Morning Run in Buffalo

Time: 86:38
Distance: 20.02k
Pace: 4:20
Map

It was a wicked windy morning in Buffalo when I headed out the door looking for a run. I didn't want to hit the xc course as I thought the footing wouldn't be the best and it's widely exposed to the wind. Instead I ran across the street and toured the north campus of UofB hoping to find something exciting. There was little to shield the wind and nothing that I would consider exciting. In fact, the architecture left much to be desired.

I eventually found a nice bike path that ran along a creek or canal. I hopped on and ran out for another 6k in one direction. I ended up having to cross the street into another park, but could have run even farther if the daunting return trip into the wind wasn't looming in the back of my mind. I clipped along at a leisurely pace letting the legs recover. I never felt particularly great, but I did run some quicker splits with the wind at my back.

Back at the hotel I got everything ready to head off to the meet. I wanted see a good performance from the Brown team and catch up with some friends who attended Providence College. The men's race was slow due to the conditions and eventually saw Leonard Korir from Iona take the victory with David McCarthy from Providence a close second. Brown senior, Dan Lowry, brought home a podium finish and punched his ticket to the big dance.

During the race I ran into Kim Smith and Richie Yeates who were cheering on the PC team. I spent the rest of the race hanging out with them trying to discover who the team in all black was. Turns out it was Columbia who were using sneaky tactics to place second overall. They didn't want other schools to key off them in the race and wore all black singlets and tights with no indication they were from Columbia.