The last trip of my marathon of travel was to New York to run the NYC Half Marathon. This was my 7th year in a row running with Alexandra’s Playground. [There is still time to enter my raffle!] There was one wrinkle. They changed the course from one with a fast, flat second half to one that had LOTS of hills. It also started in Brooklyn instead of in Central Park.
I signed up and then went with the “ignorance is bliss” approach to the new course. I did see that my friend Daphne posted about running the course. She offered to show me her Strava map for elevation changes. I quickly declined. I needed to show up regardless!
My race mantra for this race is always “happy place, happy race.” I love visiting NYC and supporting a great charity. Central Park is one of my favorite places in the world and I get to see so many friends on each visit. New course be damned – I was planning to have a good attitude.
Pre-Race
I also had a work meeting in NJ on Friday. I went to another happy place on Thursday night – By Pond Farm to hang out with Larry and Dan. Friday morning, I went for a shake out run, hung out with the llamas and met my friend, Lauren, for coffee.
The work meeting went well. I dropped off my rental car and headed to the city. I left my things at my friend Kathy’s place and headed to the “Race Experience” to get my number. It was here that I realized this course was pretty hilly from mile 2.5 to 12.5 . I’m a flatlander living in Chicago, so this was a bit daunting. The elevation changes were not huge but boy there were A LOT of them.
Friday evening, I caught up with running buddy Nicole and then watched some NCAA tournament games with Kathy’s family. Saturday morning, I did a shake out in Central Park with Marie, Corinna, Grace and their friends. I also ran into Matan, Scott and Joanne. [Have I mentioned I LOVE coming to New York?] Then I met Resie for coffee and had a nice brunch with Kathy.
In the afternoon, Jen met me and we went to Brooklyn to check into our hotel. We had a fun dinner with Chicago buddy Mark, Marie and her friend Nancy. Melissa met us at the tail end. Mark, Melissa, Jen and I were all running. We kept it light and only fretted about the course a tiny bit. [Oh, and I stand corrected. It IS hilly across 42nd Street. Who knew?!]
Race Day
We got up bright and early and left the hotel for the Q train. It was late and packed like sardines but we got to Prospect Park with plenty of time to drop our bags. Jen, Melissa and I were in separate corrals and they were quite large. We said goodbye and made plans to meet up post race. I found the C Corral and joined a porta potty line. After that, I chatted with a ton of nice folks before the start. Before I knew it, it was time to run.
The first few miles were flat and uneventful. I fell into a nice 7:35 – 7:40 pace which I knew might be a bit aggressive. I felt comfortable so I kept with it. The second mile led to the Manhattan Bridge. The way the road went, you could see over a mile of runners off and on the bridge. It was SO cool (but also cold because of the wind!) The bridge was a steeper hill that I remembered. [The running path is below the roadway and is definitely flatter.] It was a good ¾ of a mile up. The downhill was nice!
Then, we ran about 1 ½ miles on the Lower East Side. That was pretty neat. Before I knew it, I was 4 miles in and was heading for the FDR Drive. I ran south on the FDR once in a race in the 90s. This was way cooler as the northbound lanes are near the water. The size of the race made it really cool to see so many runners ahead and behind. I knew that there was a pretty big hill to get up to 42nd St., so I paced myself for that.
We got onto 42nd and ran across from the East River to 7th Avenue. The map showed hills and there were some pretty significant ones. I used to work at 42nd and 2nd and have definitely run across to the West Side. I had NO IDEA there were hills. At 7th Ave, we turned into Times Square. It was cool but not as cool as hitting it southbound on the old course. I’m not sure why it seemed that way to me. Other people loved it both ways.
At the top of 7th Ave, I almost ate it on a bump in the road. Thank goodness, I righted myself. My torn knee can’t take another hit! That got my adrenaline going for the last 4 miles in Central Park.
There were several large hills in Central Park – including the infamous Cat Hill. I know the park by heart and I ran there on Saturday which helped. My pace was slower than the first 5K but I still felt good and that I was putting in a good effort. I saw Kelli from Alexandra’s Playground (she ran a 3 minute PR to finish in 1:33!) and Candice (who was hauling with the 1:40 pace group) and got great cheers from Lauren C. and Matan. All of those things were a BIG help!
Once I turned south from 102nd, I knew I was home free. I was just over a mile from the finish. After 3 rolling hills, it would be a steep downhill to the end. I pushed myself the best I could and was soon across the line. Just like that, another NYC Half was in the books.
I chatted with other runners and went to get my bag. The baggage area was a hot mess, but runners were patient and fairly kind all things considered. Once I finally got my stuff, I jogged over to Columbus Circle to meet the AP Team for brunch.
As much as I love the old course, I enjoyed the change of pace and the challenge. I know some things that I’ll do differently next year (Big Bertha repeats for one!), but I’ll be back!
Final Stats: Finish Time 1:43.22 (7:54/mile). Place Overall 3,249/21,945. Gender Place 725/11070. Age Group 45/1,098
Thank you to all who supported Alexandra’s Playground and for all the great support via meet ups, text and social media. I am so grateful to be able to do this every year and to have an amazing support network.
And now, I’m going home for 2 weeks and I am absolutely delighted. Need me? I’ll be in Chicago!
PS. There’s still time to donate to my Alexandra’s Playground raffle to enter to win 4 great prizes!