So much for documenting any of my NYC Half training, huh? The truth is, it was largely uneventful. Thanks to a few snowstorms, many long runs were done in Prospect Park, which got old fast (I run there 4 mornings a week, so I need a change of scenery by the weekend, okay?). In terms of long runs, I peaked at 14 miles, but I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be in terms of speed, so I didn’t have high hopes for a new PR.
Moving on to race day itself: I got up bright and early at 5 AM and was out the door by 5:30 to take the train from Brooklyn to Central Park. I was just about to go down the subway steps when a girl who was also on the way to the race stopped me and asked if I wanted to split a cab to the start since she’d been waiting for the train for quite a while. Sounded good to me! During the ride I learned that it was her first half and that we were neighbors, as she lived around the block from me. If you’re reading this, nice to meet you, Brittany! Anyway, we got to the Upper East Side ridiculously early—it was barely 6:00, so since we didn’t have to line up until 7, we had the driver leave us at the first hotel we saw so we could hang out in the lobby and took advantage of real bathrooms before venturing out into the cold to check our bags and head to our respective corrals.
When I got to my corral I quickly spotted Kelly and we chatted as I tried not to punch anyone while I peeled off my throwaway layers in the middle of the crowd. When I took my sweatpants off I was dismayed to find that my iPod was no longer clipped to my shorts. My plan was to not listen to any music unless I felt like I needed it, so I wasn’t even upset about the prospect of not running with it. I was just mad about potentially losing a perfectly good iPod! I was really hoping that in my barely conscious state at 5 AM I simply forgot it (spoiler: I didn’t. RIP, iPod Shuffle.). The race started a few minutes later, and trying to keep up with Kelly for the first 2 miles was a good distraction, as was spotting Susan, Jessica, Baker, etc at Engineers’ Gate, Emily by Tavern on the Green, and Beth and Abby in Midtown.
I could tell early on that it wasn’t going to be my day for running fast, but surprisingly, I wasn’t as down about it as I have been in other recent races. I finished in 1:54, 7 minutes slower than last year’s 1:47, but I found this year’s experience much more enjoyable. I ran last year’s NYC Half with a freshly sprained wrist (If you think you don’t need your wrist to run, I dare you to try to run 13.1 miles while holding a limb perfectly still). I pretty much zoned out and just ran to get it done, and wearing headphones blocked out my surroundings even more. This year I didn’t find myself wishing for my iPod once, and I had a blast seeing so many familiar faces along the course.
In the end I was admittedly a tiny bit disappointed because I expected to be able to run it faster than Houston since the conditions were going to be more ideal. But let’s be real: the NYC Half is a much tougher course, and I probably would have fared better by going into a full training cycle for it instead of racing Houston and starting over immediately. I don’t plan to train specifically for another half marathon until next year’s NYC Half, so my quest to break 1:44 is going on hold for a while, which I’ve decided I’m okay with. I recently did the math and realized I’ve pretty much been training for one half after the other (with last fall’s Chicago Marathon thrown in) since spring 2011. I think it’s safe to say that burnout has set in and I’m ready for a break before I start training for the New York City Marathon this summer.
In the meantime, I’ll be running some shorter races (including the dreaded 10K distance…) and the Brooklyn Half for fun. If you need a sub-2 pacer, I’m your girl. I’m also eagerly awaiting this year’s 5K speed series. Who’s with me?
