Race Review: New York City Half Marathon

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It's taken me so long to wrap my head around the fact that this race is over, our whole trip to New York City was so fast - it really hasn't all sunk in yet. As you may know from my previous posts that I have been sick since March 9th, it began as a nasty cold and long lasting fever. I was very nervous about how this was going to affect my race, after all this is quite possibly the biggest and most exciting race I will ever be a part of.

My sister Shandess and I headed to the airport last Thursday for an early morning departure. I was feeling alright, the significant fever was gone and I was just achy and full of sinus issues. We had a great journey to NYC, we had a short delay in TO but still managed to get in on time. We were so lucky to be staying at a hotel IN Times Square, so we hopped in our first NYC taxi and headed in that direction.We found somewhere to eat and headed to bed anxious about getting up and seeing NYC in the daylight. When I awoke the next morning I knew something wasn't quite right, I felt worse. My neck, throat, and ear on my left side were throbbing in pain. I pondered for a long time about what to do, we'd been there for less than 12 hours and I couldn't bear the thought of taking time away from our few short days to see a doctor or even to FIND a doctor. We bought some bus tickets for a hop on/hop off tour and made our way to the Guggenheim Museum. It didn't take me long to realize there was no other choice then to find a doctor as soon as possible or I wouldn't be doing anything never mind running a half marathon. I found a place that would take me in the afternoon so we had a few hours to kill and we decided to go explore Central Park. This was probably the first time I noticed how cold it was. I expected it wouldn't be warm exactly but when I had looked at the weather report it suggested Spring temperatures similar to what we were experiencing back home. This was no Spring temperature... it was cold, bitterly cold and VERY windy. We trudged on and tried not to let the weather affect our exploring. After spending most of the afternoon at the doctors, I was not surprisingly diagnosed with an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics. We picked those up and headed back towards Times Square and the theater district as we had tickets to see the Lion King! Besides the race this Broadway show probably topped the list for our trip:

We also visited the expo on Friday. Honestly, I expected it to be a little bigger than it was. I made sure to get some Sparkly Soul headbands though, one black and one white/green stripe. I also later realized that I didn't manage to get any safety pins for my bib. If I had been at home it wouldn't have been an issue as I have endless amounts but I had to make a special trip to the pharmacy for those on Saturday night. I also stopped to fill out one of these signs that they had covering the walls at the Expo:

I was pleased that I had my bib and I was one step closer to the race, even if it was going to be with an ear infection. On Saturday I began to feel a little bit better, I was still uncomfortable but aware that I was going to be able to run. However the weather began to scare me, it was getting colder and then much to my dismay it started snowing:

We were back in our hotel by early evening so that we could get something to eat and make sure to attempt a restful nights sleep. Before I knew it race morning had arrived:

Despite my fear about finding a taxi I managed to do so quite easily but I did have to walk quite a bit because I wasn't able to get very close to the start line via taxi. It didn't bother me much though, it wasn't snowing anymore, it was cold but I felt okay as long as I was moving. I also got to walk by all the corrals and see all the elite runners preparing to start. There were tons of photographers which was nice to see, I'm still waiting for those photos though. Here are some I asked a fellow runner to take with my iphone:

I'm not sure if you can see it but there was still snow on the ground in central park. I got into my corral because I knew they'd be closing shortly and then I had to WAIT. This part felt like forever... I ended up standing there for just over an hour, I progressively got colder and colder despite my throwaway sweater and garbage bag. So once that hour was over I was more than ready to get going, the sun had risen, and it really was a beautiful morning despite the temperature. We took off through the park, I tried to keep a steady pace and for the most part I was feeling great, I could feel some fluid in my ear but I wasn't terribly uncomfortable. Then, we hit the hills, these were mostly the only hills in the entire race so I did my best to power through knowing that it was temporary. I didn't take a water break until kilometer 6 and I only stopped for 30 seconds, it was at this point I realized we would be soon exiting the park. I settled into a steady pace and tried to focus on taking in the sights. As we came through Strawberry Fields I knew this would be the last I'd see of Central Park and that meant we weren't far from running through Times Square! As we came out onto the streets the people multiplied, they were lining the streets for as far as the eye could see. The cheer stations on this race far outdid any race I've ever done. There was also a water station at least every mile, I definitely could have done without my fuel belt. This ladies and gentlemen was my favorite moment of the race:

It was so amazing running through the center of the NYC streets surrounded by all the other runners. Definitely my most memorable race moment. We weren't quite halfway at this point and with Times Square behind me I had to buckle down. Then things started to fall apart, I began to feel nauseous and stopped hitting the water stations in fear that it might make it worse. We rounded a corner and literally got hit in the face with the wind, we were now adjacent the river and the wind was blowing me all over the place. I knew the majority of the rest of the race paralleled the river and I had no choice but to fight through it. I struggled, the nausea got worse and I watched my PR slip away. At this point we could see the statue of Liberty off in the distance to the right and directly in front of us was Freedom Tower, the new world trade center:

At this point my Sister and I hadn't visited the memorial site and it really was very impressive from this viewpoint. I focused my sights on the tower knowing that the finish line was only a few kilometers past that. Once we reached the site of the World Trade Center we began our descent into the battery park tunnel, I sort of lost my motivation at this point, I couldn't believe it, we were so close and I felt like I was falling apart. With the lack of running in the days prior to the race and being sick, I just felt so completely drained at kilometer 19. A runner came up behind me and literally gave me a push and told me to get going. I feel like this was some sort of runner's karma because I have done that many times before when I saw someone walking so close to the finish, that was it, it was all I needed and I pushed all the way to the finish line. When I crossed it was such a bittersweet moment, I felt so nauseous that I was pleased it was over but I was also sad that it was done. I did my best to take in every second of the race and it will definitely go down in the books as my most memorable race. It was not a PR despite the speedy first half of the race, I finished in 2:21:55, it's taken me a few days to be okay with that because I really wanted a PR. But I have no regrets, I know I did everything I could considering how I was feeling. My only complaint about the entire race was the pack we got at the finish line was lacking as far as post-race food goes. There was NO chocolate milk! Only an apple, some pretzels, gatorade, and water. I am so thankful for the foil blanket that volunteers were handing out and for my sister waiting for me with my warm sweater, that really made me feel better. This was a well organized and incredible race and if you ever get the chance you should enter the lottery and try to get in! So there, that's it, the most amazing memorable race is done. There will be more photos hopefully tomorrow, I will add them here and to my race photo album.

Professional photographer finish line shot!

The bus ride back to our hotel.

This is "Monty" he was our our trip mascot!

 We celebrated our amazing trip and memorable race with some mini cupcakes in SoHo!