Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon 2017 Race Recap

I ran my 3rd Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon this morning. It was a little different this year, because I missed about 3 weeks of training due to various illnesses.

I was smart for a change, and decided not to have a time goal. It's been a while since I didn't have some time at the back of my mind during a race, and I have to say, it was almost relaxing.

Earlier this week I stubbed/skinned a toe on a dog toy, and yesterday I hit my achilles tendon with enough force that it was pretty instantly purple.

Excellent timing.

Fortunately, the toe was fine, and the achilles only complained on the hills. It's pretty sore now, but I'm glad it let me run.

I hate worrying about parking at races, so I arrived freakishly early.

I probably could have left a little later.

After hanging out in my car for a while, I went down to pick up my bib and visit with people. Sleepy Hollow is always a fun race, because it's put on by my weekend running group, Rivertown Runners.

It was supposed to be fairly warm today, but the weather missed that memo and we had a decent amount of wind and some rain. It sprinkled on and off throughout the race.

I don't really have any exciting mile-by-mile stories from today. I mostly enjoyed the people watching and listening to my new race playlist.

I did not enjoy the hills. It's not the hilliest race I have run, but since I haven't been running many hills lately, they were pretty tough today. I kill it on the downhill though. I'm always surprised by how many people I pass on downhills. Take advantage of gravity people!

The worst hill is the last one. Every race in Sleepy Hollow ends at the top of this hill, and it's brutal. It is relatively short, but it makes a strong finish a little difficult.

So, not my fastest race, but I did it. Considering how much training I missed, I'm happy with how it turned out. My chip time was 2:06:02.

Sometimes I forget that it's an accomplishment every time I cross a finish line. 

Running Things

I was trying to get this posted sometime last week, but was swiftly taken out by a fever last Thursday. After spending the entire weekend on the couch, the fever is finally gone and I almost feel human again. It's still going to be a couple of days before I even think about trying to run, but at least I can leave the couch for more than a few minutes at a time now.

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I don't really have many fun "seen on my run" type pictures from recent runs, partially because I've been busy running instead of stopping to take pictures, and partially because a lot of those miles have been on the treadmill.

I did manage to pause long enough to take these last week.

I'm in the middle of training for the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon at the end of March. This will be my third time running this race, and it is my current half PR. After the disappointment of last year's marathon finish, I'm just hoping to enjoy the race and finish strong.

I am not going to be doing a ton of racing this year. My focus is on building strength (injury prevention) and running a successful marathon in the fall.

This year I will be mixing things up and running a new (to me) marathon - The Newport Marathon in Rhode Island. I have never been to Rhode Island, but the course sounds beautiful and it's not a bad drive from our house.

I'm also going to be following a new training plan this year. Previously I have used Hal Higdon plans, and while they worked just fine, I'm interested to see how this new training works for me. I will be following Coach Jay Johnson's Simple Marathon Training. It's a 20 week plan that includes strength and mobility (SAM) exercises and a weekly brisk walk, along with the usual things you expect to find in a marathon training plan (running and cross training).

For now though, I just need to finish recovering from this bug so I can get back to normal life again.

Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon 2016 Race Recap

I was up at 5:45 on Saturday morning, drank a couple cups of coffee and ate my usual English muffin with peanut butter. I left earlier than I needed to because I would rather be early than late and stressed out.

The race didn't start until 9:30, so I had oodles of time to pick up my number and race shirt. I actually ended up sitting in my car for about 20 minutes after packet pickup to stay warm while I waited.

The Sleepy Hollow Half is run by my weekend running group, Rivertown Runners, so it was fun to have a bunch of runner friends there with me. There was a whole group of us together at the starting line.

My two best running friends and I before the start. It's impossible to get a good picture of all of us.

Photo Credit to Joe Golden

The course was different from the last time I ran it. A couple of years ago we still had snow on the ground, so a lot of the trails were not included.

The first half mile or so is mostly uphill on the road. After that we hit the aqueduct trails which are packed dirt. It was pretty crowded for the first few miles, especially once we were off the road and on the narrower trails. I think some people were a little nervous on the trails, but since I run them every weekend I passed a bunch of people by running on the edge of the trail.

