{"id":584,"date":"2019-03-25T19:13:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T19:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/?p=584"},"modified":"2025-02-25T20:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T20:47:24","slug":"sleepy-hollow-half-marathon-3-23-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=584","title":{"rendered":"Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon – 3\/23\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this is our local, very hilly race, so local that you can buy your entry the morning of the race, but I bought mine a few days ahead – my first race of the year, so I better commit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> I always hope for auspicious bib numbers: “3… 2… 1… Blast off!”<\/figure>\n

A civilized race starts at 9:30 a.m.  That gave me time to eat a LOT – BP coffee, fried egg, banana, and UCAN starch drink on the drive over. When I got there, it was <\/span>really<\/em><\/span> cold and windy – 35 degrees and 17-18 mph winds coming off the Hudson River; I was shivering as I walked from the high school parking lot. The running warm-up didn’t make me much warmer.  At the last minute – after doing some yoga actually raised my body temp – I took back my checked bag and stuffed my heavy running jacket into it.  Dressed for speed not for comfort (and not, as my sons would tell you, for fashion): T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, light tights under tri shorts (side pockets for nutrition), heavy hat and light gloves. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sure enough, starting up the hill out of the village Main Street, I was warm in less than a mile and glad I had dumped the jacket (as, yes, Coach Debi had advised). This was the first time we ran the \u201cnormal\u201d course – the last 3 times I had done this race, snow or muddy trails kept us off the aqueduct and out of Rockefeller Preserve, but there we were, trotting on through, only a short hill at the start (instead of the 4-mile ascent of prior years).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I was shooting  to start at 7:52, then descend to 7:25’s.  I stayed on track the first few miles, and it was silent and sparse, bare trees and beautiful quiet, and the folks around me are deadly quiet and serious…<\/span><\/p>\n

Derek Alcon, who won the race in 1:10:12 (5:22 min.\/mile). Now, THAT’S running. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And  I am in this to be steady and stay present and do the best I can, today, keeping an eye on my watch (okay that was a good mile) and my heart rate (hmmm, zone 3?  Let\u2019s back it down a little), but by Mile 4.5 here\u2019s that steep climb (oh, yeah, I trained on this with Dietmar and Ziv months ago, that was fun, this is a little less fun), and I get passed by a lot of younger runners, oh, well, stay present, imagining more than the mile I\u2019m in right now is too big a picture. <\/span><\/p>\n

Running along the river, chilly and windy but beautiful. By mile 6, we\u2019ve had all of 2 water stops, but I have forgotten that I wanted to urinate, and we hit the road that loops around the Regeneron offices (ah, so much nicer doing this counterclockwise, bigger hill going down than up, and skipping that stupid parking lot!), and start climbing the Route 117 highway, I\u2019ve slogged up here on my bike with Alan Golds, it\u2019s somehow easier on the run (<\/span>I later realize we ran with the wind at our backs!). I\u2019m slower on the uphills, freaking out a little when I see at the start of one mile that I\u2019m running at a 9:47 pace, but then my actual pace sets in –  my slowest mile ends up being 8:14 (which ain\u2019t bad), and what the hell, a good mile here, a slower mile there.<\/p>\n

OMG, here comes the lead runner, screaming downhill on the other side of the highway (second place comes a full 2 minutes later\u2026), what an inspiration (me: \u201cWhat, he\u2019s 3 miles ahead of us?\u201d  Younger woman passing me, \u201cI don\u2019t want to think about it\u2026\u201d), she\u2019s not male or my age group, it\u2019s okay\u2026 but by the time we turn and start the Mile 8-9 descent the wind is against us (who cares, it\u2019s DOWNHILL) <\/span><\/p>\n

I become convinced that the tall guy up ahead in in the blue jacket <\/span>is<\/em><\/span> in my age group, and I assume there\u2019s at least 1 or 2 guys ahead of HIM who took off like rockets at the start, and another guy who is probably my age passes me, so here I am fighting for something like 4th or 5th place.  Oh, well, <\/span>I will NOT look at the total time elapsed, and I might not meet my goals, but keeping my eye on each mile’s pace keeps me pushing harder.<\/p>\n

By Mile 10 we\u2019re climbing out of Phelps Hospital (I hate this hill). But lo! my calves are not cramping for the first time in the last 3 half marathons (stop thinking about it, it\u2019s making me imagine they <\/span>are<\/em><\/span> cramping) and as we approach the old railway station (oh that upcoming hill killed me a few years ago, shut up, we\u2019re on THIS mile), I grab my last sip of water from a gaggle of kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

The wind off the river is pretty damn cold but hurray! the course doesn\u2019t go around that stupid little lighthouse. I\u2019m heading into Mile 12 and my calves still haven\u2019t cramped up (no, don\u2019t think about it!) and then through those quiet but flat suburban streets and then it\u2019s UP that hellacious hill for the last 0.2 mile and the finish line looks so far away and I sprint as best I can and CROSS IT. <\/span><\/p>\n

1:39:25 – slower than my best, but\u2026 faster than my prior <\/span>five<\/em><\/span> half marathons. And my fastest since 2014 (beating out 2015 by 1 second)!  <\/span>If this is really 13.1 miles (despite my Garmin saying it\u2019s a \u00bc mile short), then I averaged 7:35 min\/mile. (My Garmin also says it was 1,010 feet of climbing \u2014 but the course map says 1,643 feet). <\/span><\/p>\n

And\u2026. 2nd place!  2\/27 AG, 107\/702 overall.  Pr<\/span>oving:  never give up. Also proving:  no matter how old those other guys looked… I\u2019m older.<\/p>\n

<\/a>With my annual nemesis, Michael Kaiser — 1st in his age group. He’ll always be younger and faster…  (Note:  A civilized race has beer at the finish line.)<\/figure>\n
And: no injuries! (Though I pumped my arms so hard, my pecs still hurt three days later….) Now, onto Florida 70.3 (Half Ironman), in three weeks… same distance run, plus the swim and bike… Um, hooray? Yes. Hooray!<\/span><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So this is our local, very hilly race, so local that you can buy your entry the morning of the race, but I bought mine a few days ahead – my first race of the year, so I better commit. I always hope for auspicious bib numbers: “3… 2… 1… Blast off!” A civilized race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-races"],"yoast_head":"\nSleepy Hollow Half Marathon - 3\/23\/2019 - Race Report Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=584\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon - 3\/23\/2019 - Race Report Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So this is our local, very hilly race, so local that you can buy your entry the morning of the race, but I bought mine a few days ahead – my first race of the year, so I better commit. 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