Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Fred Lebow Half Marathon: Random Thoughts & Musings

Half-Marathon Stats
Time: 1:56:14 @ 8:56 per mile pace
AG %: 56.64 %
Overall Place: 1866/4648 (top 40%)
Gender Place: 440/1866 (top 24%)
Adjusted Gender Place: 631/1866 (top 34%)
25-29 Age Place: 87/299 (top 29%)

Introduction

Since this wasn't really a goal race, but more of a training run, I decided to do this a bit differently than normal. Here are some of the thoughts running through my head before, during and after the half-marathon.

I didn't know how energetic I would feel since I timed a half-marathon in Brooklyn the day before and had a very early wake-up call, so I went into this thinking that anything goes as long as I got under 2 hours. Not that over 2 hours would be the end of the world, but still.

Pre-Race

- Not too thrilled with the hat. The white one was alright, but yellow? Really????
- Considering Leiba is in my corral, I must have just barely been placed in yellow. 
- Leiba is awesome for picking up my bib
- At least the bib matches the hat? Not that I plan on wearing it or anything. 

During the Race

- Waiting for the start: What am I doing here? Why aren't I still in bed, sleeping? 
- The national anthem singer was actually pretty good this time. Too bad I was preoccupied with tying my shoe and adjusting my gloves. 
- I should find my Garmin someday. Seeing actual splits instead of my general stopwatch would be helpful
- Well, I am approaching the start. Perhaps I should start running now
- So far I am keeping to the 9mm pace, even if barely. So far so good! 
- I hope I haven't forgotten how to run outside. Or to deal with hills
- Passing the Finish Turn-off: Ok, final loop, this is the last time you will see each of these hills. As you pass them, remind yourself that you will not see them again....today
- I am actually starting to enjoy this! Now I get it!!!
- Passing mile 8: Less than one hour to go until I can stop running!
- To the older gentleman who won third place in his age group in the Brr-ooklyn Half the day before and is running again today: I hope to one day be as awesome as you are
- Ok, I just passed mile 12. I'm now ready to be done with this thing
- Finish: Yay! 1:56 and change! Now I just need to be able to do this 2x without stopping in November to get my sub-4 marathon. Piece of....oh wait this is going to take a lot of work. Gulp. 
Time to run a cool-down mile or so back. Because the mile warm-up and 13.1 miles wasn't enough running for one day. 

After the Race

- I think I got negative splits, but I don't know for sure. Oh well, time to eat all of the food. 
- I need to do more long runs so that I can recover from this even more quickly. Too bad it's so damn cold out! 
- After two early mornings, it is now time for an extensive nap
- I was both smart and dumb for wearing my bib on my leg. I didn't get any course pictures, but that's probably a good thing considering my track record with hilariously bad ones. 

Pictures



Thanks for reading!!!!!