Three months into the year, I found myself preparing for my fourth half marathon, the third in a four week period. Looking back to when I was registering for all of these races, I’m not entirely sure that I realized just how close together they were!
I earned a guaranteed entry to the 2018 United Airlines NYC half by running 4 of the races in the New York road runners “five borough series” in 2017. When the registration for this year’s race rolled around, I signed up and Kasey and Rachel both entered the lotto, so we would have a chance to all run the race together. Lotto day came, and Rachel got into the race! But, as often happens to the well made plans of mice and men, life got in the way, and Rachel was offered a job in San Francisco... with a start date of March 12th. So, she cancelled her entry, and since Kasey wasn’t quite as lucky with the lottery, I was headed into race day solo.
A few other members of the Merrick bicycles Tri Team were also running the NYC Half, and in the weeks leading up to the race everyone began planning when they were going to pick up their bibs, and how they were going to get to Brooklyn on race morning. Some of my teammates work in NYC, and one of them, Laura, offered to do a proxy bib pickup for anyone who didn’t want to make the trek into the city. I was so thankful that she offered, because it meant I could take it easy the day before the race, rather than fighting the masses that head into Manhattan for St. Patrick’s Day.
The LIRR has been a mess the last few months, and race morning was to be no exception – there was interrupted service on trains heading to Atlantic Terminal, where we needed to head so we could catch a subway to the start. So, another member of the tri team, Tom, proposed a plan – we schedule and Uber to pick us up at the Hicksville train station, and just get a ride to the start line. None of us had ever scheduled an Uber pick-up before, so we were all a little nervous the night before the race, but everything went smoothly and there was a mini-van waiting for us at the train station at 5 a.m. on race morning.
As usual, the night before the race I got everything together that I would need. Since MBTT is now an official NYRR team, I decided to wear my team shirt for the race, over a long sleeve underarmor shirt. I also opted for underarmor leggings, since the forecast was projecting cold temps in the mid-20s. I packed up my SPI belt, and all of the Gu that I would need for the race – some salted watermelon and blackberry gels, and some roctane powder mixed into a waterbottle to drink pre-race. Plus, my headphones, inhaler, and an outfit to change into post-race. Since I still had the heat sheet I had gotten at last week’s rock ‘n roll half, I packed that up too.
Dennis agreed to drop me off at the train station on race morning, and I easily spotted Tom when we got there, as he was the only other runner waiting around a train station at that hour. I grabbed a bagel at dunkin doughnuts, and by the time I had my food our Uber was there. We waited a few more minutes for our teammates to arrive, and then we were on our way to the start line. One of the guys we were with, Kenny, had just completed a double iron man the weekend before, along with our tri team coach Jackie – how amazing is that! I am constantly in awe of the feats that the members of MBTT complete, and I was even more impressed that Kenny was already taking on a half marathon just a week later – I’m pretty sure I would have still have been camped out on my couch. Laura gave me the bib and t-shirt that she had picked up for me, and I pinned my bib to my shirt as we headed towards Brooklyn. I tried to eat the bagel that I had picked up, but it was not fresh, so after a few bites I gave up.
We got to the start area without a hitch, and made our way over to the bag check trucks. Realizing that to enter the start area we would need to part with our bags, we decided to wait outside the start area for a bit as we weren’t quite ready to part with the layers of clothing we were wearing, but planned to check. Eventually Tailia, another member of the tri team, met up with us as well and as 6:50 approached, when the bag check was closing, we reluctantly handed over our checked bags and made our way towards the security line. To get into the start area for this race everyone has to go through a metal detector, and no bags were allowed through security. Tailia and I walked towards the corrals together, but parted ways when we reached corral H, which was my stop, and she continued up to corral C. With about a half-hour to kill before race start, I picked at the Kind Bar that I had brought with me as a pre-race meal, and then jumped into the porter potty line.
It was cold waiting for the race to start, and just like had happened as I waited in 2017, my toes went entirely numb. I shuffled in place trying to keep warm, and it was a relief when the race finally started, and they began releasing the corrals. The shuffle slowly turned into a run as we crossed the start line, and so the race began.
As soon as I passed through the start line, the crowd opened up as everyone relaxed into their race pace. Since the race started in Brooklyn this year, it was a different view than last year’s start in central park. The new course started on Flatbush Avenue, and we soon passed by grand army plaza. At this point I was just waiting for my feet to warm up – at least my hands were warm enough, so I shifted my hand warmers from by palms to the pockets on the back of my gloves. The first two miles slipped by, and without pushing my pace too much I was holding around an 8:50, and thought to myself, it would be neat if I managed to stay below a 9 min/mi this whole race!
Of course, with mile 3 came the crossing of the East River, via the incline of the Manhattan Bridge. It was the kind of incline that snuck up on me, and I didn’t even realize I had slowed my pace until my watch buzzed out that I had finished mile 3. As it rang in at 9:06, out the window went the thought of an all sub-9 race. I was still feeling good though, and pushed the pace a little to make up for lost time. After the bridge we ran along the East River, the sun shining and reflecting off the water. I could see the Queens Borough Bridge in the distance.
During mile 4 I took my second Gu of the day, eating it as I approached an aid station. For the first few aid stations of the race the volunteers all looked like they were freezing, and no one was passing water to runners. This made it a little difficult to grab a cup of water off of the tables of the aid station without having to slow down, but I somehow managed to grab one without knocking over other cups or spilling water on myself.
