NYC Half Finisher :)

Hey!

Well, I'm back from an amazing weekend in NYC.  The highlight, of course, is that I ran my first half-marathon!

I don't think I can fully express how amazing this run was! I was a nervous wreck the week leading up to it, but somehow when I woke up on Sunday I was super relaxed. I got up at 4:30, had breakfast, got dressed and arrived in Central Park at 6:30.  The race started at 7:30 but, being in the last corral, I didn't cross the starting line until around 8:10.


My only goal for this race was to finish so I wanted to maintain a comfortable pace, which for me is around an 11 minute mile.

I thought the first mile dragged on forever until I saw 2 mile marker and realized I had missed the first one :P I heard the hills between miles 3 and 4 in Central Park were killer but thankfully they were not nearly as bad as I had expected.

I barely even noticed the first 6 miles go by and before I knew it I was running through Times Square. There are seriously no words to describe that feeling - that 1 mile would have made all 13 worth it even if the other 12 had been torture!! You can tell by my splits that I got a little excited there ;)

Everything was absolutely perfect until around mile 10 when I felt a sharp pain in my right thigh. I'd never felt anything like it and I panicked. There was no way I wasn't finishing this race! Up until this point I hadn't taken a walking break because I didn't feel as though I needed it. Well I tried taking one when I felt the pain but it was as though my legs had forgotten how to walk and that seemed even harder than running. So I kept running but slowed down until the pain subsided a little.

From that point on any time I tried to run faster my thigh screamed at me so I had to keep to a slower pace but I was just so grateful that my body wasn't making me stop altogether.  Miles 10-12 along the West Side Highway were the hardest, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more if it hadn't been for the pain. I wish I could have pushed harder for the finish but all that matters is I crossed that line :D

I finished in 2:30, which I am incredibly happy with! I was honestly worried about not finishing within the 3 hour time limit so it was such a relief to know that I had that cushion while I was running. Here are my splits:

Mile         Pace     

1              10'54"/mi

2              11'33"/mi

3              11'05"/mi

4              11'18"/mi

5              11'19"/mi

6              11'06"/mi

7              10'36"/mi

8              10'38"/mi

9              10'54"/mi

10           11'22"/mi

11           11'55"/mi

12           12'07"/mi

13           11'48"/mi

Maybe it's just my intense love for NYC,  I don't think any race can top running through Manhattan.
I really, really hope I get to do it again next year!!!