I finished my 15th Half Marathon state on Saturday, June 4, 2022.
This race was run in the High Point State Park near Sussex, NJ — the highest point in New Jersey (1400 feet above sea level) — just south of Port Jervis, NY. It’s a beautiful, heavily wooded park with a nice, wide asphalt road course, but hilly — virtually no flat portions of the course. Jesse, the race director, had a bear sighting the day before when he measured and marked the course — but no bears were seen during the race itself. The weather was almost perfect with nice temperatures starting in mid 50s and finished in the mid 70s and relatively low humidity.
I felt good and ran well for the first half of the race in spite of the hills; but the metatarsal pain on my right foot that I’ve been having since last winter flared up at the beginning of the fourth lap (out of six total for the half marathon). I felt it on a steeper downhill portion, and slowed down a bit, especially on the downhill stretches. When I got back to the start/finish area at the end of that lap, I took off my shoe and massaged the sole of my foot before the fifth lap. The pain went away for most of that lap, but I could tell I was tightening up again as I finished that lap, so I again stopped to massage the area before going out for my last lap. Between those two stops and slowing down on the downhill portions, I was unable to finish in less than 3 hours. I still enjoyed the race in spite of having to deal with the foot pain.
The hardest part of the day was spending so much time driving in the car. In the early morning hours it took me over 2 1/2 hours to get there. When I drove home it took even longer with normal Saturday traffic, and I stiffened up. A little more than half way home, I made a pit stop to walk a bit and stretch out my legs. Fortunately, the stiffness only lasted the next day and my quads felt OK.
The best part of the day was catching up with so many running friends who regularly run the Mainly Marathons series. I am hoping to be able to do two or three series in 2023 and beyond to gradually tick off the remaining 35 states for the half marathon distance. It’s always good to have goals, right?
Starting Late 