Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Race Recap - Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon




The Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon was my first half marathon and I am very proud of finishing. Even though I knew, from reading the course map and other people's reviews online, that the course was going to be hilly, it was still a bit hillier than I expected. We started out on a slight incline and right off the bat headed up a very steep hill. I ended up walking quite a bit more than I expected, right out of the gate. It was a constant up and down for the entire race.

The most entertaining parts of the race were the signs of encouragement along the way that must have been created by the race volunteers. There were pictures from movies and silly sayings through the course to keep us motivated. It’s fun to be greeted by a picture of Will Ferrell saying “Wanna streak to the finish line?” when you are tired and need a laugh. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the signs as I was too busy running.

After a number of climbs, the race leveled out for a bit, for a long stretch along the highway. I don’t think this is the typical route of the race, as it was changed at the last minute because of unusable trails. For me, this part was just straight and boring and my least favorite part of the race. However, it was a nice break from all the hills and it also gave me a chance to eat my gels and get a second wind to tackle some more hills.
 
The last part was along the waterfront and as expected, it was very chilly. But, thankfully, I was prepared for that having done two prior runs along the waterfront.

The final mile headed back up a hill. That had me swearing just a little. Nothing like having to run uphill at the very end when you are the most exhausted, particularly when you hate hills! 


Overall, I felt my strategy and training went very well. I was grateful to have my nutrition belt, so that I could drink whenever I wanted and I timed my gels right, so I never felt too tired. At the end, my legs were very sore, but I was not so sore that it took me too long to recover. For a first half marathon I thought it went very well and I look forward to doing another one in the future. Maybe this time with less hills!

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