So I did it! I ran my first timed half marathon. It's definitely starting to get exciting and hitting home that in a couple months it'll be the BIG ONE. So the race was Sunday. It was a bit tough because I had worked on Saturday then got together with some friends Sat night...but still got to bed by 11. Woke up around 5 since the race was at 7am in the park. Got my stuff out to wear to work after the race and had my pre-race snack ritual (peanut butter on a piece of bread...anti-climatic I know:p). Headed out around 6:10 to the park. The outside world was definitely dead...it's dead enough without having the republicans come to town. Passed a lot of people just getting in from the night before (kept forgetting it is a weekend). When I got to the park it was a runner's town. Thousands of runners@_@ Warmed up a bit and found a place at the starting line (around the 8 minute pace people). Race started right on the dot at 7 and it took me 3 minutes to get to the starting line!
Used my watch to time the race so I knew my own pace. The race was two laps around the park plus a little longer to get to Tavern on the Green. The first lap was OK...had the mental thing going of "why the hell are you doing this." Ran around 9 min miles...ran very conservative with the conditions being as hot and humid as they were. First lap was about 56-57 mins...which is very slow for me. I knew I could run faster the second lap. I started timing my miles to see if I could make up some time...started running closer to 8:15-8:30. I was getting very hot by the second lap and it was not helping that many of the water stops were out of water! Ran a 52 minute 10K plus the 1.1 miles to the finish...so ended up at about 1hr 55mins. Hitting my goal of under 2hrs for my first half marathon:) All in all a lot of fun and pretty successful.
After the half marry I ran home to quickly change and head to work. I felt like a drone and absolutely exhausted. was able to finish a job and get out of there at a decent hour. Headed to Penn Station to get the heck out of NYC. Turned into quite a maze to get to the NJ Transit section since they decided to close off portions of the station because of the silly republicans in town:p. Ended up missing a train because I couldn't get to the track! Waited another hour before finally catching the train out of there!
Life in PA has been nice and relaxing. Lots of sleep and relaxation. Not a whole lot to report and that's the way I want it. DId a little shopping for work clothes but other than that running and reading and eating:)
Heading to the Phillies game tonight and Penn State this weekend.
Used my watch to time the race so I knew my own pace. The race was two laps around the park plus a little longer to get to Tavern on the Green. The first lap was OK...had the mental thing going of "why the hell are you doing this." Ran around 9 min miles...ran very conservative with the conditions being as hot and humid as they were. First lap was about 56-57 mins...which is very slow for me. I knew I could run faster the second lap. I started timing my miles to see if I could make up some time...started running closer to 8:15-8:30. I was getting very hot by the second lap and it was not helping that many of the water stops were out of water! Ran a 52 minute 10K plus the 1.1 miles to the finish...so ended up at about 1hr 55mins. Hitting my goal of under 2hrs for my first half marathon:) All in all a lot of fun and pretty successful.
After the half marry I ran home to quickly change and head to work. I felt like a drone and absolutely exhausted. was able to finish a job and get out of there at a decent hour. Headed to Penn Station to get the heck out of NYC. Turned into quite a maze to get to the NJ Transit section since they decided to close off portions of the station because of the silly republicans in town:p. Ended up missing a train because I couldn't get to the track! Waited another hour before finally catching the train out of there!
Life in PA has been nice and relaxing. Lots of sleep and relaxation. Not a whole lot to report and that's the way I want it. DId a little shopping for work clothes but other than that running and reading and eating:)
Heading to the Phillies game tonight and Penn State this weekend.
content
It looks like you could be in good company on the New York Marathon. Lance Armstrong reckons he might do some fund raising by running it.
You run?
As for running - I'm kind of in the middle of making my big comeback. We have a very popular half-marathon here in Cape Town and, in training for it, I managed to tear a muscle.
I've been off for the last 5 months and only now am I getting back into it. Have my sights set on doing a marathon next year.