NYRR NYC HALF-MARATHON 2017

Wishful thinking, it is part of human nature, right?  There I was last night, laying awake wishing I will pull off a miracle and finish the half-marathon in 2:13, which was my best time for a half, back in 2012.  But I no longer run everyday any more.  Back in 2012, fresh off from a job that dragged on for 12 mostly painful years, well, there were some good ones, but near the end it was exhausting, I had much time to prepare for the half-marathon in Staten Island.  Yes, I ran my best 5K back in August last year, by having a good friend pace me and I also used better breathing techniques.  But it was a 5K, or 3.1 miles long, versus a half-marathon, glorious 13.1 miles.  The cheering crowd in Times Square and elsewhere supposedly can give runners a good boost, but it won't make up that much to cover lack of training.  Yet I dreamt a little.  Then I decided I would just be socially unfriendly and not spend time on queue for porta-potty.

It was my first time running the NYRR NYC Half-Marathon.  The high cost, $120+ I think, was a main factor for me to avoid it.  There are so many other races to spend my hard-earned money on.  Sure you don't get to run through Times Square but is that alone worthwhile the big fee?  But last year I was supposed to be a guide for an Achilles runner who decided at the last minute to run with some friend of his, so I ended up at the cheer zone for my track club instead.  It was nice to be out there, seeing all the energy.  I volunteered at a water station for the NYC Half some years ago, but being at the cheer zone was different.  I decided then that I would actually run it.  It helped that I did all five races for the five boroughs of NYC to gain automatic entry into the NYC Half.  I know, the NYC Half is so highly sought after you don't just register for them.  You either earn a guaranteed entry or try your luck with lottery, or some other means.

There was a big snowstorm on the Tuesday before the Sunday race.  Then the weather report said there would be more storm or lousy weather on the weekend.  Ay yay yay, just my luck, another messy run like the Staten Island Half 2016.  Luckily, it turned out there was no precipitation whatsoever.  Just so very cold!  I try to make the races as simple as possible so I went without bag check.  First time ever I had a disposable layer on, both the top and the bottom parts of the body.  I hate the idea of throwing away clothes that are still wearable but I have too many pieces of clothes anyway.  Besides, NYRR does a good job of collecting the throwaway clothes for Good Will.  I placed my pieces neatly on a rail, near other people's stuff, I am sure they will find a new good home.  I just had the scary feeling that I left something valuables in those clothes, but I made sure there was nothing.

I was in Wave 3, Corral D.  At NYRR races, a slowpoke like me is usually in Corral K, but because the NYC Half had three different Waves, it appeared like I moved up several Corrals but I know better.  It was nice to bump into track club members: Jackie, who was a volunteer team leader; and Murray, who was assigned to the same Corral and Wave with me.  Murray planned to run at a certain pace but we started out together and he periodically said we were too fast than his planned pace.  Around Harlem Hill I went ahead with my pace, which was not that much faster, but I wanted to at least beat my 2:30 from last year's Brooklyn Half.  I ran a few more Half-Marys since Brooklyn but I was sort of a pacer so my finish time was 2:45 or 3:00.  I ran slower going uphill then tried to make higher leaps as I came down the hills.  I walked twice to wolf down the Gu's that I brought with me, and maybe again shortly afterward to grab water or Gatorade to wash the stuff down.  I think I stopped one more time at Mile 12 to get another drink, last one for the long stretch home.

I did stick to my plan of not stopping for anything other than walk breaks.  I acknowledged when called but did not stop for photos.  That's the extent of my being unsocial.  It was good to see Jackie again around the 72nd Street Transverse in Central Park as she tried to get out of Central Park to get to the finish line.  I loved how Joe at 42nd Street cupped his hand to better holler at me.  I don't run with headphone and keeps my eyes open so I usually catch everything.  Actually, I probably saw Joe with his cupped hands before I heard him.  Also on 42nd Street I spotted Linda from the back and asked for confirmation while she was re-fueling, nom nom nom.  I knew Joyce would be at Mile 9's fluid station, with the Back On My Feet group.  She perched high on something so it was easy to spot her and we exchanged greetings so it was good.  Another wishful thinking, I thought there might be a chance my club's cheer zone would still be around when I got there.  But it was a cold day and for us Wave 3 people that would mean the cheerleaders have to be there for like three hours.  I had a PPTC hoodie on so occasionally other people would call the club name and I would respond with a fist pump or such.  All the words of encouragement really made a difference, even if it didn't make me finish faster, it sure kept me going.

Strava app messed up and didn't record the tunnel portion of the race.  Instead, it said I went quickly uptown to Chambers Street then zoomed back at the tunnel exit.  It also went bonker in Times Square.  Altogether, per Strava app, I ran over 22 miles at 6 or so minutes per mile.  Of course I didn't.  It still said I did 2:30, but since I stopped Strava after a few steps past the finish line, it turned out I made sub-2:30, or 2:29:43 to be exact.  Sigh, such is the life of a slow runner, had to forgo toilet visits, sacrifice most social interaction, i.e. no stopping for photos, just to squeak by some goal.  Some fast runners would have stomach cramps, wait on long lines for the toilets, then still P.R. by 15 minutes.  But with this sports, it's usually just the runners against their younger self so I'm good.

