I can’t stop smiling about this year’s NYC 1/2. This is the 8th year in a row that I’ve toed the line with Alexandra’s Playground. It was the second time on the new Brooklyn to Manhattan course. While I still miss the old (FAST) course, I loved the slight changes they made this year. Between the updates and the perfect running weather, it was one of my fave NYC Halfs yet!
Pre-Race
This was the first year that I did a charity class for fundraising. My friend Kelly agreed to lead a HIIT class at SWEAT Fitness in Chicago. Athleta sponsored the class and provided tote bags, shop cards and discounts to all participants. I got awesome swag from 16 companies. Check out the swag bag here.
We had 36 people at our class! Between the class, raffle and a shopping event at Athleta, we raised over $1650! The class was so much fun and everyone had a great time. I’m definitely going to make this an annual tradition.
Race Weekend
My race weekend is always filled with friends. I went to NYC on Friday and had dinner with my friend, Emily. Saturday morning, I went for a shake out run and coffee with Resie and Nicole. Then, I went down to meet Mandi and Kat and Carly to go to the Expo. Then, I met Holly for lunch and Marissa for coffee and finally Kathy and her boys for dinner.
Before I knew it, Nicole and David and I were in a taxi on the way to the start. Everything was super smooth and we headed into our respective corrals. Somehow, Carly found me and we chatted a bit before she went to the front of the corral.
The Race
The new course runs a mile in Prospect Park and another mile on the perimeter. Last year, we started at the park and ran to Manhattan. I liked the addition of these miles upfront. There was a big hill at the beginning but no big hills at the end! It took me 5 minutes to start but it wasn’t hard to get going at my planned pace. I was targeting ~7:40/mile.
I got into a nice groove in the first 5K. My pace was 7:38 per mile. We headed from Prospect Park to the Manhattan Bridge. There was a nice down hill in between. The bridge seemed a bit longer than I remembered from last year. This year, I took advantage of the down hill side and picked up the pace.
There’s a cool winding part through Chinatown and then on to the FDR. I liked the FDR part better this year because it wasn’t as windy. It seemed like there were more water stops, too! I’m not sure if that’s true.
Before I knew it, I was running down 42nd St and crossing the 15K mark. The 7 and 8 mile markers/timing seemed long (my friend Sarah mentioned this to me and I definitely remember feeling like I was no longer on pace, too). At 15K, I was at 7:44/mile pace. The part on 42nd St. is pretty cool. I like passing the iconic buildings. There are some hills (which I discovered last year!) A 1:40 pace group passed me. I tried to stay with them as long as I could.
Suddenly, I was turning onto 7th Avenue and heading through Time Square. I’m no fan of Times Square, but I like running through it once a year. The best thing about the new course is that when we got to Times Square, we were almost done!
Turning onto Central Park South, I reflected on how strong I still felt. I remembered that painful stretch of the NYC Marathon last year when I had terrible leg cramps. I smiled at the music and crowd and tried to push.
Once I got into the park, it was a mile to the finish. I tried to stay with anyone who passed me. I saw the clock and subtracted the 5 minutes and a few seconds and realized that I was going to be in the low 1:42s. My watch didn’t work at the start or at mile 1 so I was running a bit blind. I was excited because I felt strong and last year my time was 1:43.22.
I got my medal and heat sheet and asked a volunteer to take a photo. I walked down to Columbus Circle and ran into Marie. I was so excited because finding a friend at a finish of a 25,ooo person race is no easy feat! We chatted excitedly about our race and then took photos before heading on our way.
Official Result: 1:42.17 (7.49/mile). Overall: 3,514 of 24,653. Female: 749 of 12,339. AG: 49 of 1,298.
I hustled back to Kathy’s and took a shower. Then, I headed back to Columbus Circle for our celebratory brunch with the Alexandra’s Playground team.
Between the charity event, race weekend and race, I have a hard time imagining a better experience. As I said on Instagram, this was nowhere near my personal best time but I was at my best. I’m so grateful for all of the support of my friends, family and The Husband leading up to and during this race. I’m so lucky that I have the opportunity, means and good health to do this every year.
Thanks for following along and to all of you who supported me along the way!
PS. If you ran this or any other race last weekend, please share your experience in the comments.