My first offical 1/2 Marathon. Obviously I can run the distance, I mean I ran a whole marathon. Still nervous.
I was hoping to maybe get a ride with Gerry but he was talking about going to the Striders dinner saturday night and then driving to the city and sleeping in the car, making sure he has a good parking spot. More on this later. I ended up driving in to the city, parking the car next to my sister's house and then taking a cab.
The weather was cold and after about 1.5 miles, I finally got my toes back. It was only at 2+ miles, that I got my fingers back.
I defintly did NOT want to push the pace as usual. Just go and take care of biz. I forced this by standing in the 9 minute mile bins. Plenty of "LIARS" out there as I had to pass plenty of walkers. In the beginning, I actually had to run on the dirt so I could pass people. Still, it did the desired effect. I started slower.
Memorable people: I saw Lighthouse Larry. A guy dressed as a Lighthouse with a huge lighthouse costume. Dude was about 9 feet in all.
Course was OK. It was made up of 2 of the outer loops of Central Park done in a counter clock wise direction. The hills were NOT that bad. The only hill that I really felt was just before mile 6, near the boathouse. People know it as cat hill. There is a statue of a big cat there.
After mile 12, I was looking to finish. About 1/2-3/4 mile away, this long-legged woman who was running nicely decided to up the tempo. That was it for me. I could NOT let this happen and I took off. Passed about 50-60 people and crossed the finish line.
I thought of running back to my sister but it was cold and just not happening. Hopped into a cab, took a shower and brought them all to out house.
And now for the Gerry story. Apparently, Gerry got a NASTY stomach virus and had diarrhea for the week leading upto the race. The dinner did not help matter and neither did the sleeping in the car in a sleeping bag. He said, he "only" had to turn the heat on twice and had to goto the bathroom every hour. I don't know if he parked near the port-a-potties or near the port-a-bushes but YUCK. Not a good way to rest before any race.