Niagara Falls International Marathon Races – Slowly I Turn

by Bob Kopac

After years of running, I finally had the opportunity to mentor a neophyte runner during a race. Incredibly, I had found someone naïve enough, uh, I mean trusting enough, to listen to my advice. The beauty was that if my advice turned out to be bogus, no one in the local running community would ever know, as I would be dispensing my “wisdom” at a race outside the country.

My spouse Lynne never had been to Niagara Falls. So, when our Danish race director friends Holger and Anne Grete Jacobsen said they were going to run the Niagara Falls International Marathon, Lynne and I felt it was the perfect time to visit and run, especially since the finish line is at the Horseshoe Falls.

Holger and Anne Grete registered for the marathon, and Lynne signed up for the half marathon, but I was the smartest: I chose the 5K. After all, we received the same medals, with the particular race distance stamped on the back, but no one ever looks there. In addition, the 5K and 10K runners received a long-sleeve Cool Max T-shirt, whereas the half and full marathoners received only a short-sleeve one. Holger didn’t think that was fair. Hey, they could have signed up for the 5K and then been as smart as I was, although flying all the way from Denmark to run a 5K might not seem reasonable to anyone but me.

I then convinced my Toronto friend Andrea to run. At the Runners Expo the day before the races, I told the registration people I had to change to the 10K because Andrea had registered for the 10K, and I needed to run with her because she was really cute. The officials--even the female ones--said they totally understood and let me switch.

Kathrine Switzer spoke at the Expo about being the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967 with an official number and, as a result, losing her AAU membership. She said, “When I was banned, I used to come up to Canada to run because the Canadians invited me to all their races. I felt like one of the Vietnam draft dodgers. I used to come up over the border and run races. The Canadians were wonderful! They would give me a bib number that would say ‘Unofficial woman!’ And then they would give me a trophy and say ‘This is your unofficial first-place trophy!’”

Another speaker was Canadian John Stanton, who advocates 10:1 training; that is, run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute. John said, “You can take 4:15 marathoners and say to them, ‘If you do walk breaks, we can get 15 minutes off your marathon time.’ Not only will you be faster, you will recover more quickly.” [See John’s http://www.runningroom.com web site.]

The evening before the race I followed my training regimen of drinking red wine. I may have overtrained a little. All right, I overtrained a lot.

Early the next morning, Lynne ran a mile to catch the bus to the half marathon start. I slept in, since the 10K start/finish line was walking distance from our hotel. Based on our biological clocks, that worked out well. Have you ever noticed that “morning people” often marry “night people”? That is one of Nature’s little jokes.

Andrea and her friends Adam and Colleen met me at my hotel and, as we walked to the 10K start/finish line, I asked Andrea if she had a race goal. Two weeks earlier she had run her first 10K race ever in a time of 62 minutes, so she was hoping to break an hour. Aha! Here was my chance to be a mentor to an unsuspecting novice runner!

I said she could achieve her goal if she was willing to trust my running advice. No, I did not suggest run-walk. Instead, I recommended we run at a consistent pace through the first several kilometers and then run negative splits. That way, she would have more energy later in the race to help her achieve her goal. It would also help her follow one of the cardinal axioms of running: “It is better to pass than to be passed.”

Since the course markings were in kilometers, we easily could monitor our pace to break an hour by checking at each kilometer to see if we were running under 6 minutes per kilometer. I was wearing a Garmin GPS running watch, so I constantly could monitor our pace. I also suggested that we follow the Pirates of the Caribbean rule: “He who falls behind gets left behind.”

The race started, and the four of us stayed together until the first water stop. Colleen and Adam slowed down to get water, but Andrea and I bypassed the water stop and thus invoked the Pirates of Caribbean rule. I was wearing a fluorescent yellow running jacket and hat, and Colleen later said they could see me in the distance acting as a beacon.

I monitored Andrea’s and my pace using my Garmin, and several times I recommended we reduce our speed: partly so Andrea could keep a steady pace, but mostly to allow me to keep up with her. As Andrea was younger and had not prepared for the race the way I had, she was in far better shape for the race than I was.

Andrea noticed a donut shop on the right side of the course, and she playfully asked if we could stop for a donut. I declined, but shortly after crossing a small bridge, I saw a tavern and seriously suggested we stop for a Molson’s Ale.

Right before we reached the half-way turnaround, disaster struck! I had violated the “Bill-Rodgers-1975-Boston-Marathon-always-double-tie your shoe laces” rule of running. I told Andrea to keep running as I stopped to double-tie my unraveled laces. I then expended a tremendous amount of reserve energy to catch up with her. We reached a point in the race where we could see a rainbow above the spray of the Horseshoe Falls. I let Andrea get ahead of me so I could take a photo of her and the rainbow. I then expended more of my reserve energy to catch up with her again.

Through 8 kilometers Andrea and I kept at an under-an-hour pace. Then, on a downhill, I told Andrea that, if she wanted, she could run the rest of the race as fast as she could. She sped off and left me behind. The Pirates of Caribbean Rule! Aaarrrr! Hang the rule. The rule was more of a guideline anyway. I dug down deep to summon my remaining reserve energy, only to discover I had none left. That was when I realized the pupil had become the master.

Andrea finished her race in 57:51.5, bettering her previous 10K by over 4 minutes. I dragged my energy-depleted body across the finish line in 58:59.9, my first 10K in over 12 years after 2 hip replacements and back surgery, thus invoking another running axiom: “Always have excuses prepared to explain your race performance.”

Right after the 10K completed, the weather turned cold, windy and nasty. This was yet another reason why I was the smartest for running the 10K. After Lynne finished the half marathon in 2:26:49, she said that she had run in a strong headwind off the river the entire time. She described the course as very flat and scenic, and that the high school volunteers at the water stops were very enthusiastic; many wore facial paint and costumes. Lynne also noticed many “McMansions” along the course. She said she could not understand why so many had turrets, but Adam said where else would you put the archers?

Our friend Anne Grete finished the marathon in 4:25:38, and Holger finished in 5:29:07. Anne Grete later learned that she had finished 3rd in the 55-59 age category. Instead of giving out the awards at the finish, the race director mails the awards to the winners. That might prove expensive when awards are won by overseas visitors, as there were runners from at least 11 foreign countries.

My mentoring experience was very enjoyable, except for one unforeseen incident. Before the race, I told Andrea, Colleen and Adam that I wanted to run the out-and-back 10K so I could say at the halfway point, “Niagara Falls! Slowly I turn! Step by step, inch by inch…” They had no idea what I was talking about. I figured it must be a generational thing, so I turned to a nearby woman runner who appeared to be in her 60’s. I asked where she was from, and she said Niagara Falls. So I repeated, “Niagara Falls! Slowly I turn! Step by step, inch by inch…” She said she was sorry, but she did not know what I meant. I was inconsolable! What good is saying a joke during the race if no one understands it? [See “Slowly I Turned: a Piece of America’s Pop Culture” by Rebecca Day of the Niagara Falls Reporter newspaper at the http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/slowly.html web site.]