NY – Racing Americana

Saturday September 12 2021

I ran the Lake Placid Half Marathon to mark off state number 46. The event had been rescheduled once or twice but finally took place this weekend. I flew into Albany, leaving home early Saturday morning. I picked up the Hertz, and grabbed lunch with Andy (+ wife and daughter) in Albany, at the Toro Cantina. I drove on 2.5 hours north up to the small vacation town of Lake Placid, and checked in to my Best Western hotel, after quickly attending packet pick up. I had to go through the histrionics of showing my vaccination card, but there were free Martin Gel 100s on offer at the bib table so that was something!

The rear of the hotel property was literally next to the start line. I explored the town a little, checked out the course on maps, grabbed a quick dinner from Subway, and relaxed at the hotel, watching some professional Axe Throwing on ESPN…

The race was 0800 Sunday, so I awoke about an hour before, ate the snacks I had packed from home, and got ready in the room. I wandered over to the start line around 0745 and did a quick warm up and stretch whilst listening to the English race announcer blather on inanely.

The race began. The course was hilly, and the conditions were a little muggy, but at least the rain had held off. I used my usual gel strategy and took on water to drink and throw on my shoulders and almost all the aid stations. It was an extremely well supported race, with lots of crowds at various points along the course, people cheering you on and ringing their cowbells. It was perhaps this, and a poor night’s sleep, that contributed to my over exertion experienced by the half way point. I’m sure the hills didn’t help either, but I don’t normally run in races with many supporters, so a desire to honour their cheering was a relatively new experience. It made me think about how this should affect me in the upcoming Chicago marathon!

The race was a fairly segregated affair. The course was pretty much an out and back (with a finish about a quarter mile further around the Mirror Lake shoreline to the race start). The turn around was at mile 8. However, the lead pack split out on their own after a quarter mile or so, and I then ran by myself for the entirety of the rest of the race, apart from being passed by one guy around mile six. So there was not much racing to be done. However, I had my Stereophonics playlist for company, and as the course had the turn around point, running past everyone else coming the other way is always a good motivator to keep going. There was one big hill between miles 11-12, but I managed to finish strong at the end, and sewed up a 6th place finish overall, and first in my age group. 1.31 (6.58 pace). I felt tired, slow and heavy, but that seems to be the case more often than not, especially when there are hills in the mix.

I recovered for a little at the finish then headed back to my hotel to shower, pack and get on the road. I ate the rest of my subway in the car as I drove back to Albany, and made it in time to watch the hockey match – U Albany vs Columbia. The visitors clung on to win out 3-2. Andy gave me a tour of their facilities, we called into the team supporters tailgate, and I made my way back to the airport to fly home.