NYC Half Marathon 2013

I ran the NYC Half this weekend and loved it! I have fallen in love with half marathon races, not too long that it takes all day, and short enough to run at a quick pace. I signed up for the NYC Half months ago and have been looking forward to it since! I got to NYC the day before and walked the city. Didn't run the day before but made up for it with walking. I was a bit afraid my legs would be tired but I woke up and they felt fine. Got to the start-- a bit rushed from the late train, but on time.

It was cold but shed my outer layers and got into my corral. Had to wait 30 min for the race to start- COLD! We ran around the entire Central Park, then onto 7th Ave on the southern end of the park. We then ran down 7th Ave through Time Square- which was my absolute favorite! Might be my top 10 favorite running memories. So great having everyone cheering you on and seeing all the buildings and lights.

I kept looking at my watch and realized that I was hitting a good pace and was feeling great. I kept trying to pick it up a little bit more each mile. Finally I saw a sign for 800 m left and tried to kick it in. Having all the people around cheering was great motivation! I came in to the Finish at 1:43- PR by 5 minutes!!!! Such a great race, recommend it to anyone!!!

Looking down 7th Ave 

St Pattys Day socks!!

Hard to see, but I am finishing right behind the girl in the blue top

Finish!

Keeping Things Interesting

I found a great 100 mile training program online, Ultramarathon Training Schedule. I wrote it in my planner and have been following it practically to a T. I have been doing Crossfit Mon/Wed/Fri with running Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun.

I ran Colchester Half Marathon 2 weekends ago and tied my PR. VERY HAPPY!! I really think Crossfit has been helping my speed.

We have been getting SNOW storm after SNOW storm lately!! I am okay with it, I do love snow, but it's SO hard to run trails with all this snow! So, I've been running roads lately- I've followed my training schedule- which lately has been 20 Sat and 10 Sunday. But boy, has it been boring!!!!

I was BEGGING anyone to get me out of my road run... ANYTHING!! After buying a fancy camera I finally convinced Thomas to go to Massachusetts and snowshoe Mt Greylock.

A 10 mile snowshoe hike sounded wonderful!!! We made it up to Mt Greylock around 10 am---very late, I know!  We started with the sun up and my snowshoes on (Thoamas' not on). It was a BEAUTIFUL day!!! Last time we hiked this mountain, it was snowing, cloudy, and COLD!! This time we took out jackets off within an hour!!! We hiked for a few hours, stopping to take pics once in a while and enjoying the beautiful scenery and then once it started getting cold, picking up the pace every so slowly.  It was such a beautiful day, we took our time until we realized if we went any slower we would be finishing after dusk.... uh oh... had to pick up the pace!

Finally made it to the top!! I went through a couple lows to get there- had to find the trails a couple times, and my feet were getting numb, but not a big deal..... The top was great!!

Once we were at the top I was SOOOO ready to be done. Thomas gave me great "100 Mile" advice---- "This is mile 30- it's starting to hurt, wait till 70 where it's horrible, then 90, where you want to give up, then 93 where this is ridiculous, then 95 where you want to die, then 99 where you think you might actually make it...." Gave me a push to keep on. My feet were so sore- numb, cold, painful, and I only had downhill to go- but it also pushed against my toes... ughhhh. It was going to be a long way down- and normally that my favorite part, I finally made it to the end--- felt so good to finish!