Pace Setter : September 2022

My 5 Favorite Races as of August 2022

by Liwei Hao

In the order of event date old to new:

HMRRC Winter Series #2 Hangover Half Marathon.  The race happened on the New Year’s day and my two children also ran the 3.5 miler.  It was a great experience for the family to celebrate the new year.

Bill Robinson Masters 10K. I turned 40 this March, therefore ,this is my first qualified masters race. I have been training with Coach Mark Mindel. He told me a story about Bill and the time when they ran together. He also showed me a photo of him with Bill and other local legends. Along with the race, the stories and history of our local running community made it more memorable to me.

Great Sacandaga Half Marathon. The course has some very nice views of the Great Sacandaga Lake. It is actually harder than I was told and thought before the race. The rolling hills especially on a hot day, made the race difficult. The historical Northville Village has the oldest operating 5 and 10 store in America which is right next to the start/finish line and well worth a visit.

Firecracker 4. The atmosphere of the event was phenomenal. I was using this race as a reset to re-learn some of the running/racing basics – the ideology of negative splits mentored by Coach Mindel. The feeling of being patient at the beginning of the race and feeling strong towards the end are really good advice. I was very happy about my performance.

                  LiWei with Coach Mark Mindel

Colonie Mile. I think it has been 22 years since I last “raced” on a track (which was a school field day J). It was my first time wearing a spike for racing. I was targeting 5:10-5:15, which has a split of around 78 seconds per lap as planned with my coach. My watch was messed up at the start so running by feeling I am not good at yet. I went out too fast with the first lap at 74. This time luckily Coach Mindel was around and gave me a signal to slow down, without which I may not be able to achieve my goal. The rest had good negative splits and felt strong at the end. I was very happy about the run with my goal accomplished and a 5:10.91 PB. It made me feel confident about my next run.

                                 LiWei with his family

---