The second rule is don't wear black. I was amazed at the large number of folks hearing various articles of black clothing today - I wore white and felt great. The completely opposite of the Brooklyn experience - although much slower, but who cares when you feel this good?
This race was very important to me, since I'd missed it last year (although qualified) due to the birth of my daughter 15 minutes before the start. Steph is a loving wife, but breaking away just then for a 13 mile jog wasn't the right thing to do.
My strategy was to enjoy the run despite the heat and to run faster on the second half than I did on the first. I accomplished both goals.
The start -
I met up with a friend of mine, Vincent, who's a fantastic guy, also father to a daughter and a very fluid runner. We were both excited about the race and I was looking forward to running with Vincent. The start was really congested, although it thinned out nicely after a few miles. The amazing part of the race for me - both at the time and in retrospect - was pushing the pace with Vincent in the park.
The goal was to run 8:10 - 8:15 in the Park with Vincent and then to break away at mile 7 to run by myself through Times Square only to meet up with Mika, my coach, on the West Side Drive. It worked like a charm. The only glitch was that Vincent decided to run a couple of blazing miles in the park, which really pushed it for being able to run faster than that outside the park. If it weren't for the congestion at the start, I would have run two very respectable half races (quarter marathons).
| Lap | Lap Time | HR Average | Cadence | Stride Average (Ft)
|
| 1 | 09:11.9 | 147 | 88 | 3 1/3 |
| 2 | 08:37.4 | 155 | 90 | 3 1/2 |
| 3 | 08:44.0 | 160 | 88 | 3 1/2 |
| 4 | 08:04.2 | 161 | 90 | 3 3/4 |
| 5 | 08:13.0 | 168 | 89 | 3 3/4 |
| 6 | 08:32.7 | 170 | 88 | 3 4/7 |
| 7 | 08:14.2 | 170 | 88 | 3 3/4 |
| 8 | 07:50.7 | 174 | 87 | 3 5/6 |
| 9 | 07:50.7 | 175 | 88 | 3 8/9 |
| 10 | 07:50.2 | 177 | 89 | 3 8/9 |
| 11 | 07:51.4 | 179 | 88 | 3 8/9 |
| 12 | 08:02.4 | 179 | 87 | 3 5/6 |
| 13 | 07:58.0 | 182 | 87 | 3 8/9 |
| 13.1 | 00:38.0 | 188 | 90 | 4 3/4 |
So my hat's off to Vincent (1:53:16 or 8:38/mile pace) for A. pushing the pace, B. running on heck of a race. We've got to do that again!
Just after I left Vincent, I turned out of the park, on to 7th Avenue and ran down to 42nd street. I will do this race, every year, until I can't run any more simply for this experience. As was mentioned in the piece on this on the NYRR.org site -
Another NYC finisher, Michael Anderson, mopped his dripping brow and smiled after his 1:38:53 finish. "It was tough," he said, "but no matter how bad you feel, nothing beats running through Times Square."
After running in the park for an hour, I was faced with entering a canyon of shady tall buildings. The road was packed with fans (although they were really quiet) and every once in a while someone would peel off to kiss a baby, wife, husband, or sig. other. It was great. Just a little taste of what the marathon will feel like. After the race I saw a picture of the men's winner running alone through that stretch and I could imagine what it must have felt like, and it took my breath away. Really a unique experience.
At mile 8 I missed the marker. At mile 9 I took some crappy, nasty tasting hard to chew powerbar - supposed to be endurance boosting candy? Makes me convinced that I should pin Roctane to my marathon shorts and ignore the stuff on the course. (Roctane is that much better, and I will blog about it sometime soon).
Just before Mile 10 I ran into Mika. He was his usual chipper self and it was fantastic to run with him. Here's a guy who's taken the train into the City, stood on the side of the road for who knows how long, just to jump out into the mix when I go running by. Amazing!
He ran the bike trail for plenty and joined when it got really light toward the end. At the end he bailed, which was just as good because I think those around me were probably tired of hearing him tell me how many of them I was passing. I was passed, in total by less than a dozen people - total, all race. Now it helps that I started further back than I typically do, and it was nearly impossible to pass in the early miles. But this is a real difference for me versus the 'go out fast and bonk' strategy that I unfortunately, typically employ.
It was really important to have Mika there, as my pace gradual dropped from 7:45 to 7:50 to 8 flat. The most amazing mile was mile 12. It felt incredibly long. I thought I'd blown my race time. But there it was, completed in 8 flat. Knowing that I only had another mile to go, I knew that I was going to do well this time.
Up until now I haven't mentioned that it was pretty darn hot. I took plenty of Gatorade with me and managed to get a couple of cups of water on the course. And it was hot, but not too humid. Also, I've been running in this lately, so I suppose it doesn't bother me as much as some. The last few miles were on the concrete highway in the sun, so they weren't the most fun.
Just before the finish, Mika peeled out. I slowed and was passed by a spry young woman who said, 'come on man you've been pacing me for miles...you can't give up now.' To which I responded by following her on her tail. We took off in a veritable sprint. We eventually slowed a bit, and she pulled away. Just then I thought, "I can't give up this close to the finish' as I was well with in 400 meters. So using what I had left I managed a pretty recognizable kick to finish off the race. Unfortunately I blew past my motivator, but fortunately she finished very soon after so I had the chance to thank her with a quick handshake.
As is often the case in these longer, more crowded races the finish was chaos. I don't really remember much (got water, a towel, whatever) until I ran into Mika again. Unlike typical, I didn't know what my final time was until well after I'd finished the shoot - and I really didn't care. I KNEW by the gun time that I'd run a negative split and that was my goal.
First half: 54:40
Second half: 52:58
or a difference of 16 seconds per mile in the second half! I am very pleased with the results.
Above you can see the pace run per mile (generally increasing) versus my ever-increasing heart rate. The heart rate reflects the negative split, but also the heat of the day. Below you can see that my cadence was very steady (and for me high, which is good) versus my stride length, which widened on the downhill West Side Highway and really shot up during the sprint finish. I really rarely have anything left for a kick, so this was fantastic.
It's too early to say how I'll recover from this race, but I feel better than ever after a half. Of course this was my nearly my slowest half ever. Previous times were 1:43:23 in Brooklyn (in retrospect amazing!), 1:46:50 in the Bronx (on the most perfect running day of the year), and 1:48:44 in Central Park. But this is the first one that I ran my 9 min miles at the BEGINNING and now the end. Simply put I felt great, despite the weather conditions, and had a wonderful time. I'm sure I couldn't, but I feel like I could run another tomorrow or this week, if I had to.
