Gorges Ithaca Half Marathon 2026
A humid morning, a hometown course, and an A+ effort.
When my coach Alex Kleinerman and I talked about my goals for the spring and summer, there were a few milestones. January and February were busy with the Winter Chill 5K series, the mile at Hartshorne and two other track meets, Syracuse and Skunk Cabbage half marathons on back-to-back weekends in March, and Seneca7. Skunk was my A- race, and we decided that the block would cap off with an A+ effort at the Gorges Ithaca Half Marathon. It would be my ninth running of this race, which for the prior year had dialed in a course that I simply loved — starting on Trumansburg’s Main Street and winding its way through my village’s streets before descending the shady Black Diamond Trail toward Ithaca.
I felt really prepared for this race, having six weeks after Seneca7 to prepare. Most of my peak training weeks capped out in the high 30s and low 40-mile weeks, with one week flirting closely with the 50 mile mark. Alex’s plan had me running most of my miles slower than I normally do, with key workouts placed throughout the week for speed and endurance. Amy and I were talking about how much we loved using our new Coros Pace 3 watches for this training block, as it was so straightforward to plug in complex workouts and have real-time guidance during the runs to keep us honest.
Race morning called for pretty oppressive conditions. Rain threatened the day earlier in the week, but on the morning the chance of rain evaporated, leaving us with a balmy 62 ℉ and a humidity reading of 91%. So, I chose to run shirtless from the start, not even carrying one with me. We parked our Honda Pilot at Cass Park the prior evening, meaning we could stash things like sandals and shirts for post-race comfort.
After 1.25 miles of warming up from our home, Amy and I walked together to the start line, just a half mile from our house.
There wasn’t much time to mingle with others at the start, since Amy and I basically arrived just in time. Still, I managed to connect with a few people I know well from the club and broader running community. As is my custom, I chose to line up right on the start line. Hometown pride!
Hailey Whetten, a FLRC runner who I ran with sometimes during Mithacal Milers, was near me in the start area and asked me about my goals for the race. I shared my target pace, but didn’t have the presence of mind to ask what her pace goal was.
I had a lovely Mayberry moment shortly after making the turn onto Main Street. Our police chief was standing on the left side of the road and I waved over to him, shouting “Morning, Chief!” I know his wife well since we graduated together, and I enjoyed telling her this story.
Doing course-specific training paid off nicely in the opening miles. As we hit Cemetery Road hill, I powered up it just like I was on a training run. It helped that we set up a Strava segment for this portion, too, so we could gauge our progress through training season. Shortly after that, as we powered down toward the start of Black Diamond, I bid farewell to Hailey and Ryan Jacobsen. I was running just a bit too fast for the conditions, and some moderation felt just about right.
I started to lose speed at mile 7 – first by 10 seconds per mile, then 20. I made a shift in my brain to accept my secondary goal, still an aggressive one, but a necessary mental shift to power me through the remaining 6 miles.
As we looked through photos of the race, Amy said, “Why are you in so many pictures?” That I cannot answer with anything serious, but I am in 13 photos, unashamedly shirtless and looking like I’m loving every minute of the day.
As I wound my way through Cass Park toward the finish line, Ron Heerkens Jr. was there to take the fantastic photo at the top of this post. I called out to him as I rounded the turn, “This is so hard!” And it was.
Then it was over.
My time was 1:25:07. I finished first in my age group. The effort was so hard, yet so rewarding! Many thanks to Alex Kleinerman for coaching me expertly through this block. We’ve already started training for our next adventure, so stay tuned for that!
Read about Amy’s excellent race on her Gorges Half Marathon 2026 post.
13.1 mi in 1:25:07 // 16 of 775 overall, 1 of 38 age group, 6:30 pace // strava