Brooklyn!

Me, Gina and Pam post-race (look at my shirt! isn't it cute? it says "running chick")

Okay, so it never ceases to amaze me what my body can do. I say this because my running has not been happening, yet I am able to run half marathons and not destroy my body. And when I say I have not been running I don't mean "I've only done a couple of miles here and there, but not the mileage I'm used to." I mean I haven't been running at all. Three weeks prior to the Flying Pig? No running. And then the next three weeks before the Brooklyn Half Marathon? Also no running.

Now, I would not recommend this, being that it is stupid, but it is pretty amazing that my body can handle this.

I also say this because I only got 2.5 hours of sleep the night before the half. Mostly this was because we had to get up so darn early (start was at 7am...in Brooklyn). But also because I just could not get to sleep the night before.

To top things off, we (me, Gina, Pam) decided to take a cab to the park because it would be so much easier. We must have had the most idiotic cab driver ever. I have no idea why he went the way he did, but we basically ended up making a circle around Manhattan. The whole ride was $50!!! That is more than it takes to get to JFK! Ridiculous. So when we went to drop off our bags some guy was yelling at us that baggage was going to close...so we had to run. And then some other guy yelled at us because we were late and our truck was full (the start was at Prospect Park, but the finish was at Coney Island, so the bags were loaded on trucks according to your number) so we had to go to "late baggage". And then the portolet line was like a million people long. Oh yeah, and it was the hottest day (by like 20 degrees) that I've run in yet.

If this was two years ago this would all have destroyed my psyche completely and I would have probably passed out at the second mile. But I was just in it for the fun this time.

Us three girls just ran easy the whole time. It was actually a great time to catch up. Prospect Park is known for these awful awful hills, and we had to run the loop twice, but it wasn't that bad because we were all just chatting away. In fact, it may have been the most enjoyable half marathon I have ever run.

The coolest part about the race is that it ends on the boardwalk in Coney Island. So it was fun to end on a beach even if we weren't going swimming. :)

And after all of this, plus stopping at just about every water stop AND stopping for a restroom break, we still ended up with a 2:17! Pretty good! I could definitely go for some more half marathons like that.

Brooklyn!

So I have yet another half marathon this weekend. This one is part of the NYRR Half Marathon Grand Prix. It is the only one of the Grand Prix that I have never raced, and the one that everyone talks about. From most people I have heard that this is the best one, but from a couple of friends I have heard it is the most difficult. I am inclined to believe both.

I think it will be super cool because it runs all through Brooklyn and ends in Coney Island where there is a huge beach party. However, it is supposed to rain all weekend, so that probably won't be as cool as it seems.

It is probably the hardest because of all of the hills...mostly those Prospect Park hills. I have run Prospect Park a couple of times and it is always rough. The way I picture Prospect Park is sort of like an Escher drawing. It seems like the whole route is uphill. This cannot be physically possible, because Prospect Park is a loop, but it really truly seems like there are no downhills. And for some reason the hills seem so much harder than Central Park. This is weird too, because I think the hills in Central Park are much steeper and there are definitely more of them.

At any rate, I am still looking forward to it. I really want that stupid patch that they give to everyone that completes at least 4 of the 5 half marathons...AND it will get me guaranteed entry into the NYC Half next year. :)

Quelle Chaleur!

Sometimes it's pretty funny how my French calendar is right on with it's phrase of the day. Sunday's was "Quelle chaleur!" which loosely translates to "Man, it's hot!" And it was hot yesterday. (Of course, the first weekend we start to see 90 degree temps happens to be the same weekend as the NYC Half Marathon.)

It was actually HOTTER than the Chicago Marathon, but at least NYRR had the foresight to set up many water tables. (According to the National Weather Service, at 7am, which is when the race started, it was 76 degrees out with 80% humidity...by 9am it was 82 degrees!)

The heat and humidity, combined with my stupid corral assignment, combined with the fact that I only got 2 hours of sleep the night before made me think that I just might have to shelve my hopes for another 1:53. I was all agitated in my corral before the race too. People kept stepping on the back of my feet and their hair kept sticking to my shoulder (a huge pet peeve of mine).

