nyc half

The Comeback Continues
While still not PR race ready, I ran the NYC half marathon Sunday morning just 4 weeks after running my first half marathon of the year in Austin.  Less weight, more training miles, and much cooler weather resulted in my knocking almost 18 minutes off my Austin time.  That put me at 1:52:24; within 25 seconds of running a 1:51 something.  1:51:xx is the only time that I have yet to run between 1:39 and 2:00 hours.  Oh well, this was only my second 1:52:xx time, my first coming way back in 2001 with my 2nd ever half marathon.

The Expo
The expo was held Thursday through Saturday at the Metropolitan Pavillion in lower Manhattan.  Prior to traveling, I discovered that mapquest now has (may not be new at all but it was new to me) mass transit directions in addition to walking and driving so I printed out subway routes for every place I planned to visit while in NYC.  Subway got me to the expo with no issues.

I received an email earlier in the week that we would receive a bracelet at the expo that needed to be worn at all times until after the race.  I think nyrr's were worried about bandits running due to the low volume of runners in the tri state area that got accepted via the lottery process.

The expo looked like all others, actually probably smaller than many. It looked like they were getting ready for press conferences or something so I just picked up my packet and got out asap.  I didn't see any power bars at the expo (the one thing I forgot to pack) so I headed over to a Sports Authority across the street and got a power bar and clif shot blocks for the race. 

Race Morning
I reviewed my subway directions before heading to bed early Saturday evening.  The travel to the start involved a transfer between lines and it seemed easy enough.  I got on the N train per the directions and noticed on the stop map in the car that we only had one more stop before the end of the line.  Turns out weekend work had the N train stopping at the very next station.  So I wind up from starting at the hotel at 45th street on 59th street at the end of the line when I needed to get up to 95th street to the start. 

A very nice subway worker was giving directions for the few people around at 5:30 in the morning that needed to get some place.  I might add that I was the only person that had slept the night before. Everyone else looked to be headed home from a night out.  I was leery about taking the workers advice to head back to 42nd street, take a shuttle to grand central and then catch the 6 train up to 95th street.  I got back on the subway (which was still sitting at the end of the line) and waited for it to leave.  After a couple of minutes I decided not to wait and to just walk the 35 plus blocks to the start.  The directions from the hotel were 3.6 miles so I knew it would be no farther than that.  I ran into a few other people making the same walk up 5th avenue so the walk passed quickly. 

I got to the start with plenty of time to check my bag.  Race morning weather was in the mid 30s so I checked a warm up suit for post race and had gloves, a skull cap and a throw away sweatshirt for the 45 minute wait in the corrals.

After announcing a star studded field that included Ryan Hall and Meb (just Meb) and several other American and international runners we were underway.  The race started in central park and ran a loop and a 1/2 through central park.  I would say the hills were Huntsville State Park comparable with nothing too steep or too long but definetely hilly.  That took us to mile 8 where we exited Central Park on 7th avenue and headed straight down Broadway through Times Square to 42nd street.  Race trivia; The NYC half and New Years Eve are the only 2 times of the year that Times Square is closed to traffic. 42nd avenue west took us to the end of Manhattan on West? drive.  After a quick right hand turn and loop to the finish we had 3 miles to the finish.  Turning right there was a pretty strong headwind and I was glad that you could immediately see the turn.  I smiled knowing that I would get a tailwind the 3 miles to the flat finish.

My split times per the NYRR website:
5k:    27:51
10k:  54:55 (27:04)
15k: 1:21:21 (26:26)
20k: 1:47:16 (25:55)

No blow up miles and I started somewhat slow not knowing how hilly the park would be and got gradually faster. 

Back to dieting and more miles to get ready for back to back 1/2's in Iowa and Nebraska in 6 weeks.

As far as the elites, Caroline Rotich of Kenya and Mo Farah of Great Britain won the 2011 NYC Half! Americans Kara Goucher and Galen Rupp were third.