Sponsored by Newkirk

Sponsored by Newkirk
Sponsored by Newkirk

Monday, September 16, 2013

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."

Palio Half Marathon, Saratoga Springs, NY

And here I am, less than 1 month away from the marathon!  Yesterday I ran the Palio half marathon in Saratoga Springs, NY, here is how the weekend unfolded:

Friday the 13th....sure did live up its stigma here in Colorado.  That week Colorado saw the most rain it has ever seen in such a short period, ever.  Total rainfall was equivalent to what is seen over the course of the entire year.  I was awaken Thursday night to flash flooding alarms and again on Friday at 4:00 a.m.  I managed to fall back asleep Friday morning before getting up to go to the airport.  I left my apartment just after 7:00 a.m. and started my short 50 minute drive to DIA... but to my surprise they closed the interstate!  It ended up taking me 2 1/2 hours and I made my flight with 5 minutes to spare.  Luckily, security at DIA was a ghost town, which was an oddity.  I arrived into Syracuse at 6:00 p.m. and we stopped for dinner in Utica.  I finally made it back to good old scotia at 9:45 and was in my bed by 11:00.

Saturday, September 14th- I met Crystal and Mac daddy in Clifton Park and we headed to the race expo in Saratoga.  We did a 3.5 mile shake out run on the first part of the course.  Mile 1 was a major hill!  After a little photo session we drove the rest of the course and headed home.  I finished the day off with a soccer reunion and some family time that evening, catching up with my brother and his girlfriend.  




Sunday, September 15th- RACE DAY!!!  Woke up at 5:30 a.m. (Still on 3:30 mountain time)!  We picked up Crystal and her sister-in-law, Kelly, and arrived around 6:35.  After an easy warmup run, I got rid of some layers, changed into my racers and headed to the start to finish my drills and strides.  
Mile 1- went out easy.  The pack I was running with must have thought I was running too fast or something because they were saying rather loudly how it is a long race and people shouldn't go out too fast.  I decided to engage in their conversation and talk to them normally so they knew I was running at easy effort despite the uphill mile, we only went through the first mile in 6:17... clearly slower than my overall pace.  From then on I essentially ran the rest of the race alone, which was fine because mentally I can hit my pace without the help of anyone else or a pace group.  I hit the 5k in 19:00.  10k in 38:11.  15k in 57:30.  I threw out my gloves at mile 6.5, which I regretted later.  Miles 7-9 were tough for me.  There was an uphill just after 7, and a 180 turn around just before mile 8.  I also started to feel a bit of a headwind at this time and took it on completely solo.  Miles 10-11.5 went well, then the last mile and half got a little confusing.  There was no one near me and the volunteers were just kind of standing around talking amongst each other.  I wasn't exactly sure where I was turning until I reached the turn, which was kind of annoying, especially in the last mile because there were a lot of turns!  I finished the race in 1:21:21, a minute and 56 second PR. 

I am extremely thankful for all the volunteers (although I wish they were a little more directive the last 2 miles when I was alone and trying to look for the turns), but overall it was a well organized event.  From the expo, to the water stations, everything was great.  My only complaint was the 11:30 start time for the awards ceremony.  The ceremony included those for the 5k, which started at 7:35 as well as the half, which the majority of winners were done by 9:00 a.m.  It was such a perfect fall day and great to see so many people out there working hard and achieving their goals.