Saratoga Springs Half Marathon

Good morning and happy Monday! A couple weeks ago I made the last minute decision to run the a new local races, the Saratoga Springs Half Marathon located in the Saratoga Spa State Park! With about 350 runners, this was a smaller race. The race started at 7:30am right near the Peerless Pool at the park, there were lots of spots to park, and no long lines for bathrooms or packet pickup. Now that’s what I like to see.

The race started promptly, and began with a loop on the grass around the parking lot. Then it was off onto the roads throughout the park.

It also took us near the SPAC parking lot, and through some of the roads near there.

Then we ran down Avenue of the Pines, which was was nice.

Then we turned right onto Route 9 for just a little bit. Kind of annoying running next to traffic (we were on the shoulder–but the right lane was closed off)–but this part was slightly downhill and we got a nice breeze.

Then we took another right back into the park for a second loop. I didn’t mind the loops because by the second one I knew what was coming. Although I did feel like time was moving rather slowly and felt like I had been running forever. I didn’t walk that much, just briefly through the water stops (which were adequate by the way-but they ran out of electrolytes by end of my  last lap) and on a few hills, but that was it, and felt fairly strong for the majority of the race, despite the humidity. The lack of sun definitely helped, since it was mostly overcast yesterday morning.

I finished in 2:21:43, for a 10:45 average pace. Half marathon #15 is in the books (I think?).

We got nice large, medals with the horse logo, along with some bright orange shirts that fit pretty nice. We also had the option to purchase a pint glass with the logo on it (I did because I’m a sucker for those things.) At the end there was also food: donuts, cookies, cupcakes, bread, bananas, water…but because of the heat I couldn’t stomach anything but an ice cold Gatorade that I had brought with me. It was a nice, no-frills, small race in Saratoga.