Fall Foliage Half Marathon

What a nice day today was! It was perfect to run half marathon #5.

Last week I registered on a whim for the the Inaugural Fall Foliage Half Marathon in Rhinebeck, NY, which was only a short drive from Albany. I could sleep in my own bed. 🙂

The race started at 10:00am to allow time for traveling from Albany or NYC. Since it took an hour to get there, I decided to eat a smaller breakfast when I got up, which was completely random since I forgot to bring my standard pre-race fuel of a bagel and peanut butter to my parents where I was staying over. I decided on some Cherrios and instead of my usual almond milk, my sister had this gem in the refrigerator:

It tasted yummy with the cheerios! Except it was SO sweet since I’m used to drinking unsweetened almond milk. Its nice once in awhile, though!

The breakfast of champions…

Anyway, back to the race! My sister came along too and ran the 5K. She rocked it, of course.

They started 10 minutes before we did, so I didn’t get to see her start since I was in line for the bathroom. Boo! 🙂

Next up: half marathoners!

There were a little over 600 registered runners…so it was a small race in the quaint town of Rhinebeck! I had no appetite before the race. I had planned on eating half of a peanut butter sandwich but opted for some gu chomps instead. They seemed to do the trick.

The one thing I knew about this race was that there were a lot of hills. But, I didn’t think it could be any worse than the Camp Chingachgook Challenge in Lake George?

I think it was just as hilly, if not more! There was hill after hill, except I think there might have been more downhills than uphills! No flat road in sight.

The first few miles were tough. I told myself I had to run all the hills up until mile 6 so I could save energy for the rest of the race and then walk the rest of the hills. I stuck to that for the most part.

Miles 5-10 were a blur. I just tried to enjoy the scenery.