York YMCA Half Marathon May 7, 2023
I (Mrs. PaDisneyCouple) signed up for this race last year but because of a minor injury I deferred it to this year. My most recent Half was WDW 2020 where I PR’d at 2:35. My only other races since then were a virtual 5k in 2020 and Turkey Trot 5k last year. I have not been running much in the past few years, so my goal was 3 hours. I used the plan I got from
@DopeyBadger last year. Based on my Turkey Trot time the planned goal of 2:54 (pace 13:19) was optimistic, but we decided to keep the plan as-is. I wanted to run 4 days per week and based on my low volume of running prior to starting the plan, my longest run was 8 miles. This caused me some concern about being able to maintain my pace for the entire race. My training went well. No missed workouts, and the only one that I altered was on April 30th because halfway through I was drenched from the rain. I even nailed the 10k race that he put in my plan which I chose to do on my own because there were no good options for an in-person race.
The race was well organized with good communication prior to the event. The deferral process was very easy. I did packet pick up the day before and it was very quick. Race parking was close and plentiful. There were water/nutrition/bathroom stops approximately every 2 miles, with medical personnel at mile 4 and the finish line. There were also several people patrolling on bikes and HAM radio operators. The course was out and back on the York County Rail Trail. The surface is crushed stone with an imperceptible elevation increase during the outbound and decrease on the inbound.
The race started at 7 am and then had a phased start every 10 minutes from 7:10 to 7:50. I had planned to start at 7:10 so I could have plenty of room to run/walk, but I left my house later than planned and started at 7:27. My first mile was 1 minute slower than goal pace but I knew I would make it up later. My first surprise came around 1.4 miles in: Sean was off to the left side of the trail with Austin. I was happy to see them but did not stop. My speed increased slightly during mile 2. Then a lady passed me and I thought maybe I could pace off of her. I knew her pace was a little too fast for me as she pulled away. When I saw her again after mile 4, she was about 1/10th mile ahead of me and I was able to keep pace with her. I was gradually able to get closer and passed her around mile 7. My second surprise came around mile 8: Sean was running towards me (without Austin). I recognized him immediately. He was wearing the shirt from last year’s race. Sean ran with me about 3.5 miles before turning around to go back to where he parked. He ran behind me to guarantee that I set the pace. Also, I didn’t need to worry about disturbing anyone who may be behind me when transitioned to my walking intervals. He even took my Sheetz order before he turned around: iced coffee, Shmiscuit with 2 egg patties, sausage, and cheddar cheese for me to eat when I got home. A passing marathoner overheard this conversation and laughed. I picked up more speed during the last mile and finished with a time of 2:46:57 and pace of 12:45 per mile. At the finish we were given a medal and a towel emblazoned with Gatorade all over it.
I snacked on a banana and orange slices then grabbed an Italian wrap, chocolate milk, water, and BBQ potato chips before heading to my car and returning home. They also had lemonade and Iced tea.
I enjoyed this race and will definitely consider doing it again. I am very familiar with the Rail Trail, as I run on it regularly. The crushed stone is my favorite surface to run on. This race is very easy to get to; especially on a Sunday morning.