Despite all of this, I did try to dodge and weave as much as possible. I was actually quite pleased with my first split: a 9:35. I was thinking for sure that I would be stuck doing 10 min miles from the way it was so crowded. But after I passed a bunch of people in the first mile I got very backlogged. It was kind of like when you turn the treadmill on too slow and you end up stepping all over the front of it. It was pretty frustrating. I decided that I might as well stop for water, because it WAS so hot, and it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to race this one.

Hmmm. Seems there weren't enough volunteers. The tables were littered with EMPTY cups. So it seemed that we had to stand on line while we waited for a volunteer to fill up a cup for each of us, one at a time. We were stopped for so long that my Garmin actually STOPPED because it detected no movement. Not ideal, but I guess at least they had water. That mile was a 10:05.

I tried the whole dodging and weaving thing again, and though it was frustrating, I got back up to a 9:35 on the third mile.

Harlem Hill seemed to weed some people out, and the crowd thinned momentarily. Maybe it was because as we were running up the back side of the hill some guy on the sidelines yelled "That's it! The last big hill!" I was horrified. The worst hill was coming up. Runners around me seemed happy with this so I said "That's not true at all, there's a HUGE hill coming up!" (Gina later was like "Good for you. I hate it when people lie like that." :) That mile? 8:53. Whoo-hoo! Getting my game back!

Same story at the next waterstop. Seriously?

My fifth mile I looked down and noticed something strange...my watch was calculating the miles before I would get to the mile markers. In fact, by the time I got to mile 5, my Garmin said 5.19. Now, I know, I know, there is a bit of an accuracy problem sometimes with these things, BUT every other race I've run in the park is dead on. I was wondering if maybe all of the weaving I was doing was adding on miles. Mile 5: 9:22.

I was getting thirsty and very tired of being in the park. Thank goodness some man shouted "Water just around the corner!" Where? Where? LIAR! (The next water stop was actually OUT of the park, around mile 7. I thought this was a nasty thing for that man to do. :)

Mile 6: 9:08. I was actually feeling a lot better. Besides the whole water thing.

By the time I hit the bottom of the park I felt very very tired. The heat was getting to me and I just couldn't bear to think about the rest of the race which I knew would not be shady at all (running through Times Square and on the West Side Highway. Yuck.) I saw Bill and said "It's HOT." (This was my way of saying to him "I am just going to finish this race now. I am not worrying about time anymore." Luckily, Bill has come to so many of my races that I think he totally understood.) Bill pointed to the exit from the park and told me water was just around the corner. He was NOT lying ;)

Mile 7? 9:04.

This was really when I sort of gave up on the whole thing. I was just too exhausted. It was the heat, not the run. So I sort of started to enjoy myself, smiling and waving at the TNT cheerers. I looked forward to WALKING the water stops. Mile 8: 9:11.

I must admit, it was totally surreal running through Times Square. If it hadn't been so hot I would have been having an awesome time. There were what seemed like millions of fans cheering as you ran through this whole canyon of neon, lights and moving pictures. And there were a ton of bands! It was very cool.
I felt like a sucker, because this is when I decided that I needed a walking break. I also decided I needed a GU (even though my stomach was like "No! Please! No GU!") and it was the worst tasting GU ever, even though it was my favorite, vanilla. Mile 9? 9:43.

When I headed onto the West Side Highway, I was walking and some lady on the course yelled at me. "NO WALKING! PLEASE START RUNNING!" (There were other people walking by me too.) Seriously? Some lady jogging next to me was like "Easy for her to say!"

I started running again, but had to stop when my stomach was starting to turn again. Oh yes, the line of garbage trucks on the WSH, baking in the sun. Gross. As I was walking I ran into a teammate, Charles.
He didn't look so good and he asked if we could stick together until the end. He said he REALLY needed to run with someone. I figured there was no way I was going to finish this fast anyways, and I KNOW I have felt that way before and it STINKS when you feel that way, so I said okay.

We basically walked about 80% of the rest of the way. He kept saying that I could go ahead, but I think he really wanted me to run with him, so I did. I was actually feeling pretty good after about a half mile of walking, and felt like I could pretty much run the rest of the way in, but I thought it would be pretty crappy to leave him to finish the race himself when I said I would stay with him.

So my last mile times were kind of a joke, when I compared them to my first few miles. 11:13, 11:50, 11:39, 12:10. But it was okay. I think Charles appreciated it (he gave me a big sweaty hug at the end) and I just kept thinking how I would have LOVED to have someone with me in the last few miles of my first marathon (or even Marine Corps).

