On sunday I ran the Buffalo Marathon for the 11th time and finished with a time of 4:55:33. While I was well behind my PR time from last year, the race went roughly as I expected it to go.
There was great weather for the race as the rain had stopped, but the sun didn’t come out. As I do most years, I started with the 4:30 pace group and then pulled ahead once I found the pace to be too slow for my liking. I finished the first 5k in 30:28 and then the second 5k in an almost identical 30:38.
I reached the 20k mark in 2:04 which implies a half marathon time of 2:11 which was three minutes quicker than the stand alone half I ran at the beginning of the month.
Despite the solid start my legs were getting heavy and I was occasionally walking by mile 15. Fortunately the overcast weather kept things from getting too miserable, but I was mostly just pushing to make it to the finish.
I actually picked up the pace a bit for the final 7 kilometers and secured a finish safely under the five hour mark. Not my fastest marathon, but I am glad to have another one under my belt.
My next race is the Run Our Trails Race on tuesday night in Mendon for which I will not be recovered, and will be running very slowly.