Race information

• What? NYCRuns Queens Half Marathon
• When? April 13, 2019
• How far? 13.1 miles
• Where? Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York
• Website: https://nycruns.com/races/?race=nycruns-queens-half-marathon
• Finish time: 2:02

Goals

Splits

Training

So, I kind of stumbled into this by accident. Long story short, fitness has been a big part of my life the last few years, but as a (now) 23 year old guy a lot of that has been lifting oriented. I love lifting, but my cardiovascular health has been this thing that I've always sort of known is more important but I've been putting off. I'd occasionally cycle, but going back like 10 years running has been my achillies heel. I think I may still be slightly traumatized by failing this almost abusive running test my middle school made us do every few months over and over again (video of this here -- not my school). I have tried C25K a few times and it just hasn't really happened...turns out training for 13.1 miles is a lot easier!

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Anyway...my family has a history of heart issues and at the beginning of the year I was basically like this is ridiculous I should be able to run 3 miles without stopping. At the same time, I wanted to stay relatively well rounded during this process so I started the Tactical Barbell base building program, which over the first few weeks combines running increasingly longer TIMES with cross training. This was going really well and by week three or so I had run 30 minutes without stopping, which I was really proud of. Then 40. Then 50. Then 60.

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It was at this point that I was like...uh...maybe there's something to this? This was in late February and I decided I would train for a half in Disney all the way in October. No problem! I jumped on the Hal Higdon Novice 2 program and by mid march I ran 10 miles straight and sometime in late March I found this Queens half and was like screw it I'm not waiting till October! Even if I wasn't as ready as I wanted to be I would hate waiting that long. I ran 12 miles two weeks ago in 1:53 (which felt great and I feel like I could have gone another couple miles), so I knew this was going to end up being very close to a 2hr half for me, which I'd be absolutely thrilled with.

Pre-race

I wanted to make sure I had a proper taper, so the longest run I went on over the past two weeks following those 12 miles was 6 miles, with two days off completely before the race. If I could do it again, I may have gone for a run closer to 10 miles last weekend, but then again with my legs being tired during the race I'm not sure what exactly happened (thoughts?).

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The race started at 9am and I've learned that I run a lot better with a solid amount of food in my stomach, so I was up at 6 eating a PB&J and a couple eggs to go with some coffee. Then I had a banana once I got to the starting line, about a half hour before the race and a Cliff energy gel about 15 minutes before. I made sure to stay hydrated too.

Miles [1] to [3]

I started off feeling good and pacing well. At a 9:10 first mile going to 9:13, I was where I needed to be to hit 2 hours, but I tried hard to not go unnecessarily fast at the start and I think I did an alright job of that (although looking at all the splits, I'm not so sure). I’m a little surprised to see a 9:25 third mile because I was still feeling good by that point.

Miles [3] to [6]

It didn’t take very long for my legs to get tired, which was suprising given the easy week they had, but by mile 4 I was feeling it a bit. I wasn’t winded, but my legs were! Still I kept going and felt confident that I’d be able to push at the end to hit my target time since I was so close. I had my second energy gel around mile 4.

Miles [6] to [10]

Things began to get a little iffy here. The leg fatigue that I was feeling earlier began to ramp up, and as a whole everything was just getting more difficult. I was thinking more than I would have liked to at this point, but was happy to be past the halfway point which is always a mental boost. I had my final energy gel around mile 8, setting me up for a strong finish.

Miles [10] to [13.1]

I hit a wall. I’m not quite sure why, but around mile 10 everything became so difficult. I refused to walk, so I kept running, but I knew it wasn’t at the pace I needed to be at. Because of this it was also around the time I accepted that I was unlikely to hit 2 hours and tried to just enjoy the rest of the run as much as I could. Mile 12 was better and it felt good to be moving again, but nothing felt as good as crossing that freakin finish line because I was really tired by the end! I did it!

Post-race

I had an apple, stretched for a bit, took the most amazing shower, and then went off to a bar to watch the Sixers game with a friend. I am SO sore still, but I guess that's what I get!

What's next?

I...don't know! Of course I need to run another half ASAP to get under 2 hours and want to do a shorter race every month or so, but I do want to bring some strength training back into my life. Any suggestions for how to best structure running two or three days a week instead of four or five? I will say though that I'm very much looking forward to a lifetime of running from here on out. There is truly not a better way to explore the world around me!

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