It started on Saturday morning. I headed out to Rochester to meet up with my friend D then we headed out to Utica. We got to the race expo and tried to find where packet pickup was. Since it was supposed to rain they had moved the packets from inside a tent to some garage near the start which was about half a mile away. So a bunch of us were standing there trying to figure out where to go to get them. The volunteers were very helpful and let us get our goody bags first before heading over there. They just asked us to please remove the goody bag tag on our bib and not to get another one. That was fine with me. The goody bags consisted of a Walmart reusable bag and a pint glass. I'm glad they didn't get us the regular mass of papers and junk but I was expecting a little more. Oh well. Not a big deal.
So goody bags in hand D and I headed over to find the packet pickup. We realized when we got there that we took the long way. But it was the most straight forward for someone to explain. We also got to pass the start and I got to take this "lovely" photo.
We made it to the packet pickup and there was a mass of people because they were still setting everything up. We eventually got in the garage and got our packets. I also happened to see a coworker through the crowd so we chatted for a bit. Then D and I walked back to the car. We had a few steps to get back to the car and it started to rain. Good Timing! We headed back to Syracuse where her parents live and we were staying for the night. It's about an hour drive so not too bad.
We woke up bright and early (4:50) Sunday morning, got ready, and left by 5:30. I ate in the car, D had eaten before we left. I just had some dry Special K Strawberry (or Red Berries?). I realized I didn't bring any Clif Shot Blocks or Luna Moons. So I planned on drinking Gatorade during the race. I usually drink mostly water during races so that I'm not all sticky when I inevitably spill it all over myself.
We got into Utica around 6:30 and headed to the finish. We decided to park near the finish and take the shuttle to the start instead of having to worry about it later. We found some random overpass to park under. People we parking everywhere. Luckily it was a Sunday and I doubt any businesses were open.
Here's a photo we took before we left the car:
We started walking in the direction we thought we should go. We saw a police officer and asked him where the shuttle pickup was. He knew exactly where the closest one was and gave us directions. I love that people actually knew where things were. In Buffalo I doubt the officer would have known.
We got to the shuttle pickup around 7:00 and there were a lot of people but the buses were coming every 2-3 minutes so the line moved really fast.
We got to the start and threw our jackets in my bag and dropped it of at the baggage truck. Then headed over to the porta potties. The line was long and wasn't moving very quickly. We finally got there and luckily mine had toilet paper. D wasn't as lucky :(.
We got to our starting corral (the last one) 2 minutes before the start. It took us 11 minutes to get to the starting line anyway so it didn't really matter. We were finally off and it was going well. HIs and LOWs from the race:
- All the people cheering pretty much the whole way
- Lots of music. Bands, belly dancers, etc
- Hoses and "rain machines"
- Spectators handing out water and ice
- Spectators handing out popsicles
- Passing the Utica Zoo and seeing a Donkey. The zookeepers had brought it out to the sidewalk.
- Running up a hill and being able to see the top then making a left turn and running up an even steeper hill
- Running up hill and seeing people to your right, across a golf course, running downhill. However, they were a lot higher up then we were.
- The hill to get to the highest point was gradual and not as bad as we thought it would be
- The downhills :)
- Fireman hitting the horn on the fire truck and laughing when everyone jumped
It was a great race. The first half was slow for us. And it took me a while to start feeling good. Once we hit the downhill at the highest point of the race we cruised doing well under 10 minute/mile pace. We kept that pace the rest of the way except on a few hill and when we walked to drink water.
The crowd support was great and I solved my lack of block shots problem by splitting a popsicle with D.
We finished in 1:35:03. Not a PR for me but with all the hills I wasn't expecting one. For me it was a fun race. For D it was the longest race she's ever done! She ran track in high school and college as well as cross country a few years but had never run more than 6 or so miles in a race. She was tired but excited and is even planning on doing a Half Marathon in September. She said, "It's only 4 more miles". Yay!
We gave our chips back and got our finishers pin and started walking with the crowd. We figured out where we were and where the car was so we went back to the car to change into flip flops and get my camera. Here is us back at the car:
We headed back over to the party and the mass of people. We got my bag and BEER :). I got a pair of sweatpants that have the Boilermaker logo and I bought D a hat since she drove us around all weekend and wouldn't take gas/toll money.We finally found food (we passed it the first time). They only had sandwiches left but at least it was food. We walked around for a while. I got another beer and we enjoyed the music. Then headed back to the car and back to Syracuse. Then Rochester and me back to Buffalo.
It was a great weekend and a great race. I would definitely do that race again. I might even spring to say in Utica though driving from Syracuse wasn't bad at all. Here are some more pictures from the post race party.
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