Race information

• What? NYC Half Marathon
• When? March 19, 2017
• How far? 13.1
• Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/906147724

Goals

Pictures

• Moosin'

Training

I'm currently training for Boston on Pfitz 18/70. It's going really well actually, but other than a few great workouts, didn't really have any indicator as to how well, and I got into the NYC Half via lottery, so this became my tune-up race. At the race got closer, it became more and more of a goal race mentally, but I wasn't planning on doing a full taper for this. Because of a blizzard last week I did a track workout on Monday instead of Tuesday, and on Wednesday did a 14 miler, and then sorta backed down (6/5/4mi).

Anyway my plan was to run 6:10-6:15 in the park, and then drop down once the hills stopped. I thought maybe I drop to 6:00s and sustain that, but I wasn't sure.

The course is almost a full lap of Central Park, which I wasn't looking forward to, as I've been doing that loop 3 times a week for 3 months to try and prep for Boston hills as it's the best I can get and it's not fun. But at least I knew what I was in for.

Pre-race

I saw Meb at the expo on Friday. He cut the line to take a photo, but looked busy about it so I didn't say hi. Did not see Molly, she kept trying to hit me up but I was too focused on the race, you know?

Woke up nice and early, 4:30, had some coffee, oatmeal, and watched two episodes of Bob's Burgers. I actually had quite the lovely morning. And then ran the two miles to bag check. My legs were feeling fresh. The weather had been threatening rain and snow, but it was actually ~34 and cloudy, so I took /u/forwardbound and /u/winterspite's advice and donned the ARTC singlet with some arm warmers instead of something more. Good choice, boys.

Then I promptly stepped into a puddle. Awesome start.

Miles 1-6

I said hi to Noah Droddy warming up next to my corral, but he didn't say hi back. /u/ctingyu08 and I met in the corral and chatted for a bit. I also said hi to one or two other friends, and then they edged us to the line.

The gun went off and mile 1 was slow, which ended up working out pretty nice. It had some hills, but 6:15 felt about right, considering I was passing a lot of people who were more aggressive about the corral placing.

Mile 2 had a big drop, followed by some outs and backs. I saw this guy wayyy ahead of me. (He ended up running a 1:11, and took a photo at the finish with Meb. My friends said right before they took that picture, he wasn't wearing sunglasses, reached into his jacket pocket and whipped them out Bond-style. So good.)

Then we hit Harlem Hill. I actually passed a ton of people here, because 50% of my training has been on this exact hill. And I felt pretty strong, surprisingly. A mile or two of rolling hills and we were nearing the exit of Central Park.

(6:15, 5:57, 6:04, 6:00, 6:02, 5:48)

Miles 7-8

This stretch was a bit of a mixed emotion. I exited the park and hit flat ground, running through Times Square, which wasn't crazy full of people yet, but it was really, really cool, considering I normally avoid it like the plague. At the same level of effort, I was definitely picking up speed. And then we turned west on 42nd street and hit a lonnnnng headwind. Not super pleasant. I took a gel here, just cuz. Luckily, I'm one of the smaller people on the course, so I just tucked behind some tall, fast people and drafted off of them for most of it. Thanks guys.

After turning down the West Side Highway, I was definitely speeding up, but also a little worried. /u/pand4duck used this term in his last race report and I didn't fully realize what he meant until now, but "redlining" is the best description. I felt like I was very much on the verge of going too fast, but at the same time thought "I might be able to hold this". So I did.

(5:37, 5:40)

Miles 9-13.1

All the way down West Side Highway, I was cruising, passed a whole bunch of people. I passed mile 10 and saw 59:xx on the clock and was a little surprised, to be honest. I then saw Mrs. BB a few blocks later and got a huge burst of energy, and then ran by my cheer group at mile 11.5 and got another boost. One dude passed me around here, motioned to my singlet (I think he recognized ARTC (who were you dude!?)), said something about "8 minutes left", and then left me in the dust lol.

We ducked into the tunnel under Battery Park, which was wicked. fucking. cool. I passed the 20K mark, figured I was probably flying, and then hit the stupid hill at the end of the tunnel. Seriously, why does NYRR like to do that? Turned the corner to see the finish line ticking 1:17:0x and almost freaked out. I had been watching my splits each time it beeped, and even though I saw the 10 mile clock, and sort of knew I was probably under 1:20, I had been purposefully avoiding the mental math. Turns out I was wayyy ahead of where I thought I was. Sprinted across the finish with antlers flaired at 1:17:29.

(5:48, 5:47, 5:42, 5:44, 5:33, whatever)

Post-race / What's Next

I felt.... good? I mean I don't think I could've gone faster, but I really, really enjoy the half distance. I'm gonna try and get into the Bronx 10-miler this fall, because this distance is definitely my sweet zone.

I came in 163rd, which doesn't sound too impressive but I'm extremely happy about that.

I met up with my friends in the finish chute, read the dozen reddit notifications from /u/eabryt (thanks boo), made our way over to a local Tottenham bar, had a few bud lights to rehydrate, and then brunched something fierce. We went to JackRabbit after (sorry /u/CatzerzMcGee, it's my only option) and I bought my first pair of 2" shorts as a celebration, which Mrs. BB is not happy about.

Next up: Boston (and BK Half with about 10 friends, which I'm now super excited about). But Boston is 4 weeks away. Hill training has been paying off somewhat, and my original goal was sub-3:00. With a few key long runs and this race, I'm honestly not sure what pace I should aim for, but I think 3:00 might be too slow, even on that course.

This post was generated using the new race reportr, a tool built by /u/BBQLays for making organized, easy-to-read, and beautiful race reports.