8:00 AM - Buffalo, NY : Drove out on Saturday with Emma to Buffalo for the BPAC 6 Hour distance classic, my first ultra and our first longer race together. Stopped in Utica to have lunch with Jonny at Panera. We finally got to Buffalo around dinner time and spent the better part of an hour trying to locate where the Amherst Pepsi Center was. Our GPS took us in the wrong direction and it turned out it was only 1.0 mile or 3 minutes of driving, from the hotel! Aggh! Then went to a family-style spaghetti restaurant to carbo-load. Got back to the hotel around 10:00 pm and slept til 6am. Woke up and the wind was howling. It was insane. There was a high wind WARNING (not just an advisory) and later in the day on the way home it even said on the highway to adjust your speed because it was hazardous. Wind was howling at a sustained 25-30mph with gusts well over 40mph. We got dressed in our layers and headed out to the starting line. Got there and got our numbers and then waited in the car until it approached the "go" time. Emm and I decided to go nice and slow and we were just going to stick together and both play defense against the wind, and provide moral support to just keep truckin'. Got to meet Shelley and James Viggiano which was really nice. Shelley and James are ultra runners and Shelley is the RD for the Mind the Ducks 12 Hour race next month that we are doing. I thought it was funny that after the race she said "Your voice is different then I was expecting!". Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Emm and I started off near the back and took it nice and slow. Emm had only done one long run over 10 miles this year (maybe ever?) and that was 16 miles she did in 4 hours back in February. I knew she could do it though. We stuck together, though for two hours there was sleet/hail blasting our faces like metal shavings. It hurt to look up, and we just shuffled along as best we could because when it comes down to it, Griffins are not quitters and we were determined to succeed! It seemed like a smaller field than last year's results made it out to be. I'd say only 65 or so runners this year, but boy were they full of energy and spunk! There was a guy wearing a girl's jacket that just kept running and ticking off those laps! There was a guy we called "Rhasta man" with long dreads that ended up in 4th place overall, and there was even a power walker. Everyone was so friendly and as we plodded along people kept saying words of encouragement and it really helped. During the latter laps with Emm we started a couple games to take our minds off the miles. We named movies in order of the alphabet, and then animals. Is it ever hard to think of animals for letters "Q" and "X"! After 8 laps (we finished the 8th around the 5:40 mark) Emm decided she finally needed to stop for good. I was so proud of her. Her knees and hips had been hurting since about 3 hours in and she just kept going! I headed out for one more. I kept plodding along and it turns out my last lap was the 19th fastest lap for lap #9. That was neat. Ran it in 41:00 something. I kept pushing even after the 6 hour mark and just wanted to get to the finish line. Some guy I passed with .2 to go decided he didn't want to be one-upped by me and surged back and sprinted to the line. I was just holding my 11:00 pace and barely made it. Every step in the last 250m hurt and my right calf was getting increasingly tighter. Finally made it and while the guy was trying to take my chip off my calf seized completely up. Took about 5 minutes before I could hobble/walk again. We hung around for a bit and it was nice to get some pizza and food and replenish. Emm went to the car and blasted the heat. I found out I was 30th place and had earned a medal (medal to the top 30 finishers). I was only 2 miles behind Shelley and James and 5th overall in my age group. Emm ended up with 1st place in her age group (37th overall) and won some nice and yummy cookies. (They did not survive the 6 hour trip home). Results were pro-rated as long as you finished the last lap. Emm logged 26.00 miles (26.4 total though) in 5:40:54 and I logged 27.492 miles (29.65 total) in 6:22:31. So proud of both of us! We got in the car and went to a really awesome Barnes and Noble that had a fireplace in the cafe. Fueled up for the long drive home. Stopped for Chinese at "The Great Wall of China" which had the best tasting General Tso's chicken I've ever had. Finally got home around 9:20pm and boy did I underestimate the slope of the front yard. The two of us looked like 80-year-old nursing home patients as we staggered up the yard and then took the steps one at a time trying to just get inside. Had a shower and passed out on the floor and then finally off to bed. BUT, my wife is now a marathoner and I am an official ULTRAMARATHON Man :D. So neat! Can't wait for the Mind the Ducks 12 Hour!  
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