So I finished with a 2:26. CORRECTION: I just checked that out again. 2:26 was my gun time, 2:16 was my official time. Whew! I thought so! Otherwise my Garmin was way off! Definitely my worst half marathon ever, but I gladly accepted my medal. This was a race that I felt was an accomplishment just to finish. :)

Rant Rant Rant Rant

I've officially rescinded all of the nice things I've said about NYRR.

I know I am probably being petty, but here is the deal:
Last Saturday I decided to check my "status" on the NYRR website for the NYC Half Marathon (which is tomorrow). Turns out I was in the 11th corral...out of 14. Now, I knew this wasn't right because all of my friends I train with are in the 7th corral. To show you how insane this is, I will be starting on 97th Street. The start is on 85th Street.

So all of my friends suggested that I contact NYRR to see if I could change my number, because it was so off.

So I wrote a nice, long letter.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to ask a question about my corral assignment for the NYC Half Marathon.
I recently checked my registration and saw that I was assigned the the 11th Corral with the number XXXXX. I was talking to my teammates that I normally run/pace with (I belong to Team in Training) and they said they were assigned to the 7th corral.
I am expecting to finish between 1:51-1:53 and am worried that I may be in the wrong corral. My most recent time for a half marathon was the Bronx Half with a 1:54.38.
I know that the half marathon is going to be quite crowded and that the corrals are in place to avoid unnecessary weaving and to ease congestion, so I want to make sure I am in the right corral.
Is it possible that I am in the wrong corral? And if so, would it be possible to change my corral?

Here is my entry information:
Emily Mason
Entry #XXXXXXX
Membership ID XXXXXX
Race # XXXXX

Thank you so much for your time and consideration with addressing this matter.

Sincerely,
Emily Mason

And here is what I got back:

Hello Emily

Bibs were based upon the information you provided on your entry form

Your best time – was listed as 4:25 for the Marine Corps Marathon

This is the time used to assign bibs

Yeah. Thanks for actually reading my letter. AND my time was NOT listed as 4:25, but 4:22. So I was just going to let it go, but I kept getting more and more ticked about it as I talked to more people. I mean, this is my race that I am supposed to use as a checkpoint in my training, and if I'm weaving through 4 corrals of people (there are 15,000 people registered) I am definitely NOT going to have a decent race. I was supposed to be using this race to determine my marathon pace. Grrrr. So I decided since I didn't actually get a real answer I could write back and try to get one. I was fuming, so it was really hard to be cordial in this one, but I tried.

Dear Janet,

Thank you for your quick response.
I do realize that I listed 4:22 as my marathon time. I listed that because I assumed that my half marathon times from NYRR, which were already in the system, would affect my corral placement, like my previous NYRR times do for other NYRR races. I also assumed that my "Predicted Time for half Marathon" (which was listed 1:55) would be considered.
I would not be so insistent except for the fact that I know that my pace is much faster than a 10:12 (from the MCM, which was last year).

My past NYRR paces were:
8:27 for Hope and Possibility
8:42 for the Front Runners
8:33 for the Women's Mini
8:45 for the Bronx Half Marathon

I know that this race is a large one and my coaches and I are concerned that I will not be able to get to where I should be until after the loop around the park.
Are you saying there is no way to change my corral at this time?
I understand that it is very late in the process. But I just want to make sure that there is nothing more that can be done to remedy this.

Thank you,
Emily Mason

Nothing back. Nothing changed. I picked up my 11th corral number for the race yesterday.

I was going to let it all go but then I kept thinking about it. This is a BIG half marathon. NYRR is supposed to be regarded as a premiere racing club. I am not stupid, I understand that they can't change everyone's corral. I also understand that they were probably incredibly busy this week. But at least acknowledge my questions. It would have at least made me feel better about the whole thing and I would have dropped it. (I would have still been disappointed, but I would have dropped it.)

It makes me not even care about fufilling my stupid 9+1 commitment (you have to run nine qualifying NYRR races and volunteer for one event) to get into the New York City Full Marathon next year.

I mean why am I busting my butt in training every week to improve if I don't even get credit for it?

Ptttt.

So I'm really not expecting much (except a lot of frustration) from the race tomorrow...which makes me sad.