Thanks to Finishing is Winning for reminding me about what is important!

Of course, if only I could remember this when I race…

Happy Running!

Sunday, October 23rd in the iconic Hudson Valley town of Rhinebeck, NY.

Be a part of this beautiful day as participants run through historic downtown Rhinebeck and journey to the shores of the Hudson River in neighboring Rhinecliff.

With the New York City Marathon just two weeks away, this is the perfect opportunity to do a final training run or spend a weekend in the country running in this gorgeous setting.

A portion of the proceeds from the race will be donated to support Riverkeeper, a New York-based organization dedicated to defending the Hudson River and its tributaries and protecting the drinking water supply of nine million New York City and Hudson Valley residents.

Race Highlights:

• Certified Half Marathon Course with B-Tag Chip Timing
• Former NY Ranger Goalie and Olympian Mike Richter to run on behalf of Riverkeeper.org
• Late 10 AM start to allow travel time for people from NYC, Westchester, Albany, etc.
• Tech shirts for all runners

 Sounds pretty good, right?

Looks like a pretty course.

Hills!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes!!

So I guess I should have looked at the elevation chart before I signed up for this race!! (Look how the race ends!!!)

I thought my friend Mary who is training for the Philly Marathon would run this with me but she decided to do her 20 miler on Sat instead.  Then I thought my hubby would come and hang out at the Aerodrome because he loves planes but he played tennis instead.

I was solo.

According the Google, it was going to take 1hr 17 min to get there so I got up nice & early and prepared to leave at 7:30 am so I would be there by 9am (for the 10 am start). However, my GPS said it would only take 1 hour and it did! The ride was nice…the foliage was awesome!

I had plenty of time to kill before the race.  There were real bathrooms in addition to porta potties.  That’s always a plus.

The weather would be perfect…a little chilly at the start but warm when the sun would come out.  I walked around & took some pics.

Mike Richter, former NY Rangers goalie

I decided to leave my jacket behind (actually near a tree by the start) and I was glad I did.  There were about 400 running the Half Marathon & about 100 running the 5K. The weather was perfect for a race and the scenery was beautiful. I also bumped into local blogger, Jen at the start.

That’s the good part.

As I said before, I wasn’t going to race this race just use it as a training run.  Famous last words.

I started out too fast.  My 1st 2 miles were in the 9s and in fact, the 1st 6.5 miles were all under 11.  I felt good and of course, I started thinking PR.

I was on course with covering the 1st half in just over 1 hour.  (My fastest half was 2:22)

Then came the hills!! I means steep hills — after hill after hill after hill.  The total ascent for the race was 2099 ft (that’s 300 ft more than Schroon HM).

My pace slowed.  I NEVER TRAIN ON HILLS!  I probably should but I hate them. As my hopes of a PR vanished, I walked and took some pics.

along the Hudson R.

The race of course, ended with huge hills.  I walked until I got to the finish line and forced myself to sprint across it.

Official time: 2:32:50
Garmin time: 2:31:49   13.20 miles!

Here are some more pics from Jen‘s blog: THANKS JEN!

The refreshments were lacking: half bagels (no cream cheese or butter), bags of chips, water.  The medal wasn’t metal – engraved (etched) plastic.  There were no awards or results printed.  No photographers.  Hardly any spectators along the course.  I guess that’s what you get for an Inaugural race.

So I headed home.  The ride again was pleasant due to the beautiful scenery.

So there you have it…Half Marathon #4 is in the books. (Half Marathon #5 is 2 weeks away!!!!!!!!)

Not sure if it was a good decision to do it (training runs are free!!) but you never know until you try. It certainly was a challenge.

I did achieve all my goals:

• Finish. Yes I did!
• Do not get injured. I don’t think so…we’ll see the next time I try to run!
• Beat my last (untrained one) time of 2:45. (by 14 minutes!)
• ENJOY it.  In a strange way…I always enjoy competing!

Happy Running! Any advice for running on hills or staying with it when your race starts to suck?

My hosts were great.  Linda had to go to work but her husband Chris made me oatmeal (with raisins) and a Cafe Latte.

Yes, that’s my pre-running breakfast!!! And with a view!!

So I said my good-byes and headed for the beach.

This is where I grew up.  Jones Beach is where we went all the time during the summer.  During college, I even worked there as a usherette at the theatre.

This time of year, there was NO TOLL! ($10 saved).

It was also pretty deserted.  There are many parking lots and almost all were closed.  I finally found one and parked my car.

ready to run

It was a gorgeous day – high 60’s & sunny (with a breeze). I headed for the boardwalk and found that they had set up a 4 mile run.

So I did it.  I started in the middle so I actually wound up running 5 miles!!!

There weren’t many people around. So I walked around on the sand for awhile.

I even put my feet in the water. BRRRRR!

There were quite a few large shells so I kept a few as a souvenir.

Reluctantly I headed back to my car.  As I was leaving, I noticed another parking lot open and there were cars parked there. 

I found out why.  There was a restaurant open and people were eating at picnic tables. 

I ordered a Nathan’s hotdog with sauerkraut & fries and ate it on the beach!  I just had too!

Then I headed back up north (with a detour past the house I grew up in). 

Happy Running!  Where is your favorite place to run? (I just discovered that mine is the boardwalk along the ocean.)