Syracuse Half Marathon

Saturday evening Jordan and I drove out to Syracuse for the Syracuse Half Marathon! I signed up for this race ages ago and got a hotel .5 miles from the start of the race in downtown, Syracuse. We checked into our hotel and then immediately went searching for some good eats. Around the corner we found a little place called Modern Malt.

They had a small late-night menu and I went with the egg and cheese sandwich because it seemed harmless for a pre-race dinner. Thankfully it was a great decision and it was delicious.

Both of our meals (Jordan got a burger) came with tater tots! I got sweet potato and he got regular. I liked the regular better, actually! They were delicious.

After our late dinner we headed next door to a place called Al’s Whiskey & Wine Bar. Normally I don’t stay out too late the night before a race, but we just had to check out these cools spots so close to our hotel. I just made sure to hydrate well with plenty of water!

There were many spirits to choose from. Overall it seemed like a really cool place to hang and grab a drink.

The race was starting at 8AM the next morning and the starting line/finish area was a short walk from our hotel. We left at around 7:30 and walked in the freezing cold. The high was supposed to be 18 degrees so it was pretty cold at 7:30am–I actually didn’t even look at the temp because I didn’t want to get discouraged. I think it was the coldest I’ve run in all season, which is funny because now it is actually Spring. At the start I met up with my friends Val and Jona who were also running! Jona and I decided to try to run some of the race together.

Yes, it was cold.

 

This was Jordan’s first time spectating a race. He was awesome for standing out there despite the freezing temps! 🙂

I had no goals for this race. I was just planning on using it as training run. But Jordan asked me what my best possible finish time would be and I told him 2:10, and that was if the run was going fantastic. I told him I doubt I would run that fast. So during the race I decided not to look at my pace at all and just run by feel. Turns out that was an really good decision!

Race Stats

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I lost Jona during the first big hill at around mile 2. She told me there were hills on the course but I really didn’t pay any mind–I didn’t even look at the course elevation in fear that the hills were going suck, sometimes I think its better when I don’t know what’s coming. Surprisingly they didn’t kill me and I felt really great during the race. The only time I walked was to eat Gu and drink water. I ate two–one at mile 2 because my stomach was growling, and one later around mile 8.

My pace stayed under a 10 minute mile until Mile 10. Darn! But there was even an 8:52 mile thrown in there which I still can’t even believe I did.

Overall, I really enjoyed this race! I finished in 2:09:47, for an average of 9:54 per mile. I am very happy with that for a tough course!

The race medal was awesome too.

The post-race party was located inside at the Oncenter. This was really nice because it was extremely cold out! If it were outside, everyone would have frozen! They had a lot of tables for people to sit at and eat their post-race snacks. I grabbed a chocolate milk and a yogurt to refuel with. They get an A for post-race party. And the race itself was extremely organized, overall I was extremely impressed!

Our hotel had a late checkout, so I got to go back and shower before heading to brunch. Jordan and I drove over to Lemoyne College to pick up my cousin and the three of us met Val at Funk n’ Waffles on the Syracuse University campus! This place was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, so we knew it had to be decent!

I went with the waffle with eggs and bacon, and it was delicious. It hit the spot after the half marathon! Very tasty when paired with a Magic Hat #9. 😉

And that concluded my first half marathon of 2015!