Hook Mountian Half-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Congers, New York
United States
Rockland Road Runners
48F / 9C
Total Time = 1h 57m 22s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Early a.m. bowl of oatmeal and cup of coffee. Watching weather channel to figure out if any surprises in store.
Event warmup:

Meet RollinBones and his running buddy. Shoot the breeze until race time.
Run
  • 1h 57m 22s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 58s  min/mile
Comments:

I was on the fence about this race in part because I'm in my Boston taper. But I'd heard good things about this race from Marc (RollinBones) and I wanted a "race experience" again before Boston. Plus, I planned a 12 or 13 mile run for today anyway, so for a couple of bucks I might as well with a large group and have strangers hand me water. :)

I've made a new mantra for my running. "8 is great, but 9 is fine." I found myself thinking of this at the start line and just decided to run based on how I was feeling and not by my pace. If I felt tired, I'd slow the pace down.

Gun goes off and I know the first few miles are flat. I fell into a nice pace once I was able to get around groups of the Tri Life club running 3 or 4 abreast on the sidewalks. The one issue was having to PEE SO BAD. I passed on the first water station because I had to pee so bad. Finally, at the end of mile 3, I see my chance w/ a public restroom. Man did I have to go, lost 70 seconds (hence the 9:40 mile).

Once the race divided between the 5K and HM groups, the field thinned out nicely. I really felt myself settle into a nice comfortable pace, as we approached the rolling hills portion of the race. My running hills in Central Park has paid of in spades as I found myself running strong and passing a lot of people on these hills.

I was really in a nice running groove, keeping more miles in the "8 is great" range. In the back of my mind, the thought of sub 2 entered my head, so I started doing math. I figure this was premature as I hadn't seen this mythical "Hook Mtn." yet. So I started doing some math with a fudge factor for the hill.

I think it was mile 7, we crest the hill and voila - "The Hook." It most definitely lived up to its reputation. The hill was so steep downhill that you have to force yourself to go slow and avoid pounding the pavement. Hence, even with this great downhill, I kept the same pace.

Mile 7-9 along the Hudson river to the turn-around. Kept the good pace and we hit another nice uphill to the turn-around. Again, the hills paid off as I passed about 9 people on this uphill and never saw them again.

Back along the path to "The Hook." I don't remember running those miles as all I could think of was the looming hill. The only way to the finish line was through this hill and everyone else was running it - so it was inevitable.

Admitting that I'm in a taper, I decide to not kill myself on the hill (at the obvious risk of losing the sub 2 hour HM). I run the first 3rd and power walk the rest. I also used this as a chance to regain my breath for the final 3 miles.

Crest the hill and I'm not really sure if I'm on pace for sub 2. I just do the one thing I know I can, I run. I keep a steady pace on the rolling hills and to my delight, start dropping a couple 8s.

Final 2 miles around the lake were a little challenging. By mile 13 I was getting a tired (and for the first time all day, I notice a wind right in my face). Anyway, instead of a strong final push, I just keep running my comfortable pace (not really sure why it was 30 seconds slower?).

Finish ahead, a little surge but nothing extreme. I think my chip time might be a few seconds slower, as I think the clock time was 1:57:27.


And as a sidenote : I took one sip of water for the whole race and didn't even take the Gel I brought with me.
What would you do differently?:

Eat an earlier and lighter dinner the night before - I didn't have any GI issues that caused me to stop running, but did have a few tummy cramps along the course.
Post race
Warm down:

Chat with Marc, grab half a bagel and 2 glasses of water. Get in car and drive home.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Fear of GI issues and planning to run the Boston Marathon in 8 days.

Event comments:

Great event w/ a perfect course for offering a huge variety of running options (flat, rolling hills, side of mountain hill, trail portion)

Also a really good sized local event. May get added to my list of annual events.




Last updated: 2008-03-05 12:00 AM
Running
01:57:22 | 13.1 miles | 08m 58s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Mile : Pace 1 : 8:46 2 : 8:32 3 : 9:42 4 : 8:23 5 : 8:41 6 : 8:40 7 : 8:41 8 : 8:41 9 : 8:55 10 : 10:39 11 : 8:51 12 : 8:44 13 : 9:14 .1 : :54
Course: Loop around Rockland State Park, out to and down Hook Mtn, run along Hudson to Nyack beach area and back. (including UP Hook Mtn) Good flat sections, nice rolling hills and a great hill challenge.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4