Lucky #7! The Hudson Valley Marathon wasn’t originally on my list for the year, but I’ve had my eye on it for a while since it’s so close to home. With my 22-mile training run for Buffalo coming up, I figured a flat, fast course would be perfect to get the miles in while taking advantage of the bathrooms and water stops. My plan was to run the 22 miles at an easy pace and, if necessary, walk or run the last 4 miles.
Originally, I was looking to sign up for Maine Coast Marathon. After procrastinating, I realized the race was sold out. Hudson Valley was the same weekend, so I quickly signed up without second thought.
I’d been dealing with a slight pain in my left foot and hip for the past few weeks, so I was nervous about tackling 26 miles before Buffalo. I also had a 5k planned with my niece for her Girls on the Run program, plus pacing the 2:15 mark in the Mystic Half Marathon before Buffalo. Thankfully, after Cheshire, my foot felt good. My main goal for Hudson Valley was simply to log the miles and finish comfortably without injury.
Hudson Valley is a small race. The course includes a 5k, half marathon, and full marathon. The majority of runners make up the half marathon group. The course runs over the Hudson Valley Walkway with beautiful scenic views of the Hudson River and Mid-Hudson Bridge. It continues onto the Dutchess Rail Trail where we turn around at the 13.1 mark, with the half marathoners turning around at the 6.55 mark. There is little crowd support and the majority of the race you are in the woods on a paved path. If you know me, then this is a course nightmare for me. In and out, bike path, and no crowd support. HA!
Bib Pick Up: The race is hosted by Alpha Win. We had 2 options for bib pick up. We could pick up Saturday afternoon at the Vendor Expo, or as they strongly encouraged, we could pick up Friday afternoon at the Poughkeepsie Fleet Feet. I had a rare Saturday off from work and wanted to enjoy the day relaxing so I opted for the Friday bib pick up. I worked a half day and made the hour trek out to Fleet Feet. I figured I would run in, grab my bib, purchase some gels, head back and be home before 5pm. Wrong. The line for bib pick up was out the door and circled down the sidewalk. I waited in line for over an hour to get through the door. Halfway through my wait, I started chatting with the girl behind me. She was a new runner and running the 5k. She had just told me she finally reached 6 miles and wanted to keep pushing her distance. I recommended a few good half marathons for her to look into. I did not see her Sunday morning, but I hope she did well!
I want to point out that Fleet Feet had no involvement with this race other than providing space for bib pick-up. I’ve never experienced such a long line for bib pick-up before, and when I finally reached the front, there was just one poor girl handling check-ins, t-shirts, and bags for everyone. Hopefully, they can recruit more volunteers in the future to make the process faster.
Our swag included a nice race day t-shirt, a 26.2 sticker and an energy drink. I love my t-shirt! I grabbed my things, grabbed some fuel and headed back home in upstate traffic.
Race Morning: The Hudson Valley Walkway is about an hour and 5 min from my house. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to find parking, use the restroom and drop off my gear bag. I woke up at 4am and did my normal race morning routine. The night before, we had an event catered at our local Fire Department. As soon as we got home, I had to use the bathroom and was nervous I would be in trouble for the race. However, everything seemed normal as the morning went on.
I headed out the door just before 5am and made the drive out to Hudson by myself. As sad as it sounds, I chose not to have anyone come with me. I really wanted to run and take my time, especially at the finish and not worry about rushing to find family and friends. I wanted my free beer and to take my time. I put the walkway address into my GPS; they warned us that the parking lot is filled by 6:30 so I wanted to make sure I left plenty of time to get a space. Well, I think everyone else had the same thought because as soon I as approached the race traffic, they were directing everyone to turn back and park at the Tractor Supply. It was about a mile walk to the start and all I could think was that the big downhill I was walking was not going to be fun on the way back after 26 miles.
