I am so proud of myself for how I prepared for and raced the NYC Half.
In case you can't even see that because it is so tiny, here are my splits:
Negative splits! Woooo!
Last year, I ran this same race with my cousin, and we were thrilled to run it in 2:23:11. My previous personal record at the half-marathon distance was in the 2011 Fall Foliage Half-Marathon, when I was training for the marathon. My time was 2:21:12. So, I improved my half-marathon time by 20 minutes! Also, those splits show my best times for both the 10K (PR = 59:46) and 15K (PR= 01:29:23) distances. I know I've only been running for a few years, so as I stick with it longer and longer, eventually my gains won't be as drastic, but it is still a huge accomplishment.
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| Here I am at the finish with my friend V. from work, who raced with me. Her previous best half time was 2:16. She was a fantastic running buddy, and I couldn't have done this without her. |
To prepare for this race, I signed up for a "Break 2-hour" half-marathon training plan from TrainingPeaks, which has a good iPhone app. It e-mailed me every day telling me what I was supposed to do that day - distance, workout, pace, etc., and was really specific and helpful. I think I paid $20 for it, and it was worth it! I followed the training program pretty diligently, up until the end when I skipped one long tempo run because I had a plantar's fasciitis flare-up. I may have skipped a short run here and there, but I committed to the mileage and did my best to do all of the workouts. Compare this to, say, how I prepared for my first half (Philly, in the fall of 2010), when I skipped tons of short weekday runs, or how I prepared for the marathon, when I ran ALL of my "speed" or "tempo" workouts at the same slowish training pace I used for long weekend runs.
This time, I did the tempo runs. I did mile repeats. I did hills. I practiced running faster and pushing myself, and it has been hugely rewarding.
Before race day, I was stressed about the weather forecast, as usual. The non-existent winter departed New York early this year, and temperatures have been in the '70's all March. I was afraid it would be freakishly warm and that I would wither and die in the heat. Funny, those feelings were familiar...I had the exact same anxiety/weather-related freakout the day before the marathon last fall. Eventually, the weather settled down, and it looked more and more like we would have high 40's-low 50's during the race. Similar, in fact, to the race-day weather we had on marathon day! I decided to wear the same outfit, but with my trusty pink marathon finisher's hat.
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| Light Lululemon long-sleeved tee, capris, cap, etc. |
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| Does this running gear look familiar? From the 2011 ING NYC Marathon. That's my dad. |
I only got hot once, on the West Side Highway, and by then it was almost over so it didn't matter that much. In hindsight, I think I should have gone with a tee and arm sleeves. Next time.
The day before the race was St. Patrick's Day, and John and I went out to run some errands including TEST DRIVING SOME CARS for our future life when we live in a place where people need cars. I hate cars, but we had a pretty good time looking at them. It took my mind off of how nervous I was, but then eventually all of the errands were done and all I had to do was sit around in the apartment while John went to the driving range. This was a huge mistake - I wish I had gone out to do something fun.
Sunday morning dawned foggy and cool - perfect! Cabs were few and far between on York Avenue at 6AM, but I eventually found one, sharing with a nervous runner guy I befriended on the street. I met V. near the bag check for our bib number range, and we set out on a harrowing adventure to try to find a portapotty line that wasn't ridiculously long. This turned out to be difficult. Eventually we just went to our corral and waited it out, and in the end we had plenty of time, but when we finally got to the front there was no toilet paper. Seasoned racer as I am, I had come prepared with a napkin, but I felt badly for this one Achilles runner (a blind gentleman) who, um, needed some t.p., so his guides had to run around asking people. Embarrassing.
Anyway, it was crowded! But everyone was in good spirits. I love standing at the beginning of a race, surrounded by fellow runners, and just feeling like I'm a part of something. I felt great and I was ready to go.
Earlier in the week, I told V. about my uber-ambitious race plan. It went something like this (actually, it went exactly like this, because this is the e-mail I sent her):
Miles 1-6, which is the park loop. Try to keep a 9:30 average pace, passing mile marker 6 in 57 minutes. This will probably be hard because of the crowded course and all the hills. I'm honestly not sure it is realistic. I will probably plan to walk and take Gu/water in between miles 4-5.
Miles 6-10, exiting park, down 7th, turn on 42nd, over to the WSH, turn south on WSH (fun and exciting part of the course going right in to the worse, most horrible dull part of the course, but at least it is flat). Maybe get the pace down to 9:15/mile, hopefully passing the 10 mile marker by 1:34. Probably grab water between miles 7-8 and walk/take Gu/water at the 15K stop.
Final 5K. If I can, I'm going to blow this out, and try to up my pace to 8:30-45. If I can do it at Coogan's, why not after already having run 10 miles? (ha) If there is any wiggle-room time at all, this will put me on pace to break 2:00, which I really don't think I can do (but you never know!).
The quinoa will help us to accomplish this unimaginable feat, I'm sure of it.
Even if it doesn't work and we can stick to an average 9:30/mile for the entire way, we could still break 2:05!! I think the weather is going to be warmer than I'm used to, so I have my eye on the 2:05 prize goal, with 2:00 being if everything goes perfectly.
To explain, I ate quinoa salad with chicken for lunch almost every day last week. I'm convinced it helped.
