13.1 New York - RunHalf Marathon


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New York City, New York
United States
13.1 Marathon
34F / 1C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 2h 23m 45s
Overall Rank = /14,000
Age Group = 40-45
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Toasted bagel with peanut-butter and jelly and tea 2hrs before the race (5:30am) arrive to the start, check bag, get in my corral at the very back of 14,000 people.
Event warmup:

some rolling and light stretching
Run
  • 2h 23m 45s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 10m 58s  min/mile
Comments:

I was nervous all week, I hardly slept the night before but as soon as I got there I thought, "the hard part is over" all I have to do now is run.

I started out slow, got faster as the race progressed except for one point at mile 4 when I felt like I had a pebble or a thorn in my shoe on the ball of my foot. Every stride ended with a little shock of pain. It got worse and worse until I finally stopped on mile 7 to take a look. I sat down on on the grass in central park (right before the race exits the park and heads down to Times Square) to take off my sneaker and sock ... no pebble, no thorn, it was a BLISTER! A giant stink'n bloody blister! I began running again and tried to forget about it. I ran fine although every step definitely smarted. Luckily I had a lot of distraction. Running through Times Square was a blast, the whole experience was truly AMAZING. Uh-mazing. Once I was past mile 7, out of the park and running thru the city with the crowds cheering, I just started having a great time, I loved all the people high fiving, that was such an amazing energy boost. I probably slapped like 500 hands. I had enough gas left at the end to have negative splits my last 3 miles, charged full blast into the finish and then got all choked up when they gave me the finishers medal. Haha, I'm such a cornball.

I drank Gaitoraid on the course and 4 ounces of pickle juice (!)at mile 10 that I had stashed in a pocket in case I began to cramp... it totally worked, glute cramp vanished right away... it came back right as I was finishing the race. I came in the 48th% of my age group. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to even run the whole thing so I'm feeling good about my results and much more confident about running.
What would you do differently?:

drink less, maybe not be as conservative in the beginning. But really, it was a PERFECT first 1/2 mary.
Post race
Warm down:

took the subway home after the race which felt totally surreal -going from this super intense hightened experience to sitting on a subway with all these "regular people" doing there "regular stuff"... Got home and took a hot-as-I-could-take-it salt bath then met friends who also ran the race for brunch. That turned into an afternoon at the bar watching basketball and drinking ... see pictures

What limited your ability to perform faster:

EVIL BLISTER. Self confidence. Experience


Profile Album


Last updated: 2011-02-18 12:00 AM
Running
02:23:45 | 13.1 miles | 10m 58s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/14,000
Performance: Good
Course: first half is hilly (7 miles around central park) the second half -down 7th ave, thru Times Square, to west side highway, battery park city- is graded down or flat.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Too much
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5