NYC Half

Yesterday was the NYC Half Marathon. In order to do my best, I felt that I would have to interrupt my marathon training -- taking off the day before, and probably the day after, as well as generally not pushing to hard last week.

I decided instead to "train through" and run the half at a moderate pace. I have been on a roll ramping up the mileage, and it just didn't seem like a good time for an interruption.

That plan lined up very well with the brutal heat and humidity on race day. I was very happy that I was not pushing for a PR in that weather.

The down side was that my casual attitude about the race caused me to make a couple of stupid mistakes. First, I didn't put on any Body Glide. When it is hot or raining, and the race is longer than 10K, I always put some on. Next, I didn't bring a bag with a change of clothes for after the race. Hey, I'm local right? Finally, I wore the brand new Flyers singlet that I had picked up the day before. The perfect storm.

Well, at about mile 3 I was completely soaked through with sweat, and new shirt was seriously irritating my right nipple. I could just picture myself sitting on the subway with a gorgeous blood stain (or two) running down the full length of my singlet. I started thinking about where to exit the course. I wanted out.

Then a strange thing happened. Having given myself permission to quit, I relaxed and got into a comfortable groove. I saw lots of friends, some running, some spectating. DW flew by looking very happy. GW was there, looking smart in his TFK Coach singlet. Someone called my name, and I saw LH standing with CC (did I hallucinate that?). I was really having fun.

I thought I would bug out after one loop, but at the end of the loop I was having a good time, and I knew from the park to Times Square was the most fun part of the course. So... I kept going. The entertainment did not disappoint, and I ran my fastest mile just cause I was having so much fun.

At about mile 10 or 11, I ran into a First Aid tent and asked for a band aid. They gave me one, and I took off, trying to put the thing on my wound as I ran. Of course, it was completely hopeless because I was soaked. Somehow, though, I was still not bleeding.

At that point, I figured I may as well go ahead and finish. The last couple of miles were hard, but the Flyers were manning the water stop at mile 12 -- not to be missed. It was like a party there.

The race brought my mileage for the week to 58 -- a record for me. My time was 1:39:12, four minutes slower than my PR, but good enough to keep me happy. Aside from the skin irritation, my body felt great. And by some miracle, I wasn't bleeding. My new shirt was unstained.

My fears of embarrassment on the trip home assuaged, I called it a grand success and headed for home. There I had a shower (painful), and a nap (completely painless).