This past Saturday, Nicole and I tackled the Shoreline Half Marathon in Hamlin, NY. The race starts and finishes at Hamlin Beach State Park. Historically, I've always enjoyed this race and run really good times on the fast and mostly flat course.
Nicole and I drove to Brockport on Friday evening and stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn. It was about 20 minutes from the park and super easy to get to the race start. The half marathon had an 8:00AM start and the 5K had an 8:30AM start. We arrived to the park around 7:00AM and quickly picked up our race bibs and my race shirt. The process was painless. For the first time this year, the shirt for this race was a light, dry fit tank top. The quality of the shirt was great, however it is HIGHLIGHTER yellow. We went back to the car before the race and watched both the temperature and humidity climb.
At 8:00AM, we were off! Almost immediately I knew I was over trained for this race. My legs felt sore and stiff and were not loosening up at all. Usually during a half marathon, it takes me a few miles to find my groove. I patiently waited to for that switch to flip, but it never happened.
Once I realized, it was not going to be my day, I just tried to hold onto as much of a pace as I could. This was made difficult by the lack of aid on the course. The majority of the course was on asphalt with no shade. As the temperature continued to rise, it just got more punishing. For about 2 miles (from around mile 6 to around mile 8.5) there was no water, no aid. In fact, I didn't even see a bike medic. Even with the additional aid stations added (can you imagine if they didn't add those at the last minute?) there just wasn't enough. Lots of runners were clearly having issues. In fact, Nicole reported to me after she finished that the 2:00 pacer pulled off the course. You know it's a rough race when the pacer quits.
Finally, we hit mile 11, which is when we got off the hot roads and back into the park. The race finishes along the water, with great views and a cool breeze. It's my favorite part of the course. I finished with a watch time of 1:38 even, and a chip time of more than that due to weaving and tangents. Not my best by a long shot, but good enough to be a proof of time for runDisney's Wine and Dine Challenge. I collected my medal and went to wait for Nicole.
After Nicole finished, we headed to the results tent and learned that I placed first in my age group (4th woman overall). I collected my prize, a large glass drinking stein and we got changed and hit the road.
Things I Liked -The course is fast and flat. It's a Saturday race that offers race day packet pickup. July half marathons are hard to come by.
Things I Didn't Like -The lack of aid stations. The long hot stretches on highway. The vegetarian option for post race food. The last thing I want after a half marathon is a bad veggie burger. Where were the bananas?
Will I be back again? I might. The course has historically been good to me and it's a Saturday race.
Hot races with not enough aid are the pits; I've run a few. Part of why I use a hydration vest so at least I know I'll have enough water!
Oh man that hot stretch along the road sounds miserable! Great job on finishing first in your AG! That's an accomplishment with any race, much less such a tough one as this!