NYCRUNS Queens Half Marathon Recap!

On Sunday I ran the NYCRUNS Queens Half Marathon. I think this was their first half marathon in Queens. Semi-early wake up call of 5:15. I barely ate anything before the race – 16 ounces of water, half a banana and one breakfast biscuit with peanut butter. The weather was a little chilly/windy before we started but once we started moving it was fine. I think the temperature was around 70 degrees and no humidity, so pretty much perfect weather for a 13.1 mile run. 

Pretty soon it was 8:00am and we were ready to start. We finally started around 8:15am. I had two goals for this race: Try to get a PR and have fun. My last half marathon in June was a horrible experience so I really wanted to enjoy this race. l’ll try my best to break the race down by miles:

Mile 1 – 10:27

Mile 2 – 10:43

Mile 3 – 10:38

First three miles felt great. I was happy with those times. I didn’t want to start out too fast and then burn out toward the end which seems to happen to me sometimes.

Mile 4 – 10:50

Mile 5 – 10:20

Mile 6 – 10:20

Felt good at the 10K point – time was 1:03:18 which is about average for me give or take 2 minutes. On a side note, my iPod playlist for this race was so so good. I’ll be using it again next month. When I hit the 10K point, “Back that ass up” came on and it really gave me an extra push (Don’t judge me, I love 90’s music)!

Mile 7 – 10:28

Mile 8 – 10:21

Mile 9 – 10:33

Okay, so around mile 7 I should have taken my GU gel, but I didn’t. I actually felt pretty good and was able to get by with my Nuun water from my hydration belt. I didn’t want to stop to get my GU because that would mean I would have to stop running but I was in a pretty good grove. You know how it is, you get in the zone and you just want to to keep going!

Mile 10 – 11:11 

Mile 11 – 10:58

Mile 12 – 11:06

Mile 13 – 11:15

So as you can see, the wheels started coming off around mile 10 (in hindset, probably should have taken the GU gel, lol). It’s okay though, I’m happy that I stayed in the 10-11 minute range for a majority of the race.

This race was great. I had so much fun and felt really good for most of the race. I ran the entire race which is something I have never done before, even in training. I can finally say that I ran 13.1 miles without stopping! Oh, and I got that PR I was craving – 2:20:04 – approximately 13 minutes faster than my last PR. Although I still have work to do, I could not be more happy with this progress. A special thanks to Fleet Feet Stamford and the half-marathon training group for helping me accomplish my goal. After the race I indulged in a bagel the size of my head, it was delicious. I also had my Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator drink. This definitely helped with the leg pain that started as soon as I stopped running. Here are some photos:

My next race weekend will be October 4-5. On October 4th I have the Run for Waterside 5K here in Stamford and on October 5th I will be running in the Diva’s Half Marathon in Long Island, NY.  In between now and then I have a week long trip in London for my job so keeping up with my running schedule will be hard, but I’ll do the best I can!