At this point, we were in Manhattan, and I was feeling great with my pace. I was still averaging around 8:50, despite the supposed hilliness of the course – honestly, after the hills of the Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15k I really hesitate to classify this course as “hilly” at all, but there was certainly some up and down.
As I made my way into the crossroads of the world, there were spectators sprinkled around the streets, but more people seemed to just be going about their usual Sunday business as we ran through. My Garmin got a little confused as we hit the area of Times Square, likely having trouble locking onto its GPS – suddenly it was convinced I was running a 7:30 pace, which we all know is a lie, especially as it buzzed off its mile alert well before I got to the mile marker for mile 9. I tried to take in the moments of running through the buildings of the city, as this unique part of the course is one of the reasons this race is a favorite of mine. There is just so much to look at as the city is in constant motion.
My stomach started to bother me a little around mile 8, which usually happens to me if I am not fueling enough, so I decided to take another Gu at the next water stop even though it was a little earlier than I normally would. I also started making more of an effort to drink water at the aid stations, as it had been hit or miss with volunteers passing water to runners, so I had been hydrating less than usual. Also, almost every cup of water that I did take was at least partially frozen, so all in all it was a little more complicated than usual to take in the necessary fluids.
I quickly came onto the entrance to central park, which was probably the most densely packed part of the course. Dad texted me, as he had decided to come into the city to meet me at the finish, that he was stationed just before mile 10, right after Cat hill. I was a very over hills as I climbed cat hill, but took solace in the fact that I would not have to climb Harlem hill three times, like I did in January during the Fred Lebow half. I got to the top of the hill, keeping to the left side as I tried to spot Dad, and caught sight of him before he saw me, running by in an excited state, shouting my pace out to him – I was 10 miles in and still averaging a sub-9 pace – Which meant I was on track to PR.
I considered taking a third Gu as I approached the end of the race, but really didn’t feel that I needed another one, so I decided against it.
The final leg of the race was through central park, a route that is more than familiar to me, as almost all of the weekly NYRR races take place there. The finish line was in an unusual spot though, near west 75th street. Knowing the roads of central park helped me push myself through the last few miles, as I knew exactly what kind of course I had ahead of me. As I came into the last mile, I knew that as long as I could keep my current pace, I would PR. Of course, I did some quick math, questioning if I could also manage to come in with a finish time of less than 1:55. It would be super close, and I would have to speed up, but I decided to at least push for the last mile and see how it went. As the finish line grew closer, there were signs up indicating the distance to the finish. When I saw the “800m to go!” sign I thought to myself, well, I know that I can keep a 7 min pace for an 800m repeat when I do track workouts, so why not now? I pushed a little harder, the finish line approaching, and came upon the “400m to go!” sign, still feeling strong. Then the finish line was in sight! I glanced down at my watch, and saw that a 1:55 finish was just out of reach, but I was going to PR. I pumped my arms a little harder, willing myself to keep pushing for the finish line, crossing with a time of 1:55:28 – a three minute PR, and an average mile pace of 8:49.
I didn’t go into this race with a plan to PR, but boy was it an exciting feeling. I set my old PR running this race last year, so it was cool to do it for a second time.
All in all, I liked the new course. Last year we had started the race in central park and finished downtown near one world trade. This year we started in Brooklyn in Prospect Park and finished in central park. Comparing the two experiences, there is one thing about each course that I preferred over the other. For this year’s course I really liked that we got to run over the Manhattan Bridge, something that the old course did not do, as we stayed within Manhattan for the whole race. For the old course, I liked that we finished outside of central park. I like central park, but almost all of the weekly NYRR races finish there, so finishing in a different area of the city was a unique experience. For me, it felt a little anti-climactic to run through Manhattan only to finish in the same area that so many other races finish.
As I made my way through the long finishers chute, I collected my medal, finisher’s recovery bag, and heat sheet, which a volunteer was nice enough to tape on for me. I felt good, proud of my time, and just a little sore from the race. My biggest pain was my right foot, which was not pleased with me for whatever reason. When I escaped the 18-block-long finishers chute I found Dad sitting on a bench in central park. We took a few photos, I swapped to a different pair of shoes and added some layers to my outfit, and then began heading towards the NYRR run center.
My main motive in going to the run center was to see if they had any race beanies left for sale – I had seen them on social media and on other runners during the race, but they weren’t available on the New Balance website. But when we got to the run center, they were doing free medal engraving for NYRR members, which I had never gotten done before. Since the line was short, I hopped in and dropped my medal off to be engraved with my name and finish time. Then we looked around at the merch, only to discover that the hats had sold out the day before. Oh well.
I needed to grab a bit to eat, so Dad and I headed back into the city to find food while we waited for my medal to be ready for pickup. We found a place that served breakfast and lunch around the block, and I secured some French Toast while Dad got some pizza. Just as we finished our meal I got a text that my medal was ready, so we headed back to the run center. They did a great job with the engraving, and it was a super quick process, so I am sure I will take advantage of this perk again in the future.
At last, we hopped on the subway and headed home. For us that journey meant a subway to Penn Station, and then a LIRR train back to Long Island. It was an easy trip home, and I was glad that Dad decided to meet me in the city so we could make the journey together.
Also worth mentioning – this year’s race shirt! We were given purple New Balance long sleeve tech tees, which I am a big fan of.
While getting to the start line was a little bit tricky, I think I will try to run this race again. So far in my running life this is the only half that I have completed two years in a row, so it would be cool if I managed to make an annual tradition out of it!