NYC Half 2019

The NYC half is my first race in my short build up to Lake Sonoma 50 miler.  Instead of doing a warmup marathon or 50k, and then have to spend time recovering, I thought it be better to do shorter races where I could jump back to training quickly.  This race was meant to merely be a training run but the size and hype of the race made me want to do well in it.  I wanted to go for a 1:35 as my A goal and get a PR (personal record) as my B goal.  To get the B goal I would have to break 1:39:02 which I got in the SI half last fall.  I thought this would have been pretty easy considering that I ran 25 miles the day before Staten Island.  The two days before this race I emphasis sleep (at least 7 hours) and did a simple 4 mile shakeout the day before so a lot better rested.  My training as been mostly focused on building a base to handle longer mileage weeks so I was far from half marathon racing shape but I thought I could at least pull something off my aerobic fitness.

Pre-race

Shuttle!  I didn’t know most of the people in my van but I met Colleen in it.  Getting to bag check was pretty straight forward.  Found out in horror that you had to check the bag before porter potties.  This pretty much meant I had to shiver in the cold for an hour before the race.  I never done the throw away clothes thing since it seems like a huge waste but I might have to consider it for future events.  Shortly after I finished dropping my stuff and then headed to the porter potties I met Winston and Henry.  Winston gave me his heat sheet seeing me cold.  I felt bad taking his heat sheet but he insisted that I needed it more.  I followed them back to bag drop where I met Ninam Edwin and Diana.  I realized I left my gels in my drop bag.  With so many people I figure it would be impossible to get my drop bag back.  A bit of a letdown but I guess I could survive.  I should have just packed it in my pocket before heading out the door in the morning.  We then headed through security and then the porter potties.  On the way they were giving heat sheets and Diana mentioned putting one to cover the bottom half of the body which I tried and immediately felt some warmth on the legs.  I then took another heat sheet to cover the core area.  Line wasn’t too bad for the potties, I figure since bag check didn’t close yet and most people were hovering around it trying to stay warm with their jackets and such.  A little afterwards with bag check closed the lines went crazy.  Afterwards was just talking and slowly meeting other teammates.  When we separated I met David and we walked for a bit.  Then did a quick jog warmup together.  I went back in front of my corral and met Diana again.  We did a few stretches and moved into the corral.  Diana mentioned me pacing her but I was thinking she could pace me haha. 

Reunion Party!  Miles 1 - 4

I started with Diana.  I found the corral’s pace immediately slow but it was just the start so no use going crazy trying to get pass them.  First mile clocked in around a 7:50 pace.  I figure that was okay getting my cardio system warmed up and with the prospective park hill.  Second was about 7:25 which was closer to what I wanted.  I then put my arm sleeve over the watch and went by feel.  The course had one out and back in the beginning and I saw Danny, Anthony and Eric as they passed and cheered.  Then saw Akif!  A little pass 2 miles we met Colleen!  Saw Kevin cheering!  I saw Akif again a little pass the 5k mark and made my way to say hi.  Right after I met Chris’t from Hoboken and we both said that the other was looking good.  I lost where Diana was around this point but I figure she would pass me if I was going too slowly.  I soon hit the Manhattan Bridge.  It look pretty intimidating as I approached.  I switched to a shorter stride with more cadence.  Passed quite a bit on the bridge.  The bridge seemed to drag on for a bit.  I met Elver on the bridge whom I haven’t seen in quite a while.  We ran together for a bit but I soon lost him too.

Chinatown to Times Square, the painful FDR!  Miles 5 to 10

Down the bridge we hit Chinatown and the crowd there were pretty encouraging!  Going towards the FDR the road became pretty bumpy and I completely missed the honey stinger gel station.  If they were going to have gels, I wish they simply offered it in the beginning of the race.  Shortly after getting on the FDR drive I saw the sign for 3/4s of a mile to 20-23 street.  Great I thought, only a little bit till I past Baruch and then 42 street should be close after.  Those 3/4s of a mile felt like forever.  No crowds and really nothing to see, I much rather have been running on the East River Park with the nice views of the river.  I saw the 1:40 pace group whom started in the front of my corral whereas I started in the back. Catching them and passing would have been good sign and boost to confidence.  I felt like I could easily pass them and continue along my way.  I positioned myself to pass them and I gained ground slowly.  After a while they started slowly pulled away.  My mental state deteriorated and my mind started wondering.  Random thoughts popped up and in the loss of focus, I lost where the 1:40 pace group went.  As my mind approached wipeout I heard “go Vikram, go”.  Gurmit came by and said he recognized my singlet and face.  Then he told me only a little more as passed by.  This simple encouragement got my mind back in the game.  It was about mile 10.  I brought my mind back to the present by focusing on my breathing. 

To Central Park!  Miles 10 to 13.1

I used Gurmit and two dashing whippets’ runners as my pacers for the final stretch to Central Park.  Probably because they stood out quite a bit.  I just focused on breathing as I made my way across 42nd street to 8th ave.  Then we turned right and I could see Central park straight ahead!  I kept my focus on staring straight ahead to Central Park.  On my side view I briefly saw some of the kid’s race taking place.  I wonder what they thought of us runners.  I thought I could fool myself a bit and convince me that I’m pretty close to the end by looking at the park.  Turned right and on Central Park South and I was in a lot of pain.  Heard my name and this time it was Edwin’s mom and Bryan!  I weakly gave a peace sign which I then turned to a thumbs up.  Entering Central Park I was in immense pain and started going to tunnel vision.  Instead of feeling strong as I approached the final mile to the end, I felt like giving up the pace a bit.  I heard a porter potty door slam and out came Kevin with some immediate encouragement.  I focused on picking it up and still in tunnel vision I missed most of the QDR water station.  I saw Lillian cheer on the right side.  This part of the course is where I work by and by default is where I run the most.  I thought it would have been my strongest part but it was just a struggle.  I knew all hills and bumps along the way and exactly how much farther the finish line was but I wasn’t able to visualize the distance.  The feeling of pain just kept hitting my mind and trying to hang on was the only thought in my head.  800 meters away came and I couldn’t get a sprint going.  The last 200 meters I managed to let out a weak sprint. 

