HMRRC Winter Marathon... Race Ratings (#24)

Tagline: "Lowest Entry Fee for a FAST course"
Ratings...
2010 HMRRC Winter Marathon ~ February 21, 2010
Albany, NY ~ SUNY Albany Campus
Registration Fee: $15 early ($25 late). $5 Discount for HMRRC members
Runners: 90 in the marathon (Plus relay teams)
Available Races: Marathon and 3-Person Marathon Relay
Average Finish Time: 3:53:11
BQ %: 36.7% (Second best BQ% race-- the 3rd is the HMRRC Fall Marathon)
Weather: "Cloudy, 34 degrees, 55 percent humidity, Wind: 13 mph WNW"

Overall Race Rating (weighted): 4.2/5.0

Average Calculated Rating: 4.0/5.0

~ Great race with the lowest entry fee! This is definitely a race with some serious runners looking for a BQ time. Don't go for a scenic course, but if you're looking for a fast course with great support this is it.

Race Director: Let's place race director...
~ The only thing this race really lacked was an additional port-a-john (there may have been one there, but I didn't see it) and a medal! If I'm running 26.2 miles I wants a medal (even if that means paying $5 more. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this race and hope to run it again and try for another PR.

Event Organization: 4.0/5.0 (now broken into 2 parts, see below as well) As far as "event organization" we'll go ahead and include things like Host hotel, website use, ease of travel to the event and to the actual race, etc.
Distance from Airport to Expo/Race: 7 Miles (10 min)
Rental Car Required: Yes
~ Mail in app's only! If you're like me and have only snail-mailed twice in your life this isn't ideal (don't worry, MB sent it in for me). You can also sign up on race day so no worries. This is a very simple race with a simple race site but they give you all the necessary information including weather, travel, and detailed course information. They provide all the historical results in one place. The race is very close to the airport along with hotels if you need one.

Race Organization: 4.2/5.0

~ The race is held at SUNY Albany (state univerysity) so you have space indoors to stay warm, stretch, use the resti, etc. They also have bagels and drinks before the race if you're hungry. This is a looped course (most loops about 5.7 miles) so the start/stop/loop turn around, there is a port-a-john, drinks, cheering section and relay hand-off spot. There was another water stop about halfway through the loop with gatorade and water, so you had water about every 3 miles. I don't believe there was another port-a-john stop besides the one at the loop end. The race also did not have GU provided, but for the entry fee I didn't really expect it. Also, with the course being looped you could leave all your GU needs at the turn around or with friends.
~Post Race Food: (new sub catagory) Food before AND after. Post race food had a little of everything-- pizza, cookies, snacks, soup, drinks, anything you need. And they definitely had enough even though many of the relay teams were done long before I was.

Course: 4.6/5.0

~MarathonGuide Rating

~ I was a big fan of this course. I like to call this "upstate NY flat"-- if you're from there you would probably call the course flat, but most others would call it rolling hlls. There were no major uphills, but if  was a constant rolling hill. I'm a fan of these easy graded hills because they help change up the muscles that get worked out. I really enjoy looped courses. I like knowing what to expect, especially if you're going after a fast time. I also like being able to break a course up by shorter distances at a time. You're definitely not going to get a whole lot of sight-seeing in Albany in the winter (run their fall marathon for that).

Spectators: 4.2/5.0
~ This is a college campus and a Sunday-- aka nobody is out that early! This is a smaller race but the course is pretty clear if you have spectators out in cars (aka my pit crew chief). The turn-around point for the course is also the hand-off for the relay so there are lots of people there cheering you on.

Pace Group: /5.0
~ DNA

Runner/Corrals: 4.5/5.0

~ No corrals (duh) but this was a very interesting group of runners for such a small race. It seemed like there were a LOT of people out there for BQ time. In a race that small my time would normally get me in the top 3 women, but I was all the way down in 7th! 31 of the 90 runners made a BQ time! Everybody was very friendly and it was neat to be able to see the really fast runners as you past by the turn-around.

