NYC Half Marathon Race Recap!

Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday I re-capped the NYC Half Experence + #WeRunSocial Meet Up! Today I’m going to recap the race and I am linking up with Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Angelena Marie from Angelena Marie: Happy, Healthy & Balanced, Michelle at Fruition Fitness and Nicole from Nicole from FitFul Focus for Wild Workout Wednesday!

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw my mini race recap, but today I want to elaborate on it a little more!

I had a 5:00am wake up call and I left Stamford around 5:45am. I’m lucky that my parents always support me and my crazy ass races so my dad drove into NYC. It was nice to not have to deal with the trains. We arrived and found a parking spot near Central Park around 6:30. I still had plenty of time before heading to the park for my wave so we waited in the car.

Sunday morning was cold. Let me repeat, it was COLD! For some reason the weather was really getting to me (more so that usual), but I just tried to ignore it. After going through security and finding my wave, it was time to start the race. I took off my throwaway fleece, stated my watch and got ready to run!

Miles 1-6: Central Park
So the first half of the race is in Central Park. As a runner, you either love or hate Central Park. It’s definitely challenging with the hills. Around mile 3 we hit the biggest hill which is Harlem Hill. It’s a pretty big hill and you feel like it will never end, but once you get to the top, you rejoice! After that you have a few more hills and then you exit the park. I was actually very proud of myself for running the whole time, I didn’t stop to walk any of the hills. Hooray!

Miles 6-8: Times Square
SO MUCH FUN! I usually hate Times Square because it’s way too crowded but it was so awesome to hear the spectators and give a bunch of high fives AND I was lucky enough to see the kids race in Times Square while I was running so of course I had to cheer them on as well! I think I smiled the entire time, and I have photo evidence!

Miles 8-12: West Side Highway
This was by far the worse part of the race for me. I was still cold and now getting hit with wind gusts. Also it seemed like this part of the race just went on forever and ever! I walked A LOT during these miles because I was just mentally exhausted and my body was in pain. An old ankle injury decided to show up which was lovely and my legs were hurting so bad. I couldn’t even do a fast walk. It was really frustrating. Around mile 10 I was bored so I decided to do a little dancing. I’m sure people thought I was crazy but I honestly didn’t care at that point. I was doing what I needed to do to get through the race.

Mile 12-13.1: Tunnel and Finish Line
At this point I was over the race and just wanted to finish and go home. Around mile 12 to enter a tunnel, which was awful. I’m not afraid of tight spaces or the dark, but In just felt uneasy. It was also super windy so that was of no help at all. Once we exited the tunnel and I saw the 400ft sign, I started to run a little faster to get to the finish line. I have never been so happy to see a finish line in my life. My parents got a few photos of me after the finish line where I look absolutely thrilled, lol.

After taking in 0% fuel during the race, I was STARVING. I was really hoping for some carbs, but there were no bagels to be had 🙁 I don’t understand the reasoning between giving an apple and pretzels after a race, but that’s what NYRR does for a lot of their larger races.

Now that I’m a few days removed from the race, I know that there are things I could have done better..

Training – My training was sporadic at best. My longest run during the training cycle was 10 miles. I skipped a few runs. Honestly, I just wasn’t feeling it when this year started. I think I had “runner burnout” from all the races last year and I was still coming back from my injury. Thankfully my motivation started coming back this month so I hope training will be better for the Brooklyn Half in May!

Running Outfit – I have honestly never been so cold during a race, but I really don’t know why! I have run in much colder conditions (single digit temperatures) and survived, but I was honestly FREEZING during my entire run. At no point did I get warm, which was so fustrating. Thinking back, maybe I should have worn a jacket over my Coldgear layers of clothing, but then I worried about being too hot. I don’t know, but it’s hard to be motivated to do anything when you can feel anything on your body.

Running Fuel – Oh, did I mention that I ran with no fuel?! Yeah let me explain. When I woke up on Sunday morning my stomach was not really cooperating with me so I didn’t eat my pre-race Honey Stinger waffle. I still had my water with Nuun and energy chews so I planned on using both on the course. I took a swig of water at mile 3 and my stomach didn’t like that at all, but I was able to keep running. Then at mile 4 I tried to eat one of the chews and had to spit it out because it made me sick to my stomach. After those two incidents I figured I would have to run on empty, which was so much fun (insert sarcasm).

Here’s the thing…after I run a few more NYRR races this year, I’m going to qualify to run for the NYC Half Marathon AGAIN in 2017. We all know how I like to redeem myself when a course kicks my ass (cough, cough – Fairfield Half), so there is a possibility that I will run this race again, but I’ll see how I feel next year before making that decision. Because my finish time was so awful, I kind of feel like I need to redeem myself…we’ll see!

If you’ve never been to New York, I would recommend running this race. You get a great tour of Central Park and you get to run through Times Square without a crapload of tourists. For me, it was a bucket list race and I’m glad that I was able to complete the course.

Next up for me – Hot Chocolate 15K next Saturday and then the Brooklyn Half in May. I’m looking forward to both races!