3/22/2015 - Syracuse Half Marathon

3/22/2015: 13.21 miles, 1:47:53, xx, 16F, 67% RH, 11 mph NNW wind, wind chill 3F, sunny

This was my first running of the 3rd annual Syracuse Half. I wondered what the attraction was so I had registered back in December for this race before it sold out. There were 3500 runners registered.

The wake up call at our room at the Maplewood Inn where we had spent the night was 6AM.

All the gear laid out the night before .... it was a good idea.

I had laid out all my my running stuff the night before. Good idea! I checked the temp and the weather outside. The temp had fallen from 41F the night before to 18F. An inch of snow had fallen overnight. Yeah ... I decided to go with most of my cold wear gear. My usual: CW-X tights, Sugoi heavy long sleeve tech, a short sleeve tech, 1/4 zip Brooks pullover, full balaclava, Brooks beanie and my ski mittens. I wore my New Balance 860 road shoes and Darn Tough socks. The Maplewood Inn opened up their breakfast early for us, another runner and a basketball team ... which was very nice of them.

We checked out and got on the road at 7:10AM for the short 7 minute trip to the OnCenter. Well ... it wasn't a 7 minute trip. 

Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on I-81S trying to get off at the Harrison St exit for the OnCenter

We were at a dead stop about 3/4 mile from the Harrison St exit off of I-81S and crawled in bumper to bumper traffic the rest of the way for 30 minutes. We parked at 7:50AM and walked the rest of the way. I walked ahead to get there quickly. The OnCenter was packed inside. Soon I heard word that the race had been delayed for 15 minutes. This was an excellent move by the race organizers. I tried to find an bathroom inside the OnCenter but gave up and went to wait in line for an outside PortaPotty. I gave up on that need about 8 minutes before the race start. I kind of knew I would need one during the race. I saw Christine before the race and gave her a quick kiss for luck.

The Syracuse Half had emailed out two different ways of tracking runners: Xacte and RaceJoy. I had signed up for both. Xacte had timing mats at 5K, 10K, 15K and the finish. You could set up Xacte to email, text, post to Twitter or Facebook your times. I chose to text Christine and my kids along with a post to my Facebook wall. RaceJoy was a bit more involved. It was a Google Play and App Store app. I loaded it to my Iphone and set it up for the Syracuse Half. Then I loaded it on Christine's LG G2 and set it up to track me. I activated tracking about 15 minutes before the race. This was wrong since that threw off its pace and time to finish calculations. I should have activated it at the race start. I didn't do this because I thought that would be a bit more dicey since I would have to start RaceJoy, stow my Iphone, put on my ski mittens and safely start up my run. But ... Christine did like looking at RaceJoy to know exactly where I was on the course ... so Xacte and RaceJoy both worked well.


I got to my usual spot in the race lineup but just a bit farther back. I saw Bill Beyerbach, Heather Danielson and Chris Patterson and said "Hi". And .... we were off! I had not stretched or warmed up (stupid move) so I was stiff and started slow. I had looked at a map of the course and knew that we meandered all over. Right after the first turn or two, we headed up a long hill. The first mile was still on the hill.

Soon after the start - totally unauthorized from T Wellot Photography

Here is what I remember of the race. I ran pretty well for the first 5 miles then I felt a tightness in my thighs. I started to do a run/tiny walk. I tried to do the tiny walk on the many tiny uphills after a turn ... and there were a lot of turns (I heard 31). I stopped at a PortaPotty just after the 3rd aid station at mile 7. I was tying my tights back up when a woman opened the door ... luckily I had already taken care of my business! I caught up to and passed Bill. I told him that I wasn't too well and was doing a run/walk. He yelled behind me, "So when is the walk coming?" and runners around him laughed. Well, I was on a downhill and I didn't walk on downhills. I remember a nice long downhill. Some signs: "As you pass, we're checking out your ass!", "Why do all the cute ones run away?", "13.1 for a banana? and "Your High School Gym Teacher Would Be So Proud". A woman with a blonde ponytail had "Your Pace or Mine?" on the back of her jacket ... I passed her. I was getting tired. I knew I was getting close but could only hold a run for about a 1/2 mile at a time. I could see the finish ... run ... 13 miles ... OK, a sprint is gonna hurt ... a yell that must have been Christine to my left ... time under 1:48 ... finish ... medal around my neck!

Finish line - totally unauthorized from T Wellot Photography

Finished - photo courtesy of Christine

A few seconds later - photo courtesy of Christine

A selfie with the medal!

A better picture with the medal - photo courtesy of a random woman who took the pic using my Iphone

I met up with Christine and we headed inside the OnCenter for a great post-race experience. The grub was the usual along with chocolate milk, Greek yogurt, pancakes, sausage link and bacon! The convention floor was set up with a band and loads of circular tables with 10 chairs each. We sat with Heather and Chris. Heather placed 3rd in her age group and received a plaque!

Heather ran a 1:36:20, 7:22 pace, 3rd out of 198 in her 40-44 age group

We hung out for a long time before we walked back to the Equinox. I fired up the Onstar and it led us on the road to I-81N ... along with everyone else. So ... I pulled a U-turn and drove the other direction until Onstar started to led us to I-690W (which had little traffic) and I-90W toward Rochester. But ... the Onstar expires on 3/28. I haven't decided what level of coverage to get yet.

I wore my sweet Syracuse Half medal and 1/4 zip pullover all day! - photo courtesy of Christine

Soon we were home, the coffee was brewed, our feet up on the couch and we vegged the rest of the day. Another half marathon in my book ... my 16th. The Syracuse Half was very well run and I will definitely be back. Staying overnight in Syracuse was definitely a good move ... though I would definitely avoid I-81S and get to the OnCenter a different way next time.

Later, leonetiming.com had the results posted. I did OK. My gun time was 1:47:53 (my fastest of the 3 half marathons I have run in 2015), 8:15 pace, 432nd out of 2773, 20th out of 89 in my M55-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 8:21, 8:17, 7:50, 7:40, 8:12, 8:28, 8:08, 8:55, 7:30 (nice downhill), 8:03, 8:16, 8:15, 8:20 with a top pace of 6:03 as I sprinted into the finish.

I looked at the times and noted the following from Rochester NY. Bill Beyerbach ran a 1:53:00, 33/89 in our M55-59 age group. Heather Danielson ran a 1:36:20, 7:22 pace, 3/298 in her F40-44 age group. Her fiance, Chris Patterson, also ran a 1:36:20, 7:22 pace, 26/81 in his M25-29 age group. Joe Ciecierega ran a PR, 1:37:53, 16/136 in his M40-44 age group. His girlfriend, Tina Pellegrin, ran a 2:53:52 while suffering from a head cold. Mike Reif, coach of GVH, ran a 1:38:37, and won his M65-69 age group. Steve Levitsky ran a 1:40:23, 15/118 in his M45-49 age group. Bambi Jasmin ran a 1:48:54, 22/298 in her F40-44 age group. Amy Lord ran a 2:48:31.

All in all, a great way to spend a frosty March morning in Syracuse NY!