Expo: /5.0
~ DNA

Swag: 2.4/5.0
~T-Shirts: They ended up giving out crew neck, simple, sweatshirts for the first time at this race. They were comfy and unexpected for the price you're paying. I liked them :) 2.9
~Medals: No Medals :( -.5
~ Goodie Bag: None

Results...
Stephanie~ Marathon
Time: 3:35:41
Place: Overall 27/90 ~ Gender 7/20 ~ No Age Group

Relay Team 3F 120-
Time: 3:53:30
Place: 3Females, 120 years and below (combined age): 3/7

BOSTON BOSTON BOSTONNNNNNNN!!!!

I ran the HMRRC winter marathon yesterday and guess what? (like you have to guess after reading the title)... I MADE BQ TIME!!!! 3:35:41!

I couldn't be more excited, especially after some of the races I've had lately. First I ran a double in Jan and hurt my ankle. Then I had the Myrtle Beach Marathon cancelled last week, taking away NY (this week) as my official halfway there marathon. Well yesterday made up for all of that! I ran my first BQ time. This takes a LOAD of stress off me since A) This is a huge goal in general and B) I have always planned on running Boston as my 50th state in 2011. That meant I HAD to make it asap-- talk about putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.

I ran with tons of support from my pit crew chief, MB, and Jenn who was running on my relay team-- oh yeah, the first 9 miles of the marathon also counted as the first leg of a relay. Our relay team came in 3rd in our division with a 3:53:30. Good job MB & Jenn! Friends and family were at the finish and I ran in crying my eyes out along with MB (happy crying of course).

More to come on my post-race throughts and the post race "Almost Halfway There Party!" Sneak preview: I made a second accomplishment for the day-- consumed the most martinis I have ever had in my entire life!

SC FAIL and NY ALMOST half-way there!

South Carolina = FAIL!
Last weekend I was unable to complete my South Carolina  marathon as the race was cancelled due to "bad weather." (see picture below of the oh so ominous weather conditions).

I'm happy that this happened in early 2009 as I still have a chance to run the race again next year (if I choose to take my chances) before my goal time to complete the 50 states. Running 2 to 3 marathons a month, you're likely to miss one either by your own faul (missed planes, injury, sickness) or by the fault of the race (cancelled, time issues, etc.). I'm hoping this is my 1 miss and I'll be good going forward (knock on wood!)

I'm a little UNhappy because this weekend is supposed to be my 25th state and we'll be having a "Halfway There" post-race party. Nowwww it will be my (Almost) Halfway There party.

New York Almost Halfway There!
I'll be making my way home for my 24th state--- New York!!!! I'm originally from the Albany area and the race is in Albany. This marathon is TINY with no medals or post race party, so we'll be making our own little post-race action! (more to come in my race RUNdown) If you're running the marathon or relay and would like to join let me know and I'll send you the flier!

I'm definitely excited to go home and have some serious spectators from my hometown and family! I have a good feeling that after this past weekend, Albany is going to be a great race, because....

"I’m from the empire state that’s

[Chorus]

In New York,

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

There’s nothing you can’t do,

Now you’re in New York..."

1 More thing! Suzy (who will also be participating in the Albany marathon on a relay) tagged me yesterday with this SuNsHiNe AwArD!

I guess it's my turn to tag 12 buddies that bring me sunshine with their blogs and leave them a comment, so here goes...

1) Marlene - My fav Canadian for always being so positive and happy-- and esp. for posting the Olympic medal count on her running blog!! GO USA! And go Canada for their first home gold medals!

2) Mel - For not going crazy while keeping track of a few hundred runners making their way to 1000 miles in 2010!

3) Heather - For sticking with her run this saturday following the cancellation of the Myrtle Beach half marathon.

4) Jill, Rick, Libby, Ewa, Emily, Shut Up and Run    for their kind words and support immediately following my Sat morning wake up call to NO snow and a cancelled marathon! I was bummed, but it was nice to have bloggie friends that were so encouraging! 
5) Marcia - For a great blog to follow and always being so encouraging!
6) B.O.B and Morgan - Yeah, I know I call them out all the time for hilarious run-blogging! They're going to start thinking I'm some sort of crazy run/blog stalker soon! Oh well-- still hilarious-- go read up!