NYC Half...Master's PR!

"In consultation with our NYC agency partners, we are monitoring the weather in advance of Sunday’s United Airlines NYC Half and NYRR Times Square Youth Run at the United Airlines NYC Half. Please check our website and social media channels for updates."

A version of this was posted daily on the race website and social media sites beginning last Monday. Kurt and I had the same immediate reaction: This is going to be Hurricane Sandy all over again when the NYC Marathon was canceled at the last minute as we were making our way from the airport to our hotel. The weather forecast last week was consistently predicting 1-3 inches of snow overnight on Saturday with possible snow/rain showers on Sunday morning. Neither of us were confident that the race was going to happen, and if it did, I was worried about the road conditions. The race day weather forecast didn't actually improve until Saturday morning. When I woke up after a late night arrival and checked the weather that morning, that was the first moment that I actually believed the race would go on as planned. (And, I kind of regretted canceling my pre-race massage the day before!) Off to the Expo we go!

Wall of names at packet pick-up

Washington Square Park after pasta dinner at Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

The temperature on race morning was quite chilly in the low to mid 30's. I got to the park around 6:30am to allow myself enough time to go through security (with actual metal detectors since it is New York after all) and make my way through Central Park to the start corral (Kurt estimates it was nearly a mile walk). Once I got near my corral, I headed to a sheltered area under a bridge to try to stay warm. I was wearing tights, a long-sleeve top, gloves, hat, and a heavy fleece, and I was so, so cold. I stayed there as long as I could until it was time for the corrals to close. I didn't even bother doing a warm-up because I knew that I would still have 20-30 minutes of a wait in the corral before my wave actually started the race. As I was getting ready to shed my layer and get myself situated to run, I realized that my energy chews that I had planned to use for nutrition during the race were rock solid because they were frozen! Oh, well, guess I'm doing this without fuel.

Since there were about 20,000 runners, the start was organized into 3 waves with multiple corrals in each. I was in the middle of Wave 2 where the 2:00 hour pace group was placed. That didn't seem right to me based on my predicted time (and I later figured out what the snafu was with my seeding-damn NYRR) so I was expecting that I might have to navigate through the crowd more than I wanted...or maybe not. I actually wasn't sure how I was going to feel for the race because I have been sick and taking meds since last Tuesday. I didn't necessarily have a plan going in as a result. I also hadn't tapered down for this race (20-miler the weekend before; 6 sets of 1000/1000's on Tuesday), so I knew that I would be running on tired marathon training legs. Turns out none of that mattered once I crossed the start line.

Shedding my layers in the start corral

The first 10k is in Central Park with a short jaunt into Harlem. Having run NYC Marathon, I was familiar with the hills in the park. The general consensus in terms of race strategy seems to be to respect the hills in the park at the beginning, stay steady in the middle, then let loose after that, so it is a course made for negative splits. I generally tried to stay pretty steady in terms of my effort level. I did have to make my way through a lot of slower-paced runners in the park, but that just gave me a confidence boost since I knew that I was running within myself, even up the hills. I was pretty glad though to get those hills behind me because I knew it was smooth sailing from there. The sun had come out, and I was actually getting fairly warm. I ditched the gloves and actually wished that I was in shorts and a tank (crazy I know, given how cold I was just an hour earlier).

5k: 26:26

10k: 52:37

On the west side of Central Park

Then the fun began. We exited the park and headed straight down Seventh Avenue for Times Square. What a mile! Then, we headed West on 42nd Street for another mile to get on the West Side Highway shortly after mile 8. We got hit with a strong headwind for a short stretch here, but thankfully it was brief. The stretch on the West Side Highway was probably the least interesting and I really had to keep my mental focus here to stay steady. I was looking forward to seeing my Oiselle teammates just past mile 11, so that gave me a target to keep ticking the miles off for.

15k: 1:19:16

After I passed them, I knew there wasn't much more to go. We entered a tunnel just past mile 12 that lasted about a half mile or so.

20k: 1:46:28

We had to climb a short uphill once we exited the tunnel. It wasn't a welcome sight at that point, but it was short and the finish was near! Because of a couple of last-minute turns, you can't see the finish line until you are right there, so best not wait too long to start your final kick with whatever you have left. Thankfully there were 400 meters and 200 meters to go signs, which helped a lot. We finished at Wall Street, and I was incredibly happy with my finish time of 1:52:21. Not an overall PR, but I'm not 29 anymore either. And, who knows, maybe with fresh legs, fueling during the run, and not dealing with illness it could have been? I'll take it as a Master's PR though.

Next up is the big enchilada: Glass City Marathon. That will be the test to see if I can be a "fearless girl."