2012 Sleepy Hollow 10k Race Report

This weekend I did the 3rd Annual Sleepy Hollow 10k. In 2010 I participated in the inaugural running of this race and it was really cool to see how it's grown. In 2010 there were around 250 runners; this year there were nearly 900! In 2010 there were 2 porta-potties at the start; this year there were at least 10. The best part is that even with such phenomenal growth, the race has retained it's small town community appeal.

The race t-shirt.

With the New York Marathon just two weeks away, this was a tune-up race, but I was still really excited for it. I signed up for the race with one of my running friends, Helen, who happens to have a car so we got to drive to the start. Living in NYC, driving to any race is a huge luxury and it was sure nice to rock out to quality tunes on the way.

Packet pick-up was a breeze in spite of the larger numbers and they also had a bag check. After changing into our racing flats, Helen and I did a nice warm-up mile through the neighborhood. By the time we got back, the starting line was looking crowded so we hurried to find spots near the front. It looked like a faster crowd than before but I still figured we'd do pretty well overall.

Me, on the final hill.

After the national anthem and an appearance by the headless horseman, we were off. The first mile, as I remembered, has a lot of downhill and it was tempting to go fast--I did, cruising through in 6:06. After mile 1 there's a significant downhill (that becomes an uphill later) before the course passes the Old Dutch Church and turns into the residential neighborhood of Phillipse Manor.

This section, the bulk of the race, is full of turns and hills. Just looking at my splits you can see how steep the hills were. Mile 2 was a speedy 6:08, while miles 3, 4, and 5 were 6:28, 6:27, 6:29 respectively. No matter how much downhill there was in a given mile it couldn't completely make up for the steep climbs.

For much of the race I was running with or near three runners from NYAC, a guy and the two lead females. They were friendly and we chatted a bit, plus I got to pretend that the applause for the lead females was also for me (though there was plenty of cheering for everyone).

By the time we finished mile 5, most of the hills were out of the way. That's how I managed a 6:08 mile 6 (my same pace for that mile in 2010!). Of course, the steep downhill from just after mile 1 becomes a steep uphill at the end of the race as we return towards the finish. I knew this hill was coming and had mentally prepared for it but it still sucked. You could hear the cheers from the finish line, though, which helped a bit.

Just after I crested the hill another runner edged past me. I was having none of it so I surged and managed to pass him again just before crossing the finish line. Good enough for a 39:15 finish, 13th place overall, and 3rd in the my age group.

My friend Helen crossed a couple minutes after me and we headed in search of the delicious donuts I remembered from 2010. There were plenty of them, though we restrained ourselves and did a cool-down along the course so we could see more of the costumes. We even saw a celebrity of sorts:

We both had a ton of fun and I highly recommend this race to anyone looking for a good time (though definitely not a PR). Of course, the caramel apple I had later in morning may have been even better than the race itself.

That's my happy face, I swear!

While the weather was a bit warm for a race, it was perfect for exploring Sleepy Hollow and neighboring Tarrytown. All in all, a great fall day!

Note: The first three photos in this post are from Rivertown Runners; the last two photos in this post are from my friend Helen.

2010 Sleepy Hollow 10k Race Report

I've got NYC coming up in two weeks, so today's 10K was really just a tune-up race. I want to go hard--which is why I picked such a short distance--so I could see where I'm at overall for deciding my pacing strategy.

The race began in Tarrytown which is a small town in Westchester about 30 minutes from NYC by train. My friend and I got there at 8:10 for the 9am start. As we were walking from the train station to the start, a volunteer pulled over in her car to make sure we knew how to get there. Super friendly!

Pick-up was in the center of town in the school parking lot and getting numbers and t-shirts was super easy, though there was a bit of a line for the bathroom with only two port-o-potties. There were good tunes blasting and everyone seemed to know each other. Some people were in costume and it just had a really good community vibe. The course map is a good example of how hometown the whole thing was:

When it was almost time to start I did a couple quick strides and lined up. It's always hard to tell where to stand at these things because you never know who is fast, and who just thinks he's fast. When they sounded the horn, I realized I was stuck behind a lot of people. We did a little loop that helped me get around some slower runners and then we passed the start line again and started down a sharp downhill.

This race was all hills! Ups and downs, but lots of them.

Around mile 1, when we were turning a corner, a moving car got in the way! I turned to the guy behind me and said "Kind of hard to run the tangents with moving vehicles!" He laughed.

After the first mile or so we headed into Sleepy Hollow (we'd been in Tarrytown) and the course got a lot more scenic, though the hills go tougher. We ran past several beautiful parks and there were families out on their front lawns cheering on the runners. Lots of the houses were decorated for Halloween too! Around Mile 3 this guy caught up with me and we ran together for a while. He warned me about some of the more savage hills coming up. On one of them, he fell back a little as I surged forward.

I hadn't seen any mile markers and I had no idea how many people were ahead of me since I could only see two runners because of how winding the course was. The first mile marker I saw was Mile 5, at that point my watch said 31:08.

I ran mile 6 in 6:08, but the final .2 was straight up a steep hill. There was no sprinting up this one, though as soon as it started to level (with maybe 200 yards to go) I gave my best kick and crossed the finish line in 7th place at 38:43. Less than 20 seconds from my PR which was on my home turf in Central Park.

Girl scouts were handing out water as I made my way over to my bag and I got a doughnut from a volunteer. I'm not sure what kind it was, but it was the BEST doughnut ever! She said something about "buttermilk" and "homemade;" I just know I devoured it!

After putting on pants and long sleeves, I headed back to the finish to watch others cross. I saw my friend Lisa cross looking good (if tired) a few minutes later. She hasn't run in quite a while so I was super-proud of her for finishing. Anyway, to keep it short, we spent the rest of the morning exploring Sleepy Hollow and getting in the Halloween spirit.