Staten Island Half Marathon +6

Today was the Staten Island Half marathon. I planned to get there early to pick up my number and run 6 miles before the race started. Unfortunately, I hit sleep on my alarm 4 times to many. So, I finally left my apartment around 6:35 hoping to maybe make it on the 7am ferry but definitely making the 7:30. No such luck on either. The 2/3 trains were running local and so it took FOREVER to get downtown and then there were so many people in the ferry terminal that the 7:30 ferry was full before I could board. So, I ended up on the 8am ferry and didn't end up starting the race till about 8:50am! (the race started at 8:30!)

So, off I went. It was unseasonably warm--lovely for hanging out and lounging in the park but not so lovely for a 19 mile run. My plan was to go out at about a 9:30 pace then speed up after mile 5 and do the last 8 miles at around race pace. Spencer told us to do 7 miles at race pace but last year he had us do 10 on this same run so I figured 8 would be okay. Then for the last 6 miles I'd take it super easy and just finish up as strong as possible considering the weather.

By mile 3 I was sweating profusely. I tend to sweat more than normal people--ask my fellow warriors. So I was concerned about getting dehydrated. Then, I also did my run today sans heart rate monitor b/c it's on the fritz. So I was also concerned that I was going to go out too hard and not be able to finish strong. But, I pretty much stuck to the plan. here are my splits:

1: 9:26
2: 9:13
3: 9:31
4: 9:30
5: 8:55
6: 8:32
7: 8:37
8: 8:58
9: 8:28
10: 8:33
11: 8:44
12: 8:36
13: 8:26
14: 9:36
15: 9:37
16: 9:51
17: 10:04
18: 9:29
19: 9:38

I felt pretty good about the pacing. Mile 8 was really tough b/c of a long steep uphill so I didn't quite hold the pace there but I made up for it on some of the other race pace miles. As you can see, after i crossed the finish line of the race, I slowed down considerably--at my slowest I did a 10:04 mile. I'm not sure why that mile was so slow, except that at this point it was after 11am and approaching 80 degrees and there wasn't very much gatorade left on the course. (I doubled back onto the course for my last 6 miles which invited comments from folks on the street that I was going the wrong way and then when I turned around one guy yelled not to cheat...I yelled back, actually i finished 30 minutes ago!!)

The race made me feel pretty confident about my ability to race the NYC marathon well. I felt strong during the race pace miles despite the heat and felt like i could have kept up that pace for a while. Just one last week of heavy mileage and then it's time to taper!!!

As a side note I also had 2 good workouts on Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a solo 5.5 miler and Friday we did repeats on the 59th street bridge. Felt super strong on both :)

Too Fast, Too Soon....As Usual. The NYC Half

Today was the New York City Half Marathon. I had big plans of running a good race even though I haven't been focused on my running as much as I should be. I planned to aim for a 1:45 but would have been happy with a 1:48 or really anything under a 1:50. I started strong with an 8:15 min/mile, then did an 8:05 and 8:06. Then came harlem hill. I took it a bit easier on that and averaged an 8:23. At that point, I thought to myself, this is a little hard but I just have to get out of central park and then I'll be home free. FALSE.

I got through the 8 mile point at which point you exit the park onto 7th ave. I then thought it was time to kick into gear, with 5 miles to go. Unfortunately, I didn't have any gears left. I did an 8:03 and then it's unclear what my pace was because the gps on my watch doesnt work in times square and it was acting all crazy. When I got to mile 10, I felt terrible but still tried to push. All I had left was 9 min miles so I did 3 and finished the race feeling pretty defeated.

I ended up finishing in a disappointing 1:52:34, 8:36 pace--a few seconds slower than my race in DC exactly a year ago. During that race, I went out way too fast, faster even than today, but perhaps it was comparable given that in Central Park I was working against some tough hills. The only time I've ever paced correctly was the NYC Marathon last fall when Spencer sent me splits to follow. Apparently I need that kind of guidance all of the time. I also just need to get faster. I've been running since 2007 and ran my first 1/2 in 1:55 averaging a 8:47 pace. 3 marathons, multiple half marathons, and countless other races and I haven't even improved by 15 seconds per mile. Sometimes I wonder why I keep running.



3.20 NYC Half Marathon by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details