Manhattan Half Marathon - 1/27/08

This morning was the Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park. Although the forecast called for 30 degrees at the start of the race, it wasn't really too cold and was relatively pleasant to run in. This is my first time running the Manhattan Half since 2003. It was usually run in the summertime when it almost always unbearably hot and then it was switched to the wintertime in early January which is usually too early for me to run a half. Also, the thought of doing a race consisting of two loops of the park is getting less appealing. This was my first half marathon since the Queens Half in September 2007.

However, I have been doing longer runs the past couple months and I felt I was ready to do a half marathon this early in the year. Usually I'm not ready to run one until at least early to late Spring, since I usually use the winter to rest up and not log in any longer runs. This year was different though. I wanted to see where I was at after two months of weekly longer runs and how my body would react to a half marathon. I was looking to have a solid race and run between 1:45 and 1:50. By all accounts, the race for me was a success. I ended up running an overall time of 1:46:04, at an 8:05 mile pace.

Luckily I was able to run with JM and we were able to pace each other throughout the race. It is always easier to run with someone else to carry the load with. I am starting to get better at pacing these longer races and it gives me a feeling of control over my speed. The goal for me now is to run as even a pace as possible with very few drastic changes in speed from mile to mile, giving me a sense of focus and calm throughout the race. This was definitely accomplished today. While our mile times went up and down a bit for the first few miles (navigating through the crowd in the first mile, over compensating for the second mile, and then Harlem Hill on the third mile) we were able to get in a rhythm by mile four and stick to it for nearly the entire race. The rolling hills in the park are never easy, especially the second time around when you are tiring out a bit. The toughest part was knowing that Cat Hill Part 2 was coming up. No matter how good I was feeling towards the end of the race, I knew I couldn't think about the finish until I got past the second Cat Hill. Once that was over, I got to mile 12 and then gave it all I had for the remaining 1.1 miles. Overall, I was able to get a "feel" for the pace once again and was able to tell instinctively if my pace was getting faster or slower. This is good practice for me moving forward. It is nice to see my pacing skills starting to get a little better.

There were a bunch of Flyers out today and it was great to see them on the course, as well as chatting with them afterwards. A sampling of those out today were: JM, BH (trakmaniak), AG (marathon 26), AK, HP, BC taking pictures on the course, ES, TB, and a bunch of others. The mile by mile breakdown was as follows:

Mile 1 - 8:22
Mile 2 - 8:08
Mile 3 - 7:52
Mile 4 - 7:56
Mile 5 - 8:06
Mile 6 - 8:19
Mile 7 - 7:59
Mile 8 - 8:28 (Harlem Hill second time around),
Mile 9 - 8:09
Mile 10 - 8:07
Mile 11 - 8:02
Mile 12 - 8:11
Mile 12-13.1 - 8:21 (7:35 mile pace for last 1.1 miles)

For the past week: Mon - off, Tues - spinning, Weds - off (I'm taking a jazz class for the next 7 weeks on Weds nights), Thurs - 4.5 miles in the gym, Fri - off, Sat - 5 miles in the gym, Sun - 13.1 miles

Looking forward to the Flyers awards dinner on Saturday night.