It was mostly rolling hills until just before mile 5, where we were serenaded by a bagpiper as we dragged ourselves up a long, steep hill. My friend kept telling me to pump my arms, but I was not moving very quickly. From mile 5.5 on we were back on the roads.

There's a bit of a stretch out and back on a highway that really seems to drag. The way out was a gentle, but endless uphill, which at least made the way back a long downhill. It's about a mile and a half each way.

Around mile 9.5 is a really stupid hill in a hospital parking lot. It's just so unnecessary.

After running through some neighborhoods, the course runs along the Hudson until the final mile. The last mile is mostly flat until the last .2, which is up the worst hill of the entire race. It's known as the Pocantico Punisher, though I know a few runners with more colorful names for it.

Photo credit to Jared Johnson

My race plan was to just run. I set my watch to show the clock time and didn't look at any of my mile splits. I ended up running the entire race within about 20 feet of one of my weekend running buddies. Our trio all had the goal of just being under 2 hours at the finish line. We naturally alternated who was in the lead and ran side by side from time to time. Sometimes talking, sometimes alone with our music. He told me around mile 9 that we definitely were on track to come in under two hours, and later asked me what my PR time was.

In the last couple of miles he told me it was only going to be a question of how much I would beat my PR by. I was definitely getting tired by the last mile, but nothing really hurt, I was just tired. The last hill took a lot out of me, but I saw 1:56:xx on the clock and broke into a smile and a sprint and finished just behind my friend. We actually ended up with the exact same chip time, my new PR - 1:56:35!

It ended up being a great race day - perfect weather (though I did end up with a bit of a sunburn), zero pain, a fun run with friends and a new PR! Can't ask for much more than that!

More Snow and a Candy Jar

I had an easy 3 miles yesterday after my speedwork on Thursday. It wasn't terribly exciting, so I won't bore you with the details. What I will do is tell you about this:

That's right, an online candy store that delivers a candy jar to your front door! You get to pick the size of your candy jar and then pick what will be inside. My mom gave me a gift certificate so I could try it out - thanks Mom! :)

This is what I picked for my jar:

The candy is good too, not that cheap chocolate that tastes kind of waxy. Pretty fun!

We got several inches of snow yesterday, and it's already melting off. I didn't even bother to shovel the driveway because I knew it was going to warm up today (and because I'm lazy and I didn't want to shovel any more snow).

This was Friday afternoon, there's more out there now.

The Sleepy Hollow Half was this morning. I know the roads are pretty clear (and they changed the course so there weren't any trail portions this year), but I have to say, I'm glad I wasn't running this morning. It was cold when I ran it last year (you can read my recap HERE), but there wasn't any snow on the ground.

There wasn't a group run this morning because most of the group was at the race. I slept in instead. I have one last long run tomorrow and then next weekend is the West Point Half - I'm starting to get nervous/excited!

Mile Repeats and More Mud

I've been all over the place the last few days.  

Thursday's speedwork got pushed to Friday, and I almost didn't run at all. But, as usual, I'm glad I did. I ran 6 miles total, including a 1 mile warm-up, 3 x 1600 @ 7:54 with 800m jogs and a 1 mile cool down. 

I was pretty psyched to get my repeats under an 8:00 pace - as an added bonus, I didn't even want to die at the end! :)

Buddy was a little sleepy and napped while I ran.

This morning I was up dark and early to meet up with the group to run. I started off with some coffee and toast with peanut butter and banana.

It was 38 degrees and raining for our run, but compared to the negative wind chills we've gotten used to, it wasn't too bad out. Plus, there's something fun about running in the mud and rain, once you just commit to being drenched.

We ran a slightly shorter loop than usual, since a lot of the trails are still covered in ice/snow. 5.8 muddy miles at a 9:18 pace.

Buddy is enjoying the fact that some of the snow is finally gone.

With the snow melting we can finally see the damage the plow guy did over the winter. Looks like we need some new curbs.

