NYC Half Marathon Race Report. New PR!!!

I did it again and PR'ed another Half Marathon. This time in 1:45:19 for an 8:03 pace. My training is paying off as only 8 weeks ago I went 1:47:58, so I bested my previous time by 2 mins and 39 seconds.

*WARNING!!!* The following race report might be a tad gross. We are all runners/endurance athletes and I think we can all relate.

It was a 7:30 start, which isn't terrible if you live right inside Manhattan, but coming down from Westchester the alarm clock went off @ the furly time of 4:45. No big deal, parked and I got a 1 mile warmup in before lining up.

I go by the mantra of "Nothing New On Race Day." You may call me a hypocrite. I did something new on race day, which worked out really well and I am glad I did the 1 mile warmup to figure out where to put it. I bought the "Amphipod MicroPack Satellite"

I got it because my folks and a friend were watching and because the race was ending waaaaay down at the bottom of Manhattan vs starting in the park, I needed to carry a cell phone and subway pass, ID, etc with me and how do you do that with few pockets? I was able to easily fit everything in the pouch.

Attaching it was the biggest issue. First I attached it to the back of my race belt. No go...it flopped around too much. The side was the same issue. The front, well, if your a guy you will understand ;) Women, don't think too hard as to why the front was a bad idea. Finally, I attached it to the waistband of the inside of my running pants and it worked PERFECTLY!!! Didn't even notice it while running.

Problem solved! Race time! My splits came out as follows:

Mile 1: 8:12
Mile 2: 8:02
Mile 3: 8:10
Mile 4: 8:19
Mile 5: 8:05
Mile 6: 8:10
Mile 7: 7:54
Mile 8: 7:59
Mile 9: 7:50
Mile 10: 6:44 (WOO HOO! Fastest mile EVER in a race!)
Mile 11: 7:36
Mile 12: 7:46
Mile 13: 7:45

I want to put this out there as the general theme of this race: My stomach was being a pain in the a$$ the entire time. This was by far the MOST uncomfortable race I have EVER ran. I was fine lining up and through mile 2 or 3 I realized that my legs were feeling really great, but my stomach and organs further down the pipe were NOT happy!!!

By putting in low 8 min miles through mile 3, it was the hills of the top of the park that would determine if I had any climbing legs. I did and the two good sized ups were done conservatively and I felt strong at the top of each. Hard part down and I was nearing mile 6 where the course was a net downhill to the finish.

Meanwhile, in stomach land, "things" were rumbling and each porto-potty that I saw made me say in my head, "Just hit stop on your watch, go in there, take care of business, hit start and be on your way. Yes, the official time will not be great, but your moving time will."

This was a true battle of mind vs body. For me, I was truckin' and I didn't want to lose momentum. Right at mile 8 we exited the park down 7th Ave towards Times Square. If my stomach wasn't the #1 thing on my mind, I woulda been like, "Wow! I am running through times square!"

Instead my eyes were going, "Where is the nearest bathroom! I am going to EXPLODE!!!!"

Fortunately when I turned onto 42nd street going towards the West Side Highway that my innards calmed down. I just remember that mile (mile 10) was being in a video on fast forward. No wonder! I dropped a 6:44 mile which is the fastest mile I have EVER ran in a race before.

Upon turning onto the West Side Highway, it was exactly 5K to the finish. Mentally, I was done and my stomach was acting up again. I felt like I was slowing down and I so wanted to throw in the towel and run 9 min miles home. At mile 11 I saw my split and when I saw the 7:36 time, it perked me up big time. I think because I was running on a wide open road that it felt a lot slower than I was actually going. So I decided to hold the same "feeling" until the end.

It worked and I scored a 7:46 and 7:45 to round out the last 2 miles.

Finishing felt so weird this time. My body stopped but it felt like my brain was still moving forward.

Post race, we down to Penelope on 30th and Lex and had brunch. I had the Nutella French toast with fresh fruit and an apple cider mimosa. MMMmmmmmmm!!!! Hit the spot.

Got home, stretched, foam rolled, ice bath (with a bottle of Duvel), ate and am trying to stay as mobile as possible. So far its working and the deathly soreness hasn't hit yet, though I am getting incredibly sleepy as I am writing this. Must stay awake and mobile...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.