NYC Half Marathon

Distance: 13.1
Course: Central Park 6 mile loop, thru Times Sq, onto the WHS and finish by WTC.
Weather: high 80's, muggy, overcast
Overall: Great race. I sucked. Started too fast, couldn't keep up my pace, and let negative self-talk get the better of me. Blah.

Uhhgggg.....this one sucked. Anyone who's run any distance of note in July in NYC knows that that in itself is a challenge....the humidity is brutal and just makes for a more challenging and draining run than normal. But I really ran one of the worst races of my life at this race this past weekend. I sucked. It was awful and the worst part was that it got "awful" around mile 6, with 7 more still to go...which made it just a very long, very miserable morning.

Despite a good warm up and being really psyched I just couldn't get going, my legs were like lead, and I felt like my breathing was heavy the whole time, I couldn't get into a rhythm and then, as I hit mile 4 and saw I was way off my pace, my inner Debbie Downer crept it...."I suck. I suck at this. I can't believe how out of shape I am. I will never qualify for Boston"...blah blah....she wouldn't shut up and by mile 7 she was all I could hear. Stupid Debbie.

It was really just a reminder to myself of how much work I still have to do as far as my training goes, and that I need to get more speed work in and more consistency in my pace during long runs....its good to fall down now and then, keeps you humble anyway.

But this week work has taken over my life and suddenly - again - running has fallen to the side and I'm on morning #3 right now of NO running. I need to put training back as priority #1 - its hard to do but I need to figure out a way to do that unless I want to run more crappy races like this one.....

All that bitching aside the race itself is a great course and really well organized, especially for a race in the heat. I'd recommend it and I plan to do it again next year....hopefully with better results.

Uhg.