A couple weeks ago, Joe and I ran the Hershey Half Marathon, which was celebrating it's fifth year anniversary. I had a much better experience this year than I did last year, even though I feel like I'm in worse shape this year. We went down early Saturday morning to pick up our packets at the stadium and then went right to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and had a kick ass time. I knew I wasn't going to break any PRs in the race since I haven't been running much, so I drank wine and ate whatever I wanted without worrying about how it would affect me the next day. We stayed at the Harrisburg/Hershey La Quinta and would definitely recommend it if you're looking to do this race next year. It only took us ten minutes to get to the race in the morning and the room was very clean and quiet. The night manager even opened breakfast up an extra hour early for all the runners!
Unlike last year, we weren't waiting in line for the restrooms when the race started! We actually started on time; however, is was very cold and windy just like last year. It even started to sprinkle and everyone around us seemed pretty unhappy about the idea of running in the cold rain. Thankfully though, the rain stopped and we just had the chilly wind to deal with.
Running through the park is so much fun, but seems like it's over way too soon. The real highlight though is running through the Milton Hershey School campus; the kids there are always out cheering and it's so motivating.
After running the Pocono Lake Region 13.1 three weeks ago, the hills in Hershey seemed like nothing. I felt really good throughout the whole race, which was a huge difference from last year and I was so happy for that. It was sunny through most of the race, which helped negate the wind a bit, but the final finish through the parking lot toward the stadium was brutal just like last year.
I finished in 2:20:39 and was so mad at myself for not being able to dig in and cut that minute off to finish in the teens. However, I finished twenty minutes faster than the half three weeks ago and I ran the entire thing, so I couldn't be too mad! Plus, the medals are insanely awesome this year; they're so heavy and the detail is incredible. I might even like it more than my Scranton Half medal. :X
I can't say that we will for sure be back next year, since we are really hoping to run our first marathon and it would be the week before Hershey, but we'll see how things go! All in all, this was a super fun weekend and Hershey did a great job (again!) of organzing this race.
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