NYC Half Marathon

I ran the NYC Half Marathon today -- a great race put on by the NYRR with sponsorship from Nike. I've been targeting this race for a while, planning to use my race time as an indication of what pace I should be targeting for my first marathon.

I "tapered" this week, and planned to race hard to see what I could do. Preparations were going well until life got in the way of me getting a good night's sleep and the right food. When I dragged ass out of bed at 5:15 AM, I felt not only tired, but a bit sick. I knew I was OK for a run, but 13.1 miles in nasty heat? Not so much.

Fortunately, the weather broke just in time, and it was a beautiful morning. When I got out to the start, I was still not feeling so good, but I ran into a bunch of other Flyers, and the time passed quickly. I didn't know what pace I should be really targeting. Ideally 7:30, but that was very optimistic, and again, I was not feeling... OK, I'll stop saying that.

When the race started, I felt great. We had the whole road, so it wasn't TOO crowded, and my legs felt really strong. My first mile clocked in at 7:20. Too fast, probably, but I did not feel like I was pushing at all, and a lot of it was down hill. I decided to just make sure to go easy over the hills coming up, and then enjoy the fact that the whole second half of the race was flat. It occurred to me that maybe all I needed to get rid of that sick feeling was to get the old bones moving.

Mile 2 and 3 were at 7:20 again (hmm) and mile 4 was at 7:08 (uh oh...). Next came the "Great Hill" and I dutifully got the pace back to 7:42. After that, I just kept the pace in the 7:40s for a few miles. When we exited the park, there was a a great rush of crowd cheering, live bands, and, of course, the amazing feeling of Ten Thousand runners blasting right through Times Square. What a kick!

Next we headed over to the West Side to run down the West Side Highway to the finish at Battery Park. I had been counting on this flat section being "easy" but it wasn't feeling that way. I had been running with fellow Flyer CB since around mile 6, but she was keeping a pace I couldn't stay with, and at around mile 10 I lost sight of her.

I began to get concerned again about my health. The feeling of strength from the first miles had been replaced by a feeling that I might have problems with the heat, even though it wasn't really that hot. With just two miles to go, I dialed it way back to make sure I was OK. When I hit the last mile, I felt more confident and picked it back up.

With less than a mile to go, I passed a runner who was being helped by two others. He was on his feet walking (with assistance), but he did not look good. He had a gash on his forehead that made me suspect that he had taken a fall. He also had that look in his eye like he was not going to give up in the last mile. As I passed, I heard one of the guys helping him say "you alright?" and then the crowd gasped. I looked back and he was on the ground. I'm pretty sure he tried to run again and only made one or two steps. Hopefully he didn't try again.

In the end, my time was 1:40:44 (7:41 pace). Part of me is not satisfied, because I have the feeling that I could have done better, but that part of me is just stupid. It was a PR, beating my previous best from the Brooklyn Half in April by almost 1o minutes (1:50:39).

As for thinking I could do better, I'm going to look at it this way: I've got a faster Half Marathon in me, and I'm looking forward to running it!



Here I am with Flyers JM and TD at the finish. Nobody tired here.

After the race, I saw several flyers, include JM and BS, who I had started with, and CB who had dusted me at the end. A lot of other Flyers were about, including a crew that was handing out the finishers medals. Good times.