Today’s blog is a thank-you to all of my friends and readers who have been following my journey as I trained to run my first-ever (and only) half marathon, and a report about my experience.
It was a long haul; I started training in earnest the first week of January, completing at least three training runs every week for the following (almost) five months. I ran in the snow and the sleet, I ran in Florida when we took a short February respite from winter, and didn’t even take a break when I spent a month in Prague.
My goal was the Buffalo Half Marathon on Sunday May 25, part of “Marathon Weekend” held in Buffalo every Memorial Day weekend. My daughter lives in Buffalo, so we went up Saturday and stayed overnight with her, which was wonderfully convenient since the race started at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning. (We got up at 4:30.)
It was a very cool morning, about 45 degrees, but the skies were bright blue and cloudless, which was a big relief given the frequent rainy weather we’ve had of late. My husband Jack dropped me off near the start line around 6 a.m., then found a place to park and scouted out a spot along the race route to cheer me on.
Given that I knew this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, I started taking photos to help me remember the day. Having never done a race of this magnitude (5,000 people), everything was new to me. And downtown Buffalo was gorgeous in the morning sun, so I had to take some photos of that, too.
I had an enthusiastic cheer squad. My daughter and her best friend surprised me at one turn. My sisters-in-law camped out at another corner where I ran by them twice, and Jack managed to do some jogging of his own, posting up at four separate locations to see me run by multiple times.
The race route took us through city neighborhoods, through parks, by the Key Bank Center and all the way out onto the pier. It was a beautiful route on a beautiful day. I didn’t necessarily notice all the sights as I ran by because I was often focused on the wide variety of funny and encouraging signs people had made. (Like, “Smile, remember that you paid to do this!” and “Thanks to tariffs, this race is now 28% longer!”)
My goal when I stepped up to the start line was to finish the 13.1 miles in two and a half hours, a pretty achievable goal for a first-timer, I thought. Well, I’m pleased to report that my final time was 2:24.05, almost 6 minutes below my goal. I ran faster every mile of those 13 miles than I had at any time during my training. AND I placed 5th in my 65-69 age group. A race-day atmosphere will do that to a person.
So all in all, it was a fun experience. I wore a tutu and a fun shirt my friend designed, I smiled a lot, danced to some music along the route, laughed with some of my fellow runners, saw some beautiful scenery, and finished the race strong. I got to ring the “PR bell” at the end of the race and take the requisite post-race-holding-the-medal photos. I got a great shirt and left the post-race party with an armload of drinks and snacks. And my husband bought me flowers.
Thank you, Buffalo for a well-managed race, and I’ll see you again next year. But this time, I think I’ll run the 5K instead.
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(posted 5/27/2025)
webster on the web 
Congratulations!
…because awareness was never enough.
Holly McGregor Anderson
National Breast Cancer Coalition
Member, Board of Directors
New York State Field Coordinator & Team Leader
(585) 615-6339 hollymcgregoranderson@gmail.com
you are one amazing ing lady! Congratulations!
Good for you!! I completed one here is Webster several years ago.- Dave
Congratulations! Awesome job
Sent from my iPad
Thank you Carol!!!!
Congratulations…you rock!
LOL! Thanks! 🙂
Good for you, Missy!☺️
Get Outlook for Androidhttps://aka.ms/AAb9ysg
🙂
Congratulations! Thanks for sharing👏🏻
Thank you so much!
What an awesome achievement! Thanks for letting us know about your great experience.
Thanks for enjoying the story!
Way to go, Missy! Impressive accomplishment!
Daphne Geoca
Recreation Supervisor
55+ Coordinator
Town of Webster Parks and Recreation
1350 Chiyoda Drive
Webster, NY 14580
585-872-7103 x 7105
websterny.gov/http://websterny.gov/104/parks-recreation702/parks-recreationhttp://websterny.gov/104/parks-recreation
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Thank you, my friend!
Congratulations to you, Missy, on completing this ‘bucket list’ accomplishment! You set an impressive goal, and methodically chipped away at it: every step of every practice run added to your success. Every sore muscle in practice replaced a sore muscle on race day; some say ‘pain is weakness leaving your body’. Kudos also to your support team. I suspect that the regular encouragement from your crew – especially Jack – contributed significantly. Thanks for sharing your inspiring story, and taking us along with you. Now, by my calculations, you averaged an 11 minute mile for over 13 miles (if my math is correct: 144 minutes / 13.1 miles). This is impressive, especially considering the terrain, the fact that most of the run seems to have been on pavement or concrete (not on grass), and especially the duration and distance. Again, Congrats to TEAM MISSY!
Thanks so much! Yes, my pace averaged 11:09 according to the official timers. I as hoping to maintain an 11:15 pace but would have been happy with 11:30. So I’m pleased. And running on pavement is actually much easier than on grass, though my knees were yelling at me on Monday. 🙂
I enjoyed your visit to WOW, thank you for taking the time.Congradulations on your run.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the presentation and it was a real pleasure to be there.