I was on the fence for this one. Being two weeks out from a marathon, racing is maybe not the smartest idea and I hadn’t done much speed work since it’s summer and summer + speed work isn’t my thing. I sweat too much and overheat to quickly for that. On the other hand, this was the best opportunity for me to try to move up a corral since its a longer race and on a flatter course.
Despite being at the tail end of a 75 mile week, legs were feeling good; sprightly even. I clocked 6:45 for the first mile and was shocked at how easy that felt, I decided to go with it and see how long I could hold on. I ran fairly even splits for the first half and realized that if I could negative split even slightly, I’d move up corrals.
I usually despise out and back courses, but this one was fun — I loved seeing everyone on the other side! Around mile 7, I started doing mental math and realized I could actually slow down and still hit the time I needed if I started to not feel well; and a part of me was not feeling well – the heat was starting to make me a little nauseated.
Having started fairly far back meant that I was passing people the entire way, so I shifted my mindset from running a particular pace to catching people. Mile 8, I started to do more mental math and realized I could potentially go under 67 minutes if I kept it up, it would be close but I could do it.
Mile 9, I started to fade slightly – I think it was my stomach forcing me to slow a bit and I knew if I got a side stitch there’s no way I’d be able to hold on. Despite grabbing water at every stop and gatorade plus water as some, I was a bit dehydrated due to having a very high sweat rate. Towards the end of mile 9 something lit a fire, I don’t know if it was more mental math or trying to reel in other people.
Mile 10 – 6:03; I was on fire. Legs were still feeling good and I was ready to completely empty the tank if possible. I ran hard and with no awareness of how fast I was going and at no point was I wondering when it was going to be over – I was (somewhat unfortunately) ready to keep going and keep hammering down. I crossed in 66:36 and felt fantastic, but was bummed this wasn’t a half and knowing that I could have mostly kept up that pace.
It was the confidence boost that I needed going into Chicago and helped me pick a marathon pace that was both challenging but reasonable. I felt that the Brooklyn Half was far too long ago to make any fitness assumptions off of and the summer left me unable to do much speed work. This was how a race should feel, conservative as you settle in, hard as you fight to hold on and hammer down the pace then emptying the tank with no concern over pace. I felt great and there wasn’t a better way to head into the taper than with a bit of a confidence boost.
It was a bit crowded and the actual packet pickup part was a bit out of the way, but not really a big deal. We picked up our bibs and I realized that I, once again discounted myself way too much and was in a much further back corral than I should have been. I was slightly panicked about this knowing how crowded the race was going to be, I really didn’t want to waste energy that I could be using to run on dodging people.
I bargained with myself to hold on until the 10k, then to hold on until the 8 mile mark then I could cruise. At mile 8 we turned into the park where we got the most stunning views of the cherry blossoms, also where my stomach started really screaming at me. I wasn’t opposed to being a like a bear in the woods, but something felt really wrong about doing that to a poor cherry blossom tree. 
I’d highly recommend this race – it’s especially perfect for anyone tuning up for a later spring half. It’s mostly flat, weather is perfect and the cherry blossoms are beautiful. The views of the cherry blossoms at the back half of the race are so much better than the ones you’d see around the festival area. Signing up is also relatively risk free since you can transfer your bib (you’ll have NO problem finding someone who will want to take it either) or you can drop to the 5k up to the day before. It’s mostly well organized, the start area had plenty of room to warm up, plenty of port-a-potties and even gatorade + bananas and granola bars. The only issue we had was with the bag check. They switched from a tent set up to UPS trucks and it was really disorganized and the lines were horrendous. That said they responded quickly on social media about this issue and I anticipate that they’ll rectify it next year. NYRR had the same problem at the Brooklyn Half last year and for the NYC Half this year the bag check experience was the easiest I’ve ever had (they called out to me before I even got there and had my bag waiting!).
Running up the bridge I felt strong, but on the downhill my stomach fired off a warning shot. I knew this wasn’t good news so I slowed up a bit. My body wanted to go faster and my stomach screamed no, making the downhill pretty uncomfortable.
I spent the next 2 miles searching for a port-a-potty. At mile 8 I spotted one and I cheered a little. I had resigned myself to the fact that I might have to make the side of the FDR a port-a-potty. By this point, I really had to apply the breaks to avoid that. 92 seconds later, I felt much better. I was starting to bonk a little and this is where I really should have taken a gel. I pushed through it but by mile 10 I was done mentally.
I’d highly recommend this half to anyone who isn’t afraid of potentially frigid weather (it can be in the 20s at the start and at best in the 40s), doesn’t mind a LOT of hills (360+ ft of gain) and isn’t from New York – I can’t imagine how cool it would be for a tourist getting to run through an empty Times Square. If you live here, it’s 
Running on Pumpkin Spice 