This afternoon I helped assemble swag bags for the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon. I'm not running it this year, but since my running club (Rivertown Runners) puts it on, I wanted to help out. We had a bunch of people show up, so stuffing 1,000 bags went pretty quickly. Plus we got to have pizza. There's nothing like carbs to get runners to show up!

NYC Half Marathon Lottery and Primal Sport Mud

Last month, I threw my name in for the NYC Half Marathon lottery. I'm nowhere near fast enough for a guaranteed entry, so running with a charity or the lottery are my only options. Since I don't really have time to be fundraising for a charity while I change careers and move, for this year, the lottery was my only option.

The drawing was today, and I went back and forth about whether I wanted to get in or not. I didn't really want to spend $128, but it would be a really fun race. If I ran the NYC Half, then I wouldn't run the Sleepy Hollow Half again - they're a week apart, and I'm not quite that crazy yet.

I finally got the email a little before 7pm - my name didn't get picked.

I'm torn between the "Boo! I never win anything!" feeling and being completely ok with it. It's not a race I've been dreaming about for years or anything like that, and this way I'll be able to run the Sleepy Hollow Half with my Saturday morning crew.

My ankle was a little tight this morning.

Ok, it kind of hurt. I've been careful with it today, lots of ankle rotations.

Naturally, as a runner, I had to see if it hurt when I ran (we're smart like that). It didn't. I ran a rather pleasant 3.5 miles at an 8:29 pace.

And then I iced my ankle.

Then I remembered this Primal Sport Mud that I got in a RunnerBox a couple of months ago. It seemed as good a time as any to give it a try.

The directions say to put on a layer of mud, cover it with plastic wrap, and keep warm/heat for 20 minutes before you rinse it off.

Fortunately, I found my awesome corn-filled heat pad the other day. Perfect timing.

My ankle does feel more relaxed now, though that could just be from the heating pad. I guess we'll see how it feels after a few days of mudding.

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A history of half marathons

I have nothing terribly exciting to tell you about today. I worked, and then I came home and ran. Oh, and Tom made dinner! Chicken tikka masala and saag paneer - my mouth is still on fire - it was delicious.

Since I've been thinking about my upcoming race (39 days away!) a lot lately, I thought I would tell you a bit about my history with the half marathon.

I have pretty much always gone to my races alone, so I don't have the best pictures from some of my races. I do have prints from a couple of them, but I have no idea where they are.

Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon 2010 - 2:39:31

This was my first half marathon. I was not well trained. The longest run I had ever done before this race was 6 miles. And, because I had been sick, the longest run I had done in the month leading up to the race was 3 miles. I had no time goal, and was just focused on finishing.

I stopped and grabbed a pizza on the way home and then didn't leave my apartment for 2 days afterwards. There was much soreness.

Corvallis Half Marathon 2011 - 2:18:07

I have seriously no memory of my training for this race. I know I did some longer runs and tried to be more consistent in my running. I didn't have a time goal, but I hoped I would beat my previous time. I was shocked when I saw how much faster I had gotten!

Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon 2011 - 2:17:13

I seriously trained for this race. I followed a training plan and checked off each run as I finished it. I even have a training log somewhere in a box in the basement. I knew the course since I had run it before, and really wanted to beat my best time (there's a trend here). I somehow managed to run the last 3 miles of the race with an insanely painful cramp in my right calf, and judging from the pain I was in for weeks afterwards, a stress fracture in my shin.

Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon 2014 - 2:16:26

My first half in years. I trained, a lot. I'm not sure how I managed to get in all my runs as I was routinely working 10+ hours of overtime every week. This was my first race after I bought my treadmill. It definitely saved me this winter from the weather. There's no way I would have done as well if I hadn't bought the treadmill. I followed a Runner's World Challenge training plan, and it seemed to work. I was hoping to do well, and quietly hoped to beat my best time even though I hadn't raced in a while. You can see my full recap  of this race HERE.

Newburgh Half Marathon 2014 - 2:07:13

I still don't know how this happened. I kept my training up after the Sleepy Hollow Half, and started using a Runner's World SmartCoach plan. It had more speedwork in it than I would ever do on my own, and I also had been running with the group more. Some beautiful combination of these things led to an awesome race and another PR! You can read the full recap HERE.