I have never even had a real race plan before this. I usually just go out there and run according to how I feel, maybe trying to keep a consistent pace or with a certain time to beat in mind. But I've never actually thought about breaking a race down this way, or had any notions about running negative splits or racing smart. This time, I thought about how my training had been going and set goals for each part of the course, and it really helped me accomplish what I set out to do.
Anyway, as we were shuffling toward the starting line, the leaders ran by us! It was cool to see them, very inspiring. A few seconds after they flew by, though, it was our turn.
The first two miles were crowded, but not as bad as I thought they might be. Once during the second mile V. asked me what my watch said our pace was, and she wanted to go slower, but I didn't really slow down that much (and I didn't tell her, haha). The park was flying by. We saw John and my sister-in-law at the Engineer's Gate, which was awesome, and then, after them, I had my friend Nina to look forward to at 96th Street on the West Side. Even Harlem Hill was a blur. Our pace didn't drop too much on the hills, which was part of my grand plan.
Around mile 5, I was ready to get out of that park. My quads were already starting to tire from the pace and the hills, which worried me a little. Plus, John and Tracy were supposed to be at 51st and 7th, so I was pumped to see them again.
Leaving the park and running down Seventh Avenue on the approach to Times Square, I just kept thinking, "THIS IS AWESOME." I was getting a little emotional, which I guess was some sort of motivator, because V and I clocked an unbelievably speedy 8:09 mile somewhere in there. Garmins were going crazy with all the Times Square stimulation, so I'm sure that was part of it, but still. As I was so excited and thankful to be able to do what I was doing, I was busily scanning the east side of Seventh for my fans, but they weren't there. John later told me that we were too fast and that they didn't get there in time! Ha! That was OK, though, I just kept churning along.
The turn on to 42nd Street was hairier than I remember from running this race last year. Was the course much narrower? It felt very crowded on that stretch, all the way to the turn at the West Side Highway. I'll admit that once we hit Times Square, I was dreading that endless run down the West Side Highway. I was feeling fatigued, and getting a little grouchy and hating on the race. Just a little. I run up that way sometimes on run commutes home, and it SUCKS. Sure, it is flat and fast, but it is also boring. But then, we passed the 8 mile marker a few minutes under my uber-ambitious race plan projection, and suddenly I felt great again! I realized that I might -
might - have a sub-2 hour half-marathon in me.
I tried to pick up the pace, but the final 5K was hell. It hurt, it really did. But, the spectators and bands were fantastic, and distracted me pretty well until somewhere around Mile 11 when V said that she saw a guy, just a normal guy, running toward us on our right on the bike path. Only, this guy was special in that he was wearing a bib and a medal, which meant that he had already finished and had enough time to get out of the finishers' area and back 2 miles the way he had just come. Hate that guy! I wanted to be finished, too!
The final miles definitely got into my head at that point. I needed water, and there was no water stop anywhere to be found (we eventually found one, I think between miles 11 and 12). Also, last year, the course was different, and ended around that point, so I wasn't exactly sure where we were going. I was pushing, and then I glanced at my watch around mile 12 and it said 1:51 (I wasn't sure of the seconds, only the minutes), so knew I had 2:05 in the bag, and I thought if I dug deeper than I had ever dug before I still might be able to break 2:00. Then, we entered the tunnel in battery park and my soul died a little.
I'm very, very thankful that I didn't know much about that tunnel in advance of this race, because I would have dreaded it and worried about it. I knew it was there because I had obsessed over the race course in advance, but I did not realize it was like HALF A MILE LONG. I had no idea when it would end, and then when I did finally see the light at the end, there was a nasty little hill! What the hell?! My running form was in shambles at this point, because V. said she was behind me and could see my shoulders visibly slump (even more) when I saw that hill. But, I put my head down and did what I could.
V. caught up with me at that point, but then this jerk running in front of us stopped short right at the top of that damn hill, causing me to have to jump around him and V. to almost trip over him. Who does that? Who stops short in the middle of the course in the final 800 of a half-marathon, right when you get out of a the tunnel of hell and the end is in sight? Jerk. Slow down, move to the side, and THEN stop.
Anyway, I booked it from that point on. My friend Kyle was spectating, but I didn't see him. He said he saw me and I looked, as he said, "determined." I was focused. I crossed the finish line in 2:01, feeling like I left absolutely everything I had on that course. I almost cried and almost puked, but did neither. V. was right behind me, so we found each other and happily took some pictures and shuffled out of the finishers' chute to find our friends.
I have never run like that before. Running the marathon last fall was an incredible journey, and I loved running with Tracy and my dad, but I had an injured hip haunting me for the final ten miles, so I really felt like I limped that entire stretch. My marathon was not a race, it was a commitment to finishing. This, on the other hand, was a race. I ran hard, as fast as I could, especially in the final two miles. I did everything I could do.
I keep thinking about whether I could have found a minute to shave off anywhere, and the only thing I could have done differently would be to pay closer attention to the tangents, because I did end up running 13.4 miles, according to my Garmin. But, the course was crowded, and less dodging and weaving may have meant that I wouldn't have kept up the pace I did, so who knows. I'm pleased with my result, and now I know I have that sub-2 hour half somewhere in my future.
I feel proud. And, it is Thursday, and I'm still a little sore. I haven't tried to run yet, but if I have time I might get back out there tomorrow. I need to stay tuned for the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago this weekend!
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| The recovery beers we drank at Fraunces Tavern at approximately 10:30AM. Mine is the oyster stout on the left, and it was necessary. |