Queens Half

On Sunday, I ran the Queens Half Marathon.

The NYRR runs a series called the Half Marathon Grand Prix, which is made up of one 13.1 mile race in each of the five boroughs of New York City. Queens is fourth in this year's series, and my friend PL and I have run them all -- only Staten Island remains.

As NYRR President Mary Wittenberg pointed out in her pre-start pep talk, it was the earliest start for an NYRR race - 7 AM. That wouldn't have been such a big deal in Central Park, but for this race I had to get out to Queens. I took the NYRR bus out to the site, but that meant getting up at 4AM. It was dark when I got on the bus (one of many), which was a yellow school bus with just enough leg room for a 3rd grader. The driver got lost in Queens, but fortunately found one of the other buses and got directions.

Entering the start area in MacNeil Park, the scene was surreal. It was still dark, and very quiet. Runners were scattered across the park, some napping on the grass, some on benches or at picnic tables. The NYRR crew was still setting up.

I found a spot to sit and took care of pre-race business: pinning on my number, attaching the "ChampionChip" to my shoe, and organizing my bag. I spotted BS, a Flyer teammate, and we found a spot together. Before long a few more Flyers had joined us.

When my friends PL and TH arrived, we split of from the group. We were planning different paces, but we agreed on a place, near where a band was setting up, to meet up at the end.

Having run 1:40:44 in the New York City Half, my goal this time was to break 1:40. To do this, I planned to target a 7:30 pace. The first mile was a bit crowded, and I ran an 8:02. I always get nervous that a slow first mile will put my goal out of reach, so as usual, I over compensated with two miles at just over 7 minute pace. Finally I settled into steady 7:30s, and I calmed down.

About mid way through the race, a runner caught up with me and asked "What pace are you setting today?" It was slightly odd, but folks sometimes are looking for feedback to judge their own pace, and I was wearing a GPS. "I'm running 7:30s, you?" I responded. "I was in your pace group last weekend" he replied, which totally caught me off guard. Last weekend, I had been a pace-leader for the 8:30 group at the LTR#2, and I wasn't that happy with how I did. It was amazing that this guy was able to ID me amongst the 3500 runners in Queens. Fortunately, he didn't add any critique of my pace leading before he moved on.

The course was very interesting -- lots of steep but short hills. I've never run hills quite like these, so I didn't know how it would affect me. At around mile 9, I got my answer when my legs started to feel a bit sluggish. I was putting in what seemed like the appropriate effort, but my watch told me I was slowing down a few seconds more each mile. I started to look for the surge of energy that would come as the finish grew nearer, but it wasn't happening. With two miles to go, my mind was saying "come on, two miles is nothing, let's go!", but my body wasn't responding.

With one mile to go, I was determined to kick it up a notch. I knew that I needed a good final mile to reach my goal. It was then that I rounded a corner and saw the nastiest hill yet. Runner's all around me voiced their dismay. This year the NYRR had re-designed the course, and it was apparently a lot tougher. The guy next to me laughed "that's just rude!".

I did my best not to lose pace on the hill, and the one that followed (!), but at the top, my legs were feeling it. It didn't look like there was going to be a finish line kick for me. Finally, MacNeil Park came into view, and we passed a guy who was yelling "500 meters!!!". That did it for me. Somehow, all the fatigue vanished from my legs, and I was able to run really strong to the finish. Flyer JD, who had already finished, gave me a huge cheer as I passed and I felt great to the finish line.

Final time? 1:39:58. That's right, after 13.1 miles on a course it didn't know, I hit my goal with 2 seconds to spare. Unbelievable. I am fascinated by the runners mind - body connection. It seemed to me that I just ran as well as my body would allow, but clearly it's not that simple. Where did that energy at the finish come from? Why not sooner? If my goal had been different, how much could I have changed the result?

After the race, I spoke to bloggers UptownGirl (starting her taper), Crazy Bandana (mid taper), and NYFlyGirl (too many hills!). Check their blogs for race reports. I chatted with a host of Flyers, and although some folks mentioned preferring the old course, spirits were generally high.

As I approached the place that PL, TH and I had agreed to meet, I was surprised to hear the band playing my theme song - Johnny B. Goode. If you know the song (and I hope that you do), you already know where I got the name for this blog.
"Go Johnny Go!".