New York City Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

W0W!! This being my first half mary and running race, it was pretty exciting. I was a bit surprised at how kind and thoughtful a lot of people seemed. From holding a wobbling sign to keep if from banging into a lady with kids to stepping back so others can go were only a few things that I do not normally see at triathlon events (just luck?).

The cheers started as soon as we all started getting under way. Saw last minue kisses and hugs exchanged.
Coinsidentallly, I wound up standing right behind a 9min/mi pacer duo & my heart started pounding at the thought of staying with them to do my 2hr wishful goal. Off we went to a slightly faster pace than I'm used to starting with. Reality set in at about mile 2 that I was not going to even leave the park with this group if I tried to hang with them. My HR was reaching 161 so I backed off to slowly watch them disappear in the sea of runners (it was hard to let them go).
I started looking for familiar landmarks from the last time I was here for the NYC tri and passing them bought back painful memories of that day.
Just before the second big hill is when a fast-walker passed me like I was strolling along. :(
I don't remember the big hills except for a little extra umph needed to get up there. Running with all those people really helps get you going. Just as we passed the area were we had just started I needed to go and found the porta-potties completely empty...AAAHHHHH!!
We were about 200 meters from leaving the park when the sky opened up on us. It felt really good but I never realized how much horse poop there was all over until the brown rivers started flowing YUK!
To say it was heart pounding having all those spectators cheer you on was we left the park was just adrenaline producing. The music was jamming really good and our spirits felt completely uplifted.
With the rain over now and the broadway lights just ahead (just past mile 8), I started feeling my right shoe wobble around from the weight of the water (this is where trouble started). I stopped to tighten it a bit but it was a bit too tight then. This went back and forth until mile 9 where I finally settled on a sort-of decent fit.
As we rolled onto the West Side Highway, the black top ended and a very hard concrete started. I definately felt the difference as my feet made me well aware of it by the impact on my feet. Right around here is when my acheles tendon & shin threatened to end my run to start walking. I was basically holding it together till the end from here on (a tough 3 miles to finish with).
Funny how all the talking and relaxed atmospher ended at mile 10. Everyone piked up their paces and those poor souls that could barely hold on did so (most with a limp and/or heavy breathing).
I was determined to run till the very end even if it meant slowing down considerably (thankfully that didn't happen). It took some concentration trying to hold good form to keep the pains away and new ones from forming. By mile 11 my shin started scaring me.
[desperate thought]-how could I get shin splints only 2mi from the finish??

It was a long time to find mile 12 but when I did all I could do was sort-of pick up the pace, just to drop it again for fear of my legs falling apart. My mind was screaming for the end to get here already as I passed the final markers 600 meters................200 meters (just.....a...little.....mooooore!!!). This is where I started qustioning the sanity in running anything past 2hr, never mind a full marathon.

As soon as I crossed the finish line I started limping really bad (it turned out to be a sprain on the outside, just under the ankle bone). I was so happy and relieved to see the people giving away the medals that I was so looking forward to......yes, more than the t-shirts this time.

Get some more sleep and eat better.

Did some stretching - as much as I could considering the circumstances and terrible aches. Walked around to keep the blood flowing. Funny how I could feel the lactate building up.


I need to lose more weight, not just get fitter. Stretching is paramount in my training.....or at least it should be.


At least half of the water stations where severly undermanned and I was dissappointed at the lack of bagels (which I was really looking forward to). I really needed some carbs in the form of bread but all they had was apples, not even bananas.
I found out that Gatorade Endurance is fine for my stomach while on the run, as oppossed to the regular gatorade - I'm very happy to find that out.

This was an incredible learning experience. Your weaknesses, strengths and then some, all shine at moments like this. I'm very happy with my acheivement here. Despite injury, not running for the past 3 weeks and this being my first 1/2, I have to say that I am proud of what I managed to do and thrilled that I did not reach the 2:30 time I was was trying desperately trying to avoid. Even if I was determined to do a long run this past Sunday, it may not have reached 10mi and you can surely bet it would have been way slower. For an event I came so close to not doing from being tired, I'm very happy I came. You probably only live once so why not!