Cornwall Run 7.5 mile scenic challenge

I wasn't expecting to do a race while on a trip back to the US, but I took the Cornwall Run 7.5 mile challenge as an excuse to eat more birthday cake.

Unexpected race, unexpected extra shirt.

Surprise race

I had actually been looking to run a race with my siblings in New Jersey, and after searching races there, we couldn't find anything we could agree on doing. 

What I hadn't done was search races in New York state, where I would be staying for a few days with my aunt and uncle.

When I arrived at their house for a birthday get-together for my uncle and me, my aunt told me the town of Cornwall was having a race the next day.

Seeing as I was already pigging out on birthday food, I told myself I could justify this behavior by committing to do this race the next day.

Less-than-ideal conditions

Sunday morning was miserable. It was rainy. It was windy. Luckily, it wasn't cold, though, at 54F.

So I still mustered up the motivation to do this run. I didn't think it was anything worse than I have experienced running in the UK.

Running with my raincoat meant I had to find a new place for my number bib - my shorts were just long enough. Only just. 

Running bib on my shorts.

American running

The set-up for the run was maybe the most American thing I've ever experienced. 

The registration and congregation point was in a fire station.

Waiting for the race to start at the fire station.

They were serving bagels before the start.

The entire local high school football team was there, who served as course marshals.

Before heading to the start line, the high school a cappella group, Treble in Paradise, sang the national anthem. They were actually really good.

Running on the road

This was by far the smallest race I've ever done. I don't think I saw more than 20 runners at the start for the 7.5 mile challenge. There looked to be more waiting for the 5k run/walk also happening.

(On the bright side, few runners meant the shortest ever line to use the bathroom at the start. As in there was no line.)

The guy giving instructions at the start said the roads were open to traffic, which I took as a sign that we would be running on the sidewalk.

No. We were running in the middle of the road. With the cars. To be fair, though, on a Sunday morning there weren't that many. But still. 

Stopping for photos

As I didn't know I would be doing this race, I did not care at all about time. And the rain wasn't terrible enough to diminish the beautiful scenery, so I made sure to stop and take pictures of the Hudson River.

First spotting of the Hudson River along the course.

And the Hudson river with the beautiful fall foliage. 

Look at those colors!

The challenge

The 'challenge' came in a mile 5 - it was even marked as such. 

'Here comes the challenge' sign at the start of mile 5.

It was described as a full mile uphill. I was a bit wary of that. After Peebles, though, it was practically nothing. I ran it all, and I didn't get tired.

At the second water stop.

The view

At the very top of the hilliest bit, you got a beautiful view of the area.

The scenic viewpoint I climbed for. 

Perfect opportunity for a selfie.

Rainy selfie.

This was followed by a welcome downhill stretch to the finish.

When I did finish, a woman I had passed walking along the hills told me, "You were killing those hills". That felt nice, but I will note this woman did ultimately finish a few seconds before me. 

I'm not sure what my official time is yet, but with all the stops, Strava said it was 1:14:21.

Best race catering ever

And to continue the trend of Americaness at the run (though, really, it's NY metro area-ness), there was the best post-event catering.

I first took advantage of sneaking in a quarter of a bagel. Because bagels.

Post-run bagel.

But then a local Italian restaurant was providing the most beautiful spread of pizza, penne vodka, penna with marinara, pasta primavera, and mac and cheese.

Pasta and pizza galore.

I didn't need any of this food as I wasn't that hungry, but it seemed silly not to try. So I had a little sample of the penne vodka and mac and cheese. It was worth it. 

A new race length record

Not only was this a surprise race, it was a new race length record for me. I've never done an official race more than 10k, so 7.5 miles is 1.3 miles more than that. 

And I thought I was done with race t-shirts for the year, but now I've ended up with one more.

Next time I'm visiting family, I need to remember to check races in NY state because this was fab.