NYC 2010 Qualifying Race #3: Bronx Half Marathon, Feb. 8, 2009

This was a good race, in that I PR'd: 2:08:52! Granted, my only other half marathon was the Nike Women's last October, during which I stopped several times to take photos and soak in the amazing scenery, and this was the Bronx. Not bad, as cityscapes go, but light on the spectators and Tiffany necklaces and tuxedoed firefighters.

But it was heavy on the teammates and camaraderie, which came in very handy. Because this course was hard. It turned around on itself several times, so I was constantly getting passed by faster runners going the other direction. This lent itself to a defeated sort of feeling that I tried to ignore.

It didn't help that my morning got off to a frantic start. I was supposed to meet teammates at Atlantic Terminal in downtown Brooklyn, a 15-minute subway ride from my apartment. As I walked to the station, a train came through that I missed. No problem, I thought, I should have been here earlier but another train will come in 10 minutes or so and I'll only be a couple of minutes late. Ten minutes later, no train. Fifteen, twenty...no train. By this time it was 6:30 and I was supposed to be at Atlantic Terminal. My friends said they would come pick me up. I waited on the street corner for a few minutes. This was truly awesome of Kelly, who was driving, but I felt terrible. But I had to stop freaking out about it or risk ruining my mental space for the day. But I think the damage was done; I'd been standing outside in the chilly morning air for over half an hour, and my muscles didn't really recover from it.

We had a crazy time finding parking once we got to the Bronx, and there was a 10-minute walk to the start from Kelly's car. The weather was a pleasant surprise, in the mid-50s by now and sunny. We'd all struggled with how to dress after weeks of running in snow and subfreezing temperatures, but I was happy with my choice of cropped tights and a t-shirt over a long-sleeve.

By now they were instructing runners to get into their start corrals. We still had to check baggage and hit the Port-a-Potties. We resigned ourselves to starting after the gun. Again, I had to surrender the nerves and surrender to my desperate fear of bathrooms in small, confined spaces (airplane bathrooms being first on the list, with Port-a-Potties a close second).

Finally, Kelly, Pamela and I were off only about 8 minutes after the gun went off -- not a problem since the chips don't start timing you until you cross the mats. We stuck together for about five miles, which was nice. We were hitting 9:45-ish miles and feeling OK. It took me forever to warm up, though -- at least those five miles and maybe even six. I felt really stiff. Watching the Super Runners fly by on the other side of the road did not help.

I took a Gu at mile 6 and felt really good for the next three miles or so, through one turnaround on Mosholu Parkway and onto the Grand Concourse. Here we went down a long downhill, which was discouraging since it was yet another turnaround and that meant a return trip up the hill. There were some cute little kids yelling "Go runners, go runners!" at us along the Concourse, which was nice. Kelly broke off from me here, in pursuit of a PR. I knew I could stick to my present pace but not speed up any more, which was frustrating -- I felt like I should be able to go faster at the end of a race.

I passed the coaches at mile 11, still feeling good, and then hit a major wall when I realized I had to do the Mosholu Parkway turnaround again. My lower back tensed up, then my legs. I took another Gu, hit the last water stop and resolved to pick up the pace. The wind was blowing strong by now and my hat (a Nike baseball cap) was threatening to fly off.

Finally I hit mile 13 -- and all my teammates and Coach Jim, who had already finished, were cheering and yelling my name. This made all the pain of the last couple of miles worth it. I waved -- and my hat blew off for good. Jim yelled at me to finish. So I did, strong at last. And Stephanie saved my hat! I was secretly totally distressed about the loss of the hat, since it was the hat I ran San Francisco in and has a lot of sentimental value as well as just being a great running hat. So major props to Stephanie for the save. I am not looking forward to seeing any photos of me crossing the finish line hatless, as my hair always ends up matted to my head under my hat and usually closely resembles a bad toupee after a long run. There is a reason none of my TNT teammates ever sees my hair except at socials.

So...I had a fun day overall, but I'm kind of beating myself up for not being able to finish the race stronger. I'm worried about my ability to finish a marathon if I'm hitting a wall after 11 miles. I need to take better care of myself before the race and take my time at the start. But it was nice being in a race atmosphere with my teammates, and I'm hoping that this is the spirit that will get me through 26.2 in the end.

UPDATE: Got my photos from this race. The hatless ones are bad, but I don't appear to be grimacing in pain in any of these, and I looked up at the finish line, so that's good.