More | Fitness Half Marathon 2014 Race Recap

Well, another half in the books! 

This makes something like 23 or 24 (at least according to my race recaps page.)

Six years ago, I could barely run a mile or two; today I ran a half just for funsies, chatting the entire time.

I was actually really nervous, though. I just haven’t been running much in the past few months, and the ten-miler last week wasn’t easy. So, I decided that distracting myself by meeting Anne for a drink and then going to another bar for a friend’s birthday was a good strategy.

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I tried to eat as plainly as possible last night to be nice to my total jerk of a stomach. 

I woke up this morning filled with panic and dread. What if my stomach was a jerk again? What if my legs were too exhausted from ___ (I don’t even know what, but I haven’t felt fresh legs in a long time)? Just why was I running this race that would be so far from a PR? Did I really want to notch another slow-for-me finish on Athlinks? I won’t lie – I love being able to say I’ve finished another half, but I’m also pretty competitive with myself. I really contemplated staying in bed, but

My stomach was a jerk before leaving this morning and I was lucky enough to wake up with my period, so I was really dreading things. I took a cab to the start to meet with my Junior League friends, almost started tearing up walking to meet them (yay hormones), and finally pulled it together in time to get in the corrals.

Two loops of the park. How many times have I done that?? 

More fitness half

Mad props to my friend Pamela for giving me this Rockstar 26.2 headband at the expo.

It was my friend Karen’s first half, so I took one for the team and abandoned my second-corral start to hop back to her corral so I could start with her, and our friend Alison. Karen was cool as a freaking cucumber, and I was really surprised, especially since even 20-something races in, I was still nervous. For a race I’d already run three times. (2011 | 2012 | 2013)

This is not an easy race. You run two laps of the park and then a little bit of the bottom part for a third time. Hoda Kotb was announcing at the beginning of the race, and I yelled HODA!!!! at her, and pretty sure we made eye contact. Yeah, cause I was the crazy who had just screamed her name.

For the first six miles, Alison, Karen and I stuck together, no easy feat in such a big crowd. We got separated from Karen at the mile-6 water stop, and I prayed I wouldn’t lose Alison. Right around here is where they told us to get to the side so Deena Kastor could get through, and win.

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I’d just interviewed her on Friday, for work, so I was so excited to see her come through. I KNOW HER!

We were coming up on 7, and I told Alison my mom would probably be there at the end, and that I’d wished she’d be there at 7, but I didn’t want to push her, since it was so early to get into the city…and there she was! I ran over to her and gave her a big hug.  GB was standing right by Columbus Circle, and my goals just became to get to GB and to get to my mom.

Before I knew it, we were at mile 9. Okay, I can do this, I thought. I thought of every time I had a long run and broke it up into pieces to get in a race or run with a friend. That’s all 4 miles was. And really, how many times had I run a freaking half? I should also note that I’d completely run out of any kind of gels or chews and realized this just before the race, so I bought Swedish Fish, and they worked out just fine as fuel! 

My only real goal was not to make a bathroom stop. At several points in the race, I thought I might have to, but I tried really hard to breathe through/into the stomach cramps, and it helped. My Garmin died in the first mile, which was a huge blessing. I didn’t need to obsess over my time!

Just before the finish, I saw Erica, and then my mom, and then we were done. 2:11: more than 20 minutes than my PR, but I had a good time out in the sun with thoustands of other ladies happy to be running through the park.

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Karen finished her first, and Mary PR-ed!

And my mom was at the finish line to give me a big hug. Perfect.

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Do you ever run races just for fun? Are you a little obsessed with your Athlinks account too? 

Thanks to More | Fitness for providing me with a free race bib!

14 comments on “More | Fitness Half Marathon 2014 Race Recap

  1. Kristine

    Congrats! I swear to you just getting TO the start line is a victory in and of itself lately. I haven’t had fresh legs in I don’t know how long either and I can assure you it’s not because of any impressive number of mileage. (Can I blame heavy legs when I’m running like 6 miles a week?) Anyway – just getting out there is amazing. I think marathons completely wreck our perspective (the training, the races leading up to the big one, etc), and it’s taken me a few years to be like hot damn – 13.1 miles is a LOT of miles to run. Being able to run at all for ~2 hours is a really big deal. I probably need to tell myself that more. Hope you had a great weekend! GCHAT tomorrow!

    Reply
  2. meredith @ The Cookie ChRUNicles

    How did I not see you yesterday? Oh yeah, might have had something to do with the crowds lol…Congrats on finishing – I actually didn’t finish it this year. I was all sorts of dizzy and not feeling right so I called it quits I think at mile 7 (actually had just gotten my period which was the exact cause of the sick issue). Talk about timing lol.

    Reply
  3. meredith @ The Cookie ChRUNicles

    How did I not see you yesterday? Oh yeah, might have had something to do with the crowds lol…Congrats on finishing – I actually didn’t finish it this year. I was all sorts of dizzy and not feeling right so I called it quits I think at mile 7 (actually had just gotten my period which was the exact cause of the sick issue). Talk about timing lol.

    Reply
  4. Katie

    Way to go! I’ve got a half coming up in 2 weeks and am super nervous. I know my running isn’t where it could be. But I am excited to get out and stretch my legs!

    Reply
  5. Patty @ Reach Your Peak

    Nice job!! I have not done a half marathon for fun though I do want to do a couple this year since I’m not doing a marathon. I considered this one but 2 loops of central park scares me haha. I should probably get started on my 9+1 races though! Will you be doing the Oakley mini 10K?

    Reply
    1. Theodora Blanchfield Post author

      I have mixed feelings re:halfs for fun. I love that I *can* do that, but they’re not always the most fun during. And then I end up with times I’m disappointed in. Not sure about the 10k – doing a tri that weekend so probably not…but sounds so fun!

      Reply
      1. Cate

        I’m feel the same. I actually trained for this half and my last long run had me feeling okay about it – even though all but my last long runs had been done on the treadmill due to the terrible winter we had. Then, I decided to let it be a fun run since the weather was beautiful and it’s not every day I get to run in Central Park. BUT, about five miles into it, I wanted to quit. I have never DNF and was really tempted to on Sunday. I finished and I felt so defeated even though I planned to run the race for fun. @Theodora Blanchfield:

        Reply
  6. sally @ sweat out the small stuff

    I’m running the San Francisco marathon “for fun”. LOL! A good friend is running her first and want to be there to make her day special but can’t fly all the way out there and not run! So I’m planning to just take it easy and who cares what my finish time is. Just want to make sure she gets lots of support and of course i’ll be the official picture taker =)

    Reply

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