I might actually get a picture at the race next time - Tom and my mom are planning on coming with me! As an added bonus, there is supposed to be beer at the end of the race - so they're pretty excited about that. :)

I'm not very fast at stairs today.

I tried these from my RunnerBox yesterday:

These look and taste like they should be cereal instead of a snack. I almost dumped them into a bowl and poured milk over them. And there's no way I would ever call them "cookie" bites. The flavor was good, but mild, and I wanted them to be sweeter.

I like candy healthy food, but I don't really like "diet" food. I like things to be full fat and real if I'm going to eat them. I know they're made with all-natural ingredients, but I don't worry about gluten or the glycemic index of my foods, I just care about the taste.

I probably wouldn't ever buy these, but they weren't bad (I ate them all). I would definitely eat them like cereal if I had them again.

Today was surprisingly productive considering my sore quads. I (finally) cleaned out the fridge. Tom and I have been avoiding some of these tupperwares for longer than I care to admit. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and now there's so much more space in the fridge!

I did two loads of laundry (one was art smocks from work) and the dishes! I also finally got fed up with Buddy's rope shreds that were all over the living room carpet. I even had to bring the vacuum down from upstairs to do it. I'm not very fast at stairs today.

Buddy and I walked/hobbled on our normal route, and it really helped loosen up my legs, even if it hurt at first.

I managed to track down a couple of finish line photos from the race yesterday:

 

 

And here comes Monday again. It came a lot faster than usual this weekend!

When was the last time you cleaned out your fridge? 

What was something fun you did this weekend?

Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon Recap

It was colder than I planned when I woke up this morning so I had to do some last minute outfit changes. I settled on my favorite capris and what Tom calls my chain mail shirt.

 

Buddy was very confused by all this early morning activity.

I got a lot of compliments on my shirt and it kept me just the right temperature the whole race! I of course wore my PureFlows, because they are the best.

I knew from the course map that it was going to be a hilly race and I was hoping to finish at around 2 1/2 hours. I didn't check my pace very often and ran based on effort instead.

The race starts right by the Hudson river, which was beautiful, but not enough to distract me from the freezing wind.

I started the race with a side cramp. Awesome. It was so cold/windy at the start that it took me a bit to get going and the side cramp did not help. The first mile was by far my slowest mile (11:45), but once I was warmed up I started to feel a lot better.

They make you run past the finish line right at the start, which I think is cruel.

Mile 4 I took my first GU and it definitely gave me a pick-me-up. My fastest miles were 5-9, all of which were under ten minutes each. My fastest mile was mile 7 (9:22), which had a decent amount of level and downhill running.

There were SO many hills. Some of them felt like they would never end!

 There were some really funny signs along the course:

And some very pretty views:

There was an absolutely killer hill right around mile 9. It was the only part of the course that was gravel and I almost wiped out tripping over a stick on the way back down the hill. It didn't help that I was trying to unpin my GU from my pants at the time. Trail running and I are not the best of friends.

I knew what to expect for the last two miles of the race as the 10K that I ran in October follows the same course. I knew we were getting close and I wanted to keep my pace up, but I also knew that right at mile 13 was going to be the steepest hill of the entire race.

I chugged up the hill, managed to gather myself up, and once I had the finish line in sight I started sprinting. The time on the clock was close to my best half marathon time and I realized there was a chance that I could beat that time. Not only that, I love finishing a race in a dead sprint, it makes me feel strong and awesome. It doesn't hurt that I passed three people in the last few yards.

My clock time ended up being 2:17:04 and my chip time was 2:16:26 - both of which are faster than my previous PR!

Tom's mom found me at the finish line with flowers from Tom, and I completely forgot to have her take a picture of me with my medal! I took one in the car when I remembered. It was really fun having someone at the finish line though - I've never had that at a race before!

We'll see if I can track myself down in any official photos when they have them out.

For now I'll just enjoy my flowers, watch both Hunger Games movies, relax on the couch, and order Chinese food. 

And start thinking about my next race... :)

Do you start thinking about what you want your next race to be right after you finish a race?