Hershey Half Marathon Recap

Last October, I ran the Hershey Half Marathon with my friend Aimee.  Since it wasn’t a Disney race, we were brainstorming non-Disney costumes to make and I jokingly said Betty & Wilma from the Flintstones.  The idea stuck so I got to work sewing. For Betty, I used Simplicity 2308 and Supplex fabric from Spandex House.  I liked how the neckline mimicked Betty’s signature necklace, plus it hid her sports bra pretty well.  I also made matching shorts from Jalie 2563 and a hair bow from an online tutorial.

betty and wilma

For Wilma, I used Simplicity 1770 and white Supplex from Spandex House.  I used the same Jalie pattern to make my shorts.  For Wilma’s necklace, I sewed a 20″ X 2.5″ rectangle of fabric into a tube and stuffed the tube with 1.5 inch craft foam balls.  Then I gathered the fabric between each ball with a needle & thread and fastened the ends.  I made a closure for the necklace out of a loop of 1/8″ elastic and a 3/4″ white button.  I could have just sewed the ends together, but I was worried about getting makeup on the white fabric.  Since my costume was one-shouldered and my bra would inevitably show, I bought the ugliest sports bra ever, which has turned into my favorite sports bra in my arsenal.  Both costumes were really comfy and the necklace was hardly noticeable for the whole race.

Race recap:

This race was a lot of fun, but VERY hilly.  I had read on other blogs that the race was pretty hilly, but I had no idea what I was getting into.  I couldn’t find an elevation chart online, so I just trained two weeks in a row on hills and then one week on flats (and repeated that a couple times).  It turned out to be a good strategy.  Next time I will train on even more hills to be really prepared.

For anyone wondering, here is the Hershey Half Marathon elevation chart, according to my Garmin:

Hershey Half Elevation

Hershey Half Marathon Elevation

It was no joke!  The weather was great, though, 39* at the start and warmed up to around 48* by the end.  There was great crowd support between the start and mile 3 (mostly runners’ loved ones, I’m sure) and then you enter the park.  You exit the park around mile 4 and then you’re in neighborhoods for a while.  FYI, my hubby left the parking lot right after the start and tried to make it to mile 6.5 at the suggested viewing spot, but he was unable to get there in time due to the road closures.

hersheyhm_map

Hershey Half Marathon Map

There was pretty good crowd support on Ben Franklin Highway, where a kid yelled “Mommy, they’re the vitamins!!!”  haha.  I’ll take it.  Then you run through a golf course and more residential roads for a while until finally turning onto Chocolate Avenue.  There was a lady standing at the top of the last hill with a sign that said “Kiss those hills goodbye!”  OMG, I wanted to kiss HER!  The last mile is running around the parking lot for a bit and then it’s into the stadium for the finish.  Hallelujah!

In the end, it is a great race if you’re up for a hilly challenge, and you can’t beat the price of the race for what you get in your swag bag.  For $75 you get race entry, a t-shirt, lots of food samples like chocolate covered pomegranate seeds and granola bars, coupons for free stuff at Hershey’s Chocolate World, and TWO TICKETS TO HERSHEY PARK!  It’s such an amazing deal and we are already registered for this year’s race.  And you can bet there will be costumes…..

 

3 comments

  1. Amber says:

    I was just googling “Hershey half hilly” to get reviews on the course and saw your post. Thanks so much for the heads up! I’ll be running it in October so maybe I’ll see you and your next costume there! 🙂

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