Westfield Half Mary – RACE Report

Another half marathon in the books! Let me share with you my experience at the Westfield Half Marathon in Westfield, MA held on  March 30, 2014. My favorite photo of the race was this one below: Having fun at mile 11 — who says you can\’t smile and run at the same time? Vanessa was first master and I was second master in the Westfieldhalf 2014 that day.    Photo credit to Ben Kimball of Northeast Race Photo — with Vanessa Holford Diana.

Official Results: 52nd overall – 2nd in age – 9th woman – Nancy Cook 49 F Belchertown MA

Team:WMDP    1:37:32 total time        7:27 pace

• Weather – Rainy, cold and raw
• Warmup – YES  we ran 5 miles to try make it a 20 mile day with WMDP Vanessa, Kristin and Patrick for part of the \”jog\” plus a new friend who lives in Belchertown….
• Clothing: Boston 2013 Capri tights, WMDP top and Swift Compression Socks
• Magic Slippers: Adidas Boston 4 Purple
• Medals: Slices of wood with the name of the half marathon stamped
• Food: Hot and Fabulous
• Water: Plenty of water stops and enthusiastic volunteers!
• Fuel: 1 Gu — tried the Chocolate one for the extra boost! On course supplied at about mile 10. Thanks! 🙂

A bit of a hilly course — rain, puddles, mud, pot holes — beautiful scenery — chasing pony tails and racing with the WMDP girls! Vanessa and I ran together the whole race until the end she had more than I did to kick it to the finish. There was one point we were running and she mentioned sticking to a 7:50 pace and not \”racing\” this one. But this was my first race of the year and I wanted to test how strong I could be in the half. Our 5 mile warmup run really was beneficial for my performance as I just kept going steady throughout and never felt \”weak\”. Near the end she picked it up with her long legs and just stayed steady. I was second in age and Vanessa was first ! Top ten for the women and really happy with how strong I felt and ability to keep the pace up throughout without feeling that wall! Yay me! The food at the finish was hot and plentiful. Great prizes for the winners, but no real ceremony for the rest of the pack so we had our own. Well done race with great volunteers and finish line in this great community that hosts many stellar road races. It was fun to run with Vanessa and get the inside scoop and the lay of the land and feed off of her neighborhood home community cheering for her. Overall this is a very well run race, great volunteer team (2 of my team mates were on the planning committee), a great community and a nice rolling course. I would recommend you add this one to your schedule as a good prep for upcoming spring marathons or as your first half marathon primer!

One more gem from Westfield half, start line!

Photo credit to Alejandro

What is on your race schedule? What\’s next for me? The Boston Marathon — less than 3 days…..