Staten Island Half aka My first half-marathon

Well, as the picture to the left shows you, I did run and finish my very first half-marathon. It was an interesting but humble experience. Again, it was rather massive (almost 7,000 finishers) but extremely well organized, that's what the NYRR does. I admit, I did not train for it properly and I only ran this distance once as part of the long run I volunteered for to be a pace leader so I should be proud of the fact that I only played with the thought of giving up twice at around miles 11 (I pushed through then) and 12 (when I slowed down to a walk to drink up some Gatorade.)

Crossing the finish line
Picture by MarathonFoto

Let's get the numbers out of the way first. I placed 1051st total, 134th/596 in my age group, and 9th for the NY Flyers. My total time was 1:42:02 hours which gives me a pace of 7:48 minutes per mile. After all, and despite everything, I did rather well and stayed below my hoped for 1 hour and 45 minutes finish time. With some proper training, though, I think I can bring this under 1:35 hours and maybe down the road under an hour and a half. I wonder, though, if this is wishful thinking for a guy approaching his mid-40s. I read that the 40-44 age group is usually one of the most competitive age groups, i.e. it seems that most runner who have been doing this for a while peak. From then on it is just downhill and by the time you are in the 60+ group you are one of the few who still run, anyway, and win an age group award by default, as long as you keep your health up (*knock on wood*).

I got my finisher medal
Picture by MarathonFoto

Crossing the 10 miles was entering unknown territory for me. I have been racing 10 miles before and many of my long training runs capped out at that distance but I thought to myself that running 13.1 is just another 5k on top of a distance I already know. I think this is actually true and I noticed that my mind started to play tricks on me as soon as I passed the 10 miles marker. As they say, running happens mostly in your head. My right IT band acted up at around mile 6 or so but I was able to ignore this just nicely until I got this idea that once I passed 10 miles I should do a whole body check and identify the aches. Not a good idea! I focused more and more on that pain and it just ruined it for me so much that by the time I reached the fluid station at mile 12 I stopped, walked, and drank a couple cups or Gatorade and water. My idea of a good run has always been "Do not walk - keep running" but I just couldn't hold it up anymore. Of course, as soon as I rested a few seconds and wanted to start running again, my knee was in searing pain but I was able to run through it and miraculously made it to marker 13. Just one more tenth of a mile and I made it. I turned the corner, noticed that it is an awesome feeling to finish a race on a declining segment of road, saw my wife and kids standing at the curb side, high-fived them, picked up speed, and crossed the finish line. I made it.

I really have to rethink my training. I need this knee to recover first and the start slowly and really build up to a half-marathon. I really cannot just increase the mileage nilly-willy, but it seems that I am not the only one who falls into this ego-trip. I'll promise I do better. Until then I have one more race on my schedule: the NYRR Dash to the Finish Line. And then will I rethink my training.

One more thing: hills suck. Even the smallest hill can become your greatest enemy after an hour or two into a run.