Finally!

After struggling through most of 2014 I finally had a race that I felt good about so a huge thank you to the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon.

With last week’s major decisions about running the NJ Marathon behind me I really only had one goal for the race and that was to have fun. Consider that goal accomplished plus some other things.

Approaching the highest point of the race, on a nice trail, with amazing views of the Hudson River. (c) Stacey Cooper

Way back in January my buddy Doreen called up and suggested we run the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon. Unbeknownst to her this was a race I had been wanting to do for the past couple of years. The race is in the county where I live and is incredibly scenic. I think I did mention something about it being hilly but we were on board.

At some point last week I realized that this would be my 20th half marathon and given my crummy winter running season I knew I had to take pressure off of myself and just enjoy this for what it was — a fun race with my best buddy. And that it was.

But perhaps by taking that pressure of the marathon off myself, just letting go, and slightly warmer temps, I really had a great race.

At three miles in I immediately thought that this was one of the beautiful races I have ever run so a thank you to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. I am insanely jealous of the people who get to run hear on a regular basis. Also, imagine how awesome I would be with all that hill work!

There were quite a few steep hills but what really was great was that almost every downhill portion was gradual and long. This allowed me to make up some a lot of time and get into a comfortable running rhythm. One great portion of this was Phelps Way/NY Route 117. I made up a huge amount of time on this section a felt amazing here.

I ended up being 5 minutes off my half marathon PR which is so better than the 12 and 13 minutes off that I had been for Miami and the NYC Half. If I ran this race last week with these conditions I would probably still be signed up for the marathon. But I’m not and I’m so relieved not to be.

Sleepy Hollow proved to be exactly what I needed not only for my running, but emotionally. I can’t wait to run this again next year!