Last Sunday, I ran the official NYC Half Marathon. It was already a great weekend – I went wine tasting with my fiancee on the North Fork of Long Island for my 30th birthday, and New York had its most perfect weather – sunny and in the 70s – since the fall.
My previous best half marathon time was 1:50:00, so my goal for NYC was simply to beat that time. And beat it I did… Official finish time: 1:47:55 – a pace of 8:15min/mile!
The course was a little more than a lap of Central Park, then through Times Square and down the West Side Highway. Having never run this particular race before, it was my first time running through the closed streets of Manhattan. The only disappointment was that the race began at an early 7:30am, and so there were very few people cheering us on. That being said – great experience. The clockwise loop around the park felt much better than counter-clockwise. The portion we overlapped was downhill, so we had a chance to increase our speed there.
Gatorade got me through the first half, and my trusty gu-roids got me through the last 5k. As gu-ross as that stuff is, it definitely works. Still sore, but looking forward to the next race. Anyone have suggestions on post-race soreness?
