Cowboy Hazel

Wow. Today did not go as planned. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it, but I managed to break the 1:27 barrier. 1:26, 1:25, and 1:24 too... I still can't quite believe that I just ran a 1:23:46 half marathon, 6:23/mile overall. Especially after such a monster week. It just seems ridiculous.

As far as race reports go, this will be short, because I am completely spent and want to have some time to nap a bit before heading out to the bar to cheer on the Jets. Then again, it couldn't be that detailed even if I wanted it to. I don't remember much of the race at all. It's just one big painful blur.

Because of Central Park's hills, my splits were somewhat sporadic, but they were definitely faster in the second half. My fastest mile was a 6:12 mile 9 and mile 12 was the second fastest at 6:14. The fact that I was racing smart again makes me happy.

An alarming moment came right after I passed the mile 12 marker. I was at 1:16:50-something and, after doing some quick math, realized that I had eight minutes to run the last 1.1. That was the first time I knew I was going to drop sub-1:25. But almost immediately after that realization, I got really dizzy, stumbled, and almost fell. I guess I was pushing a little too hard. So, I ran pretty conservatively the last mile to make sure that I didn't miss my goal over something as silly as passing out.

I was wearing a Jets t-shirt and had people yelling out Go Jets! the whole race. I even heard the J! E! T! S! Jets! Jets! Jets! chant a couple times. That helped a bunch, especially the last couple miles when I was really starting to fall apart.

A couple notes: According to the McMillan's Running Calculator numbers I figured out before, my half is now the strongest of the 4 distances I calculated. It seems crazy that it went from last to first in one quick swoop.

Also, I can't help but compare the similarities between today and Chicago. Both were days where I went in off high mileage weeks with really low expectations and then ran way better than I ever could have imagined. There's got to be something to that... My dinner last night wasn't an appropriate pre-race meal, I was drinking Scotch, I didn't get eight hours of sleep, I didn't really stretch today, my warm-up was half-assed, my legs were super tired at the start, and then I run one of the best races of my life? WTF?

Okay, that was longer than I expected, but it's all I have the energy for. Nap time.