Update: Sunday was the Flower City Half Marathon in Rochester, NY. I finished with a time of 1:55:41.

Thoughts on the Race: More than 2,500 runners and walkers participated in the 2026 Flower City Challenge weekend. I’m not sure how many participated in just the half marathon, but it seemed like a fairly large group. I have participated in this half marathon a few times before, and was excited to do it this year. However, this is my first race in four years, and the first one I’ve trained for in about six years. I set a goal for the year of trying to complete a couple of half marathons, and this is the first of those. My goal was to complete this race in under two hours, which I thought was a good target considering it’s been awhile.

The race morning was sunny, with temps in the 30s, and rising into the 40s during the course of the morning. This might seem cold, but these are actually pretty nice temps for running. I decided to wear just a t-shit and shorts for the race since I knew I would warm up. For breakfast, I just ate a gel packet. My biggest internal debate was what to do about water for the race. I knew water would be provided, but I always like to bring my own. My water backpack I find a bit uncomfortable, and with it being a cooler day I didn’t believe I would need it. I decided to bring just a single small water bottle.

When I got over to Parcel 5 in Downtown Rochester, I felt that everything was very well organized. It was very easy to figure out where to go. There were vendors, and all the runners gathered doing last minute stretching etc, before getting in the corral. The race started right at 7:30am as planned. The only issue I had was that the corral was pretty tight, so it was difficult to get into the correct spot for the time you expected to run. During the first few miles this was a minor issue because the course is fairly narrow during those miles, and people were trying to stay by the pacer for the time they were shooting for. This created some walls of people that you had to maneuver to get around. By mile three though I was in the correct spot so this was in way a major problem.

My one water bottle kind of worked out, but I was hoping to put it in my zipper pocket like I had during training. However, every time I tried it kept getting all twisted up, and so I ended up holding it the majority of the time. There were also plenty of water stations so this never really became a major issue. I was very glad I didn’t wear more layers. Some people really dressed for the cold, and once we got running I warmed up quick. At no point did I feel cold or wish I had worn more. Especially with the sun being out.

The most difficult part for me of this race was mile 6 to 7 when you are going up an incline on South Goodman St, and into Highland Park. Luckily, on the other side of that there are no more prolonged inclines. One thing I will alter about my training moving forward after this race is my pacing. This has happened to me before: at the start of the race you have so much adrenaline you begin at a pace you did not train at, and can begin to burn out quick. I need to do more pacing work in training, and not just concentrate on distance. Overall, this was a very positive experience. It was a well organized event, I hit my target, learned some lessons and just hope to improve in the next race.