Nike 1/2 Marathon

I did it!

The alarm went off at 4:30am and I jumped out of bed (yes I know, very unlike me) and started getting my stuff together:

• race bib #6039
• wallet w/metro card
• Body Glide (a must)
• Gatorade - rasberry lemonade
• fuel belt of course
• cliff bar (breakfast!)
• Aleve
• chapstick
• keys
• umbrella
• raincoat
• long sleeve RISD shirt (for after)
• extra shirt for after
• band aids
• hair brush
• my TFK sweat band!
• sneakers + chip


I walked out of my room and noticed the light in the hallway was on. Then I heard something and it was Moulsari my roomate! She was JUST getting home from a night of partying and dancing! Wow, as she was ending her Saturday I was beginning my Sunday, too funny.

So I made it to the subway and as I stepped in when the train came there were already two runners I noticed, when I got off at 86th st, pretty much everyone else getting off was a runner. So no problem in finding where I needed to be, just follow the masses!

Found the team at 6am on the 102nd St transverse in Central Park. After getting organized and stretched, we were on the pavement at around 6:20 for our first 3 miles. We finished at the starting point of the race, did some more stretching , regrouped with our pace groups and were off.

The run was going fine and then, it started drizzling about 40 minutes in. Shortly after that it pretty much downpoured! We were drenched. I have to say though, it was pretty refreshing and nice. Of course my feet swimming in my shoes were not the most comfortable feeling. The rain died down pretty quickly and from there on it was about dodging the large puddles.

At about 55 minutes we were heading out of the park. That was really exciting since the crowd was out there cheering us on and it was also the end of the hills of Central Park! Time Square quickly approached and I realized Silvia must be close. Turns out, I ran right past her a few minutes back so she had to jump onthe subway to catch up with me later!

I LOVE YOU SILVIA!!!! My die hard fan! ;)

Time Square was awesome. Running under all the lights and past an orchestra at Carnegie Hall was just amazing. All with no yellow cabs in sight. So great.

At mile 10 (which was really about 13 for me) I started feeling pretty tired in my legs. That's when I got a little worried and nervous about not finishing strong. But Jenny and Kelly were right by my side (the pace group sort of split up from before) and they were great.

I also knew Silvia was coming up in the crowd so that was exciting. Since we missed each other uptown I made sure to see her this time. With the help of my cell phone we united for a brief 15 seconds at Canal Street. I gave her a big sweaty hug and she gave me the last bit of energy I needed to cross that finish line! THANKS SILLY!!!

And with the help of Jenny reminding me we only had 20 minutes left (and what is 20 minutes after an hour and a half?!), I kept up pretty much til the end. At mile 11, our pace group leader and some of the other guys appeared and we regrouped. They started running warm up pace (about 30 sec faster than our commute pace of 9:30) at around 1 hour and 55 minutes and at that point, I just could not give any more than what I was giving. So I stayed at my pace.

As I came up to the sign saying I had 800 meters left, I picked it up and caught up with Dana, one of our coaches. She kept me going and at the 400 meters left mark, I picked it up more with whatever I had left and finished with a time of 2:02! So I ran faster than my 9:30 pace which is great, and makes sense since I was doing commute + warm up pace throughout the run.

Silvia met me at the finish area. It was so great to have someone there cheering me on and waiting for me at the end. We walked up to the subway, stopped for a quick photo and then headed back home.




DONE! I know, long entry, but long run, I just had to write about it! :)