The morning started off chilly at about 35 degrees. Luckily, I always keep a heat shield in my gear check bag, so I pulled that out and wrapped myself up for the walk. I walked into Runner’s Village and made my way to the porta-potties. Surprisingly there was no line, and the toilets were new and clean! I hung around and kept warm for a bit then made my way over to gear check. I thought I would quickly drop off my bag and get into my corral. Wrong again. I looked back and there is another line leading out the tent. It was 20 minutes to start, and the line did not seem to be moving. Other runners around me were getting nervous as well. I saw people stashing their bags in the woods and running to their corral. Soon enough, the line moved. I really don’t understand what the holdup was because I was out in 2 seconds. Again, hopefully they can recruit some more volunteers for next year.
The start line is an open corral with options for different times ranging hour to hour. I stuck myself in the 4:00-5:00 corral knowing I was going to take it slow. I stood there shivering, while I look to my left and see a man next to me wearing a bib with the number “1111”. I had been seeing angel numbers all morning and knew that was a final sign that my dad was wishing me luck that morning. My race jitters instantly eased.
The race starts at 7am with 1.28 miles over the Hudson Walkway. You get a beautiful view over the water and in the early morning you get to see the Mid-Hudson bridge lit up. After we crossed the walkway, I turned on my playlist and eased into my pace. It is so easy to get caught up in the race pace of others and I knew I did not want to go fast so I had to keep myself from feeding off the energy.
I watched as the pacers sped past me, with others running by at a pace I knew I could match. It’s a strange feeling to hold yourself back, especially in race; but it made me realize that every runner is out there for their own reason, moving at a pace for reasons we can’t truly know.
The miles went by slow and very boring. I am a runner that tends to need turns and views in my courses to keep my mind busy. This race was lots of woods for 13 straight miles. That also left little crowd support to get you through. I broke my distance into chunks of my fueling distance. I knew I was going to take a gel every 45-50 minutes, so I kept telling myself, “Just another 5 miles”. I also knew there was a water stop every 2 miles, so I used that as another trick to break the distance into chunks.
I stopped twice to use the bathroom and luckily with there being so few marathoners, the bathrooms were pretty much clean and no lines at all which helped with my time.
It felt like forever to get to the halfway mark but once we hit the turnaround, I took a short break to take some salt and stretch out my hips that were beginning to get tight. At this point I was starting to see others walking and starting to cramp up. I tried not to let my own thoughts get to me and took off.
I counted down as my watch finally hit 22 miles. I knew at this point, my training miles were complete, and I could handle the last 4 however I chose. I started off walking the first 2 min and running the rest of the mile until around mile 24.5. A guy I had been pacing behind for quite some time turned to see me walking and fist bumped me and said “Less than 2 miles left, we got this! Let’s go!” I’m thinking to myself, I don’t need to do this but then said to myself, “You know what? Hell yeah.” So, I picked up the pace and ran towards the walkway.
The race ends the same way it began, by crossing over the walkway to the finish line. The walkway at this point was opened to the public. There were multiple spectators left cheering on runners: “Just get over the walkway and you’re done!” I came up behind a girl with who I assume was her boyfriend/husband who ran beside her, holding a sign for her, right to the finish. This wasn’t my race, so I backed off my pace to make sure they got a good photo at the end.
I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 4:13:26. The end of Runner’s Village was filled with free beers and vendors. I grabbed a free beer, bought a cozy Run Upstate sweatshirt and got my picture taken by someone standing by. I love my new sweatshirt!
I made the mile trek back to the Tractor Supply parking lot. The walk back up the hill did indeed suck as much as I was anticipating.
Would I run this race again? Maybe again for a training run or a qualifying time. I would be interested in the half marathon just for a fun race. Next up: Buffalove!
Fuel: Huma Gel every 45-50 minutes
Pre race dinner: Rice pilaf, prime rib, dinner roll catered event
Pre race AM fuel: Coffee and half bagel with butter
Favorite sign on course: “My mom’s not a regular mom, she’s a fast mom!”
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