NYC Half Marathon Finisher!! (a few weeks late but better late than never right?)

I did it! I finished the NYC Half Marathon!! I actually had a really great race. The NYC half is a fun one. You run a loop and a half of central park, then run down 7th Avenue through Times Square, and then finish the run by running down the West Side Highway along the Hudson to downtown NYC.

It was the first half that I have run in 2 years so I was a little bit nervous. The longest training run that I had done previous was 8 miles so 13.1 miles felt like a big jump. Of course I bought a new running outfit. Ha. Unfortunately, in purchasing my new outfit I overestimated how warm it would be outside and ended up wearing my black jacket over it.

(Yes, this is me at 5:30 am self portraiting in Andrea's room)



After a breakfast of half a banana and half of an english muffin with peanut butter I headed out my door to catch a cab to the start line. My cab driver was very chatty and wanted to know all about the race. He also told me that I didn't sleep enough and probably wouldn't be able to finish! Thanks buddy. Ha. I got to my starting corral and had about 45 min until the race started. Don't worry that it was 37 degrees at the start line. I have never been so anxious to start running!

I love races! I love the energy of everyone around you and the excitement in the air. I was so glad that it was not raining and even though it was freezing, it was looking like it would be a nice day. It was fun to see the crowd, see what other people were wearing, and just to see all the different kinds of people that were running. The NYC Half Marathon had about 10,000 participants-people from all around the world. So fun!

The running itself was actually fun. The first couple miles are always the hardest for me. I have to give myself major pep talks for most of the first few miles and then after that I get into the groove and can keep going. My dear friend Jane was there to cheer me on right before the terrible hills at the north end of the park. Goodness, I need to practice running hills because I hate them so much. Thankfully we only ran the hills once and the rest of the course was flat/slightly downhill. Anita and Julia were cheering for me around mile 8 with fun, colorful signs. My dad, Aunt Camille and cousin Chris greeted me around mile 12-one more mile to go! Then I saw Anita and Julia again right before the finish line.

It felt so great to finish!! It was barely faster than my slowest half time but I felt really great at the end as opposed to feeing like I was going to die like I have in my other races. I had a great time running and it was so fun to have so many friendly faces along the way! I have such fantastic friends!! I got my foil blanket thing and my medal (the most important part) and met up with Anita, Julia, Jen, Russ and Eric. We all made our way over to the WFC to meet up with the fam and then headed towards the subway.

Friends all made their way to church/naptime and me and the fam went to brunch at Good. I had my traditional after race tacos and my much anticipated Diet Coke (I had given up all carbonation and candy for the 2.5 months before the race)! All-in-all it was a great race and I had a good time!! Can't wait to run another!