NYRR NYC HALF-MARATHON 2013

In 2012, I had some extra money and poured it all into the NYRR 5-boro series.  It was no longer a 5-boro Half-Marathon series, since the Queens race was a 10K and Bronx's was a 10-miler.  Having done the entire series got me guaranteed entry into the NYRR NYC Half-Marathon, which runs through Times Square and down the West Side Highway, but I gave the NYC Half a pass.  For me, a half-marathon should be $50 max for early registration.  Maybe even $60, but $117 is way out of my league.  I suppose there are race amenities to die for in the NYRR NYC Half, but I don't mind not finding out.  I still wanted to get involved and to be caught in the excitement, so I originally signed up as a course volunteer, individually.  Shortly afterward, I found out that the North Brooklyn Runners (NRB) run-group had a water station assigned to them and welcome my club, Prospect Park Track Club (PPTC).  I cancelled my individual gig and joined the group effort.

Volunteering with the group near Mile 12, as opposed to doing it as an individual near the starting line, gave me an extra half hour of sleep.  I still had to try to get to the water station by 6 in the morning.  Much as I love the subway, and cycling, neither options are great if you have to go somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, on a very cold day.

The water station was referred to as near Rector Street and the West Side Highway but it was not that near.  More like one long avenue block south of Rector, on a traffic median outside the exit of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.  I bumped into a medical table and asked for direction.  I almost went the wrong way to some other station at Canal Street.  I suppose if the sun was out I could have seen better the so-called Rector water station a few blocks away.

The race was to start at 7:30 AM, some 12 miles away, but we had to be prepared for the onslaught of thirsty runners.  Water was run from a huge hose into big plastic bags housed in plastic bins.  Pitchers were made out of used Gatorade powder bottle and used to pour water into individual paper cups.  Have too many empty cups out and the wind would just blow the empty cups away, so I found it best to have the same person pour water and place the partially-filled cups down.  Runners shouldn't drink a whole cup of water, so the cups were only half-filled, or less.  Old signs were used to create tiers to have a total of three levels of water.  We had a lot of time, and many capable hands, so the work was done soon enough.  We were not even supposed to hand the runners water, they just have to snatch the water off the table themselves.  We had to leave some room so that the runners could easily pick up one cup without having to touch the neighboring cups.  Once the three tiers were filled with water, not much left to do but stand back and wait for the runners to arrive.

And arrive they did.  First were the hand-operated recumbent cyclists, just a few of them.  Then the elite runners with their first-name bibs.  Fast runners from local clubs, like Central Park Track Club (CPTC) and West Side Runners (WSX), were not far behind. Since we were not supposed to hand out water, there was not a whole lot to do other than cheer or take photos, and took photos I did.  A fellow PPTC member had some runner-tracking app but it didn't work for me as I missed the fastest PPTC person.  I managed to snap photos of a few others.  I stood on a low wall of the median to see farther down the road but it was not a good angle and I usually had only a few seconds to get ready to shoot.  Once or twice the PPTC runner would wave at the exact second I snapped the photo.  Other times some other runner would get in the way.  Oh well, things happen when many thousands fill the road.

Ideally I should be on the course, just off to the right of the runners, like the pro photographers with their big cameras.  My measly camera won't rapid-fire and capture every single runner but I would at least have a good view of the runners from far away, but with enough time to have second-chance shots.  But being on the course would mean totally abandoning the water station, even if there was not much work to do.  Eventually, the number of runners decreased greatly and we started to rake the discarded cups etc.  Beside getting the big task done piecemeal raking also got the body warm on this cold day.  In the end, most of the nicely stacked three tiers of water was wasted and we had many blue plastic bags of waste.

It was great to be caught up in the excitement.  I definitely going for a long run tomorrow.

Lots of ice-cold water awaiting for the thirsty runners just a tad past Mile 12 of the NYRR NYC Half-Marathon.

Some of my fellow PPTC members at the NBR-sponsored water station.

It was cold enough for icicles to form while the runners were still further up the road.

Elite runners!  At least the ones I managed to snap photos of.

Here comes the elite runners with their first-name bibs!

Fast local runners were not too far behind!

F1, F2, and F3, aka Top Three Female finishers.

PPTC members showed up!  V is for Victory, or Vinny!  I missed the fastest PPTC runner of this race, could really use a spotter like in that snipers duel scene in The Hurt Locker.

Nicole of PPTC ran the rest of the way to the finish line.

Another sub-2 PPTC finisher!  Go David!

There were three tiers of water per table but it was a cold day, look at those ice on the table surface!  Not that many took the water, both because it was a cold day and it was Mile 12 of a 13.1-mile race, but a few people actually poured water on themselves.  I would do that, too, but on a hot summer day, not a cold day like today.  Hope those people had dry clothes waiting for them.

See the complete album at

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5856394848360301985