40 minutes in the cold to be given personal items from the bus at the finish line
Good: A fun round of pictionary followed by a healthy night's sleep.
Bad: wishing there was more time for just being social
Good: accomplishing my primary goal of a sub 2-hour time, despite the fierce conditions.
Bad: not reaching a time closer to 1:45, which was my secondary goal.
Good: not falling despite some treacherous road conditions.
Bad: people falling directly in front of me in TWO different packs I was in.
My stats: 126th out of 321 participants. 7th out of 19 in my age division (25-29). Final time - 1 hour, 58 minutes and change. Average speed - 13.2 miles per hour.
Despite the harsh conditions, I had a great time and look forward to future competitions at Niagara and skating events across the country, and am happy to have completed my first skating marathon. Next up - the Miami eSkate, the Eddy clinic, and the Disney marathon!
Posted by brian at October 27, 2002 04:21 PM