Turning Stone Races 2013

The last time I ran the Turning Stone Half Marathon was in 2011.  It wasn’t one of my best races.  I took my time and enjoyed the scenic country route a little too much.  This year was different.  This Turning Stone half was my marathon predictor for Rochester in September.

Instead of keeping you in suspense, I had a PR in today’s race.  For the rest of the story, read on.

Ted signed up last minute since he had a long run on schedule and thought the easiest way to do the miles would be in a race where there was a lot of water and support.

We began the day by taking the dogs on a 2 mile warm up run.  The weather was gorgeous, 54 degrees when we arrived at the Turning Stone by 7:30 am.  Race start for the half was at 8 am, the 10k went off at 8:30 am.  The sun was shining on us all as we lined up in the shoot ready to start our trek through country roads and a gently rolling course.

At the first mile, my time was 7:54.  That was fast for me and I wondered when my body would force my pace to slow.  There is a long, gradual incline within the first 2 miles.  It didn’t feel as bad this year as it did in 2011.  I knew there was a nice recovery down hill once we turned the corner at the top. More gentle hills and dips for the remainder of the course.

Runners were spread out and the road wide enough so no one was in anyone’s way.  I stayed with the same 3 guys throughout the entire race.  It wasn’t intentional but I did have my eye on anyone I ran with for a few minutes wondering if they would be my pacer.  On this day, it just turned out that the four of us would stay together for 12 of the 13.1 miles.

My pace never slowed very much.  I can honestly boast that I ran a great tempo run today as a speed session for the week.  I haven’t hit my paces at all during this training season so this was an accomplishment.

Water/Gatorade stations were every 2 miles.  There was one GU gel station at about 7 miles.  Not a lot of spectators but the ones out there were terrific.  A lot of police making sure traffic was in control since roads were only sectioned off by orange cones.  The camber of the road was  troublesome for me since I’m sensitive to it but since the traffic wasn’t heavy, I was able to get into the center and on even pavement for most of the run.

Finish Time:  1:43:04  A new personal record (PR!).  7:52 pace. 1st of 22, 50 of 421 finishers  That translates into a Regional Competitor and UNDER a 3:40 marathon.  Well… we all know to take that with a grain of salt. 

Age group win.

But what about TED!

He had a terrific race but had a few aches and pains.

While waiting for Ted to cross the line, I saw some interesting runners.

Flag man.  There was also a girl who carried the American Flag the entire race.

The patriotic shirt

There were runners pushing wheel chair disabled athletes over the line. Now THAT’S inspiring!

I saw Ted and followed him through.  After crossing that finish line he said “are you ready to continue our run?”  What a crazy man.

We ran the cushioned path around the Turning Stone complex.  We ran it slow and covered about 1.6 more miles.  Ted said his energy level was good but he had foot pain that stopped us before completing 2 full miles.

What a great race.  It’s just a shame it doesn’t get more attention.  There could be so much more to this race.  The expo could be bigger. There was NO expo. Simply a table for Arbonne (a super product – there should have been samples in our goodie bags) and a vendor for running apparel and gear.

I used my faithful Arbonne sunscreen before the race.  A life saver!

It would be nice to have more of an expo with multiple vendors, as well as spectator zones, and massage tables for after the race (there are 2 spas at the Turning Stone complex!).

There was a nice pancake breakfast before awards.  Pancakes, French Toast, Bagels, Yogurt, Bananas, Coffee, Chocolate milk.

Another PR, another tired and hurting husband.  Where is THAT swim spa. I think we could have used it today!

Joanne