Manhattan Half Marathon: January 27th

How quickly a year passes. This time last year, I was blogging about my hopes to run the 2007 NY Grand Prix. Now, we're three weeks away from the start of the 2008 cycle. Since I lightened up on posting through the last half of '07, I didn't have a chance to update on how my ambitions plans went to close up the five halfs.

The good news is I finished. There isn't any bad news. Evidently I will be getting a patch in the mail. Goody. I was damn pleased that I actually set out and finished what I started, but it certainly wasn't a cake walk.

The second to last race, Queens, was murderous. Of all five boroughs, this race was by far the most difficult. First, getting up at 5am just to get to the race was no picnic. Second, the course was brutal. Who knew Queens was filled with such hills? My legs started cramping up terribly at mile 11, and I had to walk most of the rest of the race. This was the first humiliating time I've ever had to stop and walk during a race due to cramping. I attribute it to the hills and some undertraining, so I'll know better this year.

The final race in Staten Island was a nice way to finish up the Prix. Fairly flat, and nice views of the water, but a windy race due to the proximity to the shoreline. As you can see from the Brightroom snapshot, I did my best impression of Lance in the final meters, the asian/slow/fat version.

In the end, here's how I netted out on times:

Race - Time - Pace
Staten Island - 2:17:09 - 10:28/mile
Queens - 2:30:57 - 11:31/mile
Brooklyn - 2:14:23 - 10:15/mile
Bronx - 2:09:46 - 9:54/mile
Manhattan - 2:17:07 - 10:28/mile

Ironically, I finished exactly where I started, which is quite disappointing. I was hoping by the final race I would be closer to 9:00/mile, which is still a far cry from my PR of 8:21 and frankly seems an eternity ago, but was only four years.

The positive note is that I have no pain from my hamstring injury any longer, and refuse to use that as a crutch in 2008. Which is good, since the start of the Prix is roughly three weeks away.

And here we go again. Register for the Manhattan Half Marathon here.