Westchester Running Festival half-marathon

Halfway through the Hal Higdon marathon training program, which I have faithfully used for each race, it is recommended to run a half-marathon race as a fitness test. Though the marathon for which I was training suddenly did not exist, I decided to continue the training as prescribed and I found the Westchester Running Festival set for Oct. 7.

Taking place in White Plains, N.Y., around 35 miles from home, it was a mid-sized, well-organized event that also included a quarter-marathon.

Making sure to get there early to pick up my packet and get myself ready, I drove in the dark of morning and got to the Westchester County Center at the crack of dawn, giving myself plenty of time to stretch and take a short warm-up jog.

The course seemed boring on paper - 6.5 miles south then back north again on the Bronx River Parkway. Remembering the Suffolk County Half-Marathon last year (also a highway out-and-back), I was prepared for a boring course.

I was pleasantly surprised. That area of the BRP was almost, dare I say, scenic, with plenty of trees, streams and trails along the side of the road and (duh) the Bronx River. And because it is a divided highway, the return trip was like being on a different road altogether.

Not so pleasantly surprising were the hills. In the second mile there was a long, steep downhill. I said to the person next to me, "Oh great, we have to run UP this hill in Mile 12."

The hills continued to roll and I implemented a strategy I had been testing in training - pushing hard up the hills and easing back significantly on the way down.

Two other new strategies for this race involved freeing myself of two major crutches - a stopwatch and a Gatorade bottle. Instead of obsessing over how close to my 6:24 PR pace I was with each mile, I ran solely on feel. On the flat sections, I trusted myself to know when I was lagging and when I was pushing too hard. And rather than carry my own bottle to hydrate at my own intervals, I took advantage of the aid stations for a change.

The result? Despite the expected hell of the hill in Mile 12, I cranked out my second-best half-marathon of the eight I have run in the past five years, pulling off a 1:26:28. Considering that I was not even specifically doing half-marathon training, I would call it a rousing success. Coming off of a PR from 10 months prior, the fact that I ran my two best half-marathons within a year at 37 and 38 years old, I could not ask for more.

Sore from pushing up those hills, I also took advantage of a free massage, even as it started to rain. Plus, there was plenty of post-race food, not to mention lots of good vibes.

It was an excellent race experience on a (mostly) beautiful October morning in New York.