UnitedNYHalf | The Accidentally Running Mama

4 weeks to go.

Bib pick-up is secured. Van to start is set up. Talking with friend on how we will take the train home. all is set.

Training has been what it has been. The weather in NJ has not been cooperating for running outside. My garage treadmill has been unreachable due to car in garage. Even the gym has been to packed and treadmills are not always available.

This doesn’t mean that I’ve been doing nothing. It just means that I’ve been doing my own thing. I have a training plan loaded in Training Peaks.

Have I been following it?

Nope.

I’ve been looking at it more as a guide and then doing my own thing.

Today, I wanted to run a real run. I had thought about going outside, but there is still so much snow and ice. The roads and sidewalks are really not that clear. So while warm enough to run outside, I took myself to the gym.

At the gym, I ran into a badass running friend. We got to talking about what we are training for right now. I told her how I had the NYC Half in a month, but wasn’t really following a plan but loosely training. She said she was just talking to another person about the No Training Plan Training Plan.

It hit me…. That’s it.

I know the reason too as I said it to her. Running a half doesn’t scare me anymore. Yes, I need to train and run to finish. That being said; I know that even on days where it will be hard, I pretty much know I will get to the finish line.

Now I’m not saying this to sound like I can show up and finish well or have a pretty race. I just know that for the most part, I will finish. Especially when finish time is no the goal.

I had thought going into this training that I would want to do around 2:45 for this half. I no longer think that is where I will be. Who knows though because I still have a month of training.

Today’s training run was to run 60 minutes straight. No stopping. No walking. Just run and see what happened.

So I did.

We shall see……

I will say though that I am signed up for a July event that will scare me enough to train. It’s only a 10K, but it is a Spartan 10K that I am doing with 2 of my boys and others. That will require a different training. As will a September Sprint triathlon.

For now though, I need to run NY.

Today was the day.

Was it everything I expected?

No.

It was more!!!

As always, I will have a lot to say. So this might take a few days. Today we will talk the basics. As I mentioned we were leaving at the crack of the crack of Dawn at 5:00 AM. This meant getting up at 4:00 as you must have time for a cup of coffee, to get ready, and lets be honest time for coffee to work it’s magic. (Yes, that is important to us runners).

I was lucky enough to be part of my running groups Clown Car again. There were, I believe, 14 of us. It’s nice when you get a group like this because then it is not expensive at all. Plus the driver will take a group picture.

NYCHalf18_3

As my friend asked is this a group of homeless people or just people trying to stay warm in the cold before a race?

The van dropped us off close to the start where we were able to make a pit stop at a fast food restaurant. Once we got to the start everyone went their own separate ways as we were starting in different corrals and waves. Luckily, Mary, was in my corral again. We were lucky enough to start the NYC Marathon in 2016 and it was nice to have her to chat with pre-race. Once the race started though, I was on my own. I kind of like that (usually) in a race.

Going in I had decided on a very conservative pace to start with. I was bouncing between 11 and 11:15. I think I picked that because I knew that I would go out too fast and if I picked a slower pace than even out to fast wouldn’t be too fast. My paces reflect up and down which is fine for the way I intended to run the race. I walked when I needed to but I still would not say that I took it easy. I also pushed. I ran a hard race. I worked hard and I finished with my realistic A time goal.

Official time was 2:31:29

It was a good day. My Garmin showed more than the 13.1 but that might be do to too much bobbing and weaving. My paces were up and down with the course and my plan.

NYCHalf_9

This worked for me. It might not be what a coach would recommenced, but for this day this was perfect. In looking at the faster paces at mile 8 & 9 that might explain my feet starting to hurt at that point.

My mantra was “This is your race. You need to run it your way.”

And I did.

The best part was I enjoyed myself. I helped someone bob and weave to cross the street. I took pictures along the way. I just enjoyed the experience and before I knew it, I was pulling into Central Park. I will admit the hills of the Park were not that enjoyable, but crossing the finish line in the Park was awesome!