Post-Race

A few seconds later Diana caught up.  Medals with photos, heat shield and soon Elver caught up.  Sad to tell him I didn’t get the 1:35.  I knew I was close to PR but it was close to a few seconds.  Recovery bag was pretty disappointing but I don’t expect much from NYRR races in this regard so no surprises.  Bag check was amazing though, as I passed by I heard my number called to my surprise and got my bag in seconds.  Then there wasn’t any place to change, definitely missing the logistics of the Houston marathon here, so I quickly changed shirts and pulled sweats over my shorts.  It was a bit hard to balance myself in my state.  Found Edwin and his dad and then limped walk with them to the QDR cheer station by the last water station.  Cheered till the last QDR runner passed by, more than 90 minutes after I made it to the cheer station (so maybe like 115 minutes after I finished).  Back home I had a big lunch and then napped for an hour.  Then just hanged out till 7ish where I got in a 12 minute recovery run.  I went in pace where I could take deep breaths in and out of the nose.  The mile, though at a slow pace, went by quickly.

Brooklyn half

The NYRR Brooklyn half was my first NYRR race back in 2014.  Back then, it was my comeback race back then after my first marathon left me with an IT band injury for a few months.  I got a massive PRed with a 2:02 (shows you that months of stretching and rehab training could lead to improvements).  I returned to the Brooklyn half in 2015 as part of 9+1 for the 2016 NYC marathon.  That NYC marathon was also my last NYRR till this Brooklyn half!   

I wasn’t in shape for the half marathon.  I had a long 4 week taper going into the NJ marathon and then took 2 weeks off so I ended up going into the half with a week of quality training.  I didn’t know how to pace myself for it.  I figured I would find a 1:40 pace group which should be a pace between my marathon and 10k pace but the corral I was in had a 1:50 pace group.  I decided to go with run 5 miles a bit slow and then pick it up. 

I ate a little bit of pasta for breakfast (something new) 3 hours before race.  I also ran a little more than 1.3 miles to the Queens Distance shuttle.  I was hoping the run to be my first shakeout and then to do a 5 minute shakeout before the race started.  However, I got to the race just in time to drop my bag, get through security and wait in a long line for the porter porties.  I ended up starting with corral H, one corral after me with no warm up.  It was a cold morning despite having a poncho. 

With so many people running the race, the race is like a reunion.  I met Jeremy who ran the North Face NY 50 miler just two week prior.  Then I saw college friend Grzergory.  A mile in I saw Kenny!  At mile 2 I started feeling hot so I took my goretex bluff off my head and wrapped it around my hand.  Julie said hi during that motion and I missed my chance to say hi back.  Around mile 3 I caught up to David and we ran together and talked for a bit.  I ran through all puddles and one particular long stretch in Prospect park I heard someone say that dude is nuts, then someone said he’s like a machine.  I never really minded puddles but ultras taught me how silly trying to avoid them are.  5 miles in and towards the end of the route of the race in the park I saw two other QDR members and waved as I passed by.  Then onto the Ocean parkway. 

This long stretch was a lot lonelier as I didn’t catch up to any more familiar faces.  Volunteers here and there said go QDR and go Queens which gave nice boosts but I feel like overall I didn’t have much motivation to push myself.  Like I was running in a hard effort but I think I could have ran a bit harder if I had a strong time goal or if I was chasing someone or a pace group.  At mile 10 I saw the Claudia and Danny at the Queens Distance cheer station.  I saw Claudia reach her hand out to give a high five and I immediately started sprinting to give the high five back.  Seeing them gave me a huge boost and I found motivation to dig deeper.  You could also see the end of Ocean parkway from the last 5k which also helps visualize the end (I focused on the Belt PKWY Bridge first).  I saw Youseph in the last 400 meters or so and then Ginia Guzman in the final stretch. 

I ran the whole race on feel and I got 1:45 which I was a bit disappointed at.  Still an 11 minute PR over my half marathon last fall so still good process.  Shortly after I saw senior Guzman and said hi.  I next went to get my drop bag, I knew I won’t last long in the cold.  There was a bit of a crowd in and I couldn’t tell where the line started (it didn’t look like there was a line).  After a few minutes (my brain wasn’t fully back yet), I figured out how they organized the drop bags and I found mine.  Oddly it was my ultimate direction bottle that stuck out, not my yellow jacket.  Alternative I now realized I could have used my watch to activate an alarm on my phone which was in the drop bag.  There were people that were waiting for an hour, I saw two runners actually joined in to volunteer as well.  Then I went to change in the porter potty.  I probably took over 10 minutes, it was pretty slow going but I’m glad I brought a change of clothes.  I regret not brining a change of socks and shoes however.  I thought the drop bag was a bit small so decided not to pack shoes.  Changing got my warm initially but after a half hour I started getting cold again.  I then went walking around to find more familiar faces.  I met Jordan, Rinchen, Deki, and Drylee shortly after and hung with them till they left.  Then I met Solanny and got a picture.  I next went into the stadium and met up with WSR.  They soon left and then I tried wandering around but just got too cold with the wet socks and shoes.  I packed a cow bell in my drop bag to cheer on finishers but as soon as I got cold I decided against it.  One hour and 20 minute train ride home X.X.