And now for a very important message...

Splits from this morning!!

(You know you want them...)

Okay, first off, this was a huge race. There were over 4,000 people there. Even in New York City, for a witch-teat cold Sunday morning, that's a lot. It's especially a lot for a Cleveland runner like me, and it feels like even more when the race officials are forcing everyone into the same tiny bike lane.

Why? There were no cars in the park. Why couldn't we run on the rest of the road? Yeah, bikers and other runners were using the park too. I respect that. But, why couldn't they use the bike lane? After-all, there were probably 200 of them, tops. And um...4,000 of us.

Yeah, I know, I'm sure it has to do with NYC rules, etcetc. I'm finished with my complaining. Just wanted to give a little background into how freaking crowded this race was. I was dodging people the entire time. The first couple miles it was literally impossible to run your own pace. This is an assumed problem at big marathons and the like, but at a weekend half? With no medal or anything?

I was surprised.

But, I guess it is New York. There are lots of people there, I've heard.

I spent the night before in the city with my good friend from a different lifetime. It was great to see her. We went to Minca, a cute little Ramen Noodle Place in the Village. (West? East? I don't know.) Then, we ate Italian pastries and felt like we were going to explode. So, we went straight to bed after we got back (always the best thing to do after eating too much, right?). I would have liked to stay up and watch a movie and talk, but alas...I had a race to run.

Right before going to bed though, I threw a little tantrum about how cold it was, crossing my arms across my chest, stomping my foot, and insisting "I'm not doing it. It's too damn cold."

But I set my alarm anyway. And I got up. And got ready for the race. But, only because I was already there and all... (I really think I would have rebelled if I hadn't already in been in NY, so thanks Alex, for saving me from myself!)

I tried to time it so that I wouldn't be waiting outside at all, but I ended up with 30 minutes anyway. I had gloves, 2 hats, and 4 shirts on, but I still couldn't feel my body. So, I found reprieve in a Dean and Deluca's around the corner...along with about 50 other racers. Guess I'm not the only genius out there, eh? 5 minutes before the race, we all traipsed out together and went to the start.

And the race began. As a whole, it was extremely well run, with massive, clear mile markers and plenty of water stops. It was so cold that I only stopped at 2 stations (where the water was frozen into little ice cups, but the Gatorade was fine). I wasn't really sweating so I didn't feel in danger of dehydrating. I took one Gu through the race and otherwise just trucked it.

The race was 2 loops around the hilly, torturous Central Park, with 1.1m added on at the end for good luck (the outer loop in Central Park is 6m). Did y'all know the NYC Marathon used to be just 4 loops around Central Park? Yikes. Not that the NYC Marathon is any piece of cake now, but that would have been very, VERY hard.

And so without further ado, my splits (broken into laps around the park so equivalent miles are obvious):

Lap One
9:26- mile 1
9:09- mile 2 (hill!)
8:38- mile 3
8:16- mile 4 (downhill)
8:28-mile 5 (water)
8:39-mile 6 (hill)

Lap Two
8:32- mile 7
8:53- mile 8 (hill!)
8:27- mile 9
8:24- mile 10 (downhill)
8:39- mile 11 (water)
8:25- mile 12 (hill)

Lap 3
7:56- mile 13 (PUSH!)
:47- last .1

I realized today why I can run so much faster on a treadmill. On a machine, there is no mental game. You don't have to worry about how much further there is to go, you aren't guessing at your pace. It's harder on land not because the the ground isn't moving for you, but because you actually have to do it yourself. You have to be your own pace bunny. And that's hard.

I was very happy with today's race, and I felt appropriately rotten at the finish. But, I still think I could have pushed myself harder and gone quite a bit faster. I just have yet to figure out how to do it without freaking myself out, and more importantly, without pushing past the limit. Just the fact that my last mile was so much faster than any other mile shows that my average pace could be better.

Don't worry, I'm not upset about any of this. I think it's pretty damn cool, actually. Running (and endurance sporting in general) is about so much more than just getting out there and moving your body. It's about finding out what your body and mind and heart are capable of, and that's freaking awesome.