NYC Half Marathon_details

I made a (Freudian) slip and posted my Half Marathon time as 1:23 whereas my real time was 1:25. That pretty much summarizes my race experience. I was hoping I would finish close to 1:23, which is the qualifying time for NYC marathon, but in my mind, I knew the hills of the Central Park and my fitness would not make a good combination to achieve this goal. I decided to go for it anyway.

Things were going well until mile 9 of the 13.1-mile race. I was on track with my race pace of about 6:20, and I even had a few seconds in the "bank" to allow for a few seconds pace near the end. On mile 9, the water station was too close to the mile marker, so I missed it and didnt' realize that my pace slowed down by 10 seconds. So I ran on the same slowed pace for the 10th mile. When I looked at the sum of two miles, I realized that I have lost 20 seconds. That meant all the seconds in the "bank" were spent and I now owed the clock about 10 seconds. This was not something that I was ready do deal with.

From that point on, I almost gave up on my race time. I realized that I am not going to be able to run a sub-1:23 half, so I decided to settle in an easy pace and don't kill myself. The result was a much slower last two miles of the race.

I guess given where I am with my training, the temperature and humidity, and the hills, I should be happy about the race. I am not unhappy, but I want to run another sub-1:23 this year.

We shall see.