Last Sunday was my first tune up race for the New York Marathon, the B.A.A. Half Marathon in Boston's Emerald Park system. I was super excited to run this one for a few reasons: it was going to be gorgeous weather, and most importantly, my legs were rested after a taper week, and I was ready to set a big PR.

I woke up very early on Sunday morning and made my way to the start at Franklin Park drama-free, thankfully. Once I got there, I took care of all the pre-race necessities - bag check, t-shirt pickup, bathroom stops, etc. Before I knew it, it was time to line up in the corrals. One of my pet peeves during races is when runners seed themselves incorrectly, and faster runs have to dodge slower runners for the first mile or so, so I always try to seed myself as honestly as possible. It was a little nerve-racking to line up with the 9 min/mile corral since I've tried to break two hours in a half marathon twice this year, and both were epic fails, but I tried to stay calm and have faith in my training.

[caption id="attachment_1296" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Lining up at the start at the B.A.A. Half Marathon[/caption]

The start line was pretty packed, so it was a little tough to see when I had actually crossed the line, but I did my best to hit my watch at the precise second of crossing the mat, and then I was off!

Looking at the course map beforehand, I knew the first 10K was going to be all mostly flats and downhills, with the middle miles rolling, and the last miles mostly uphill. I knew I was going to have to bank some time in early miles, but I wanted to be careful not to bank too much time, and have no energy at the end.

[caption id="attachment_1297" align="aligncenter" width="531"] If you can run an even split, or negative split, on this type of terrain, then you are a much, much better runner then me[/caption]

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stay in the 8:45-8:50 range for the early miles, and the effort level didn't feel too hard.  When I passed the 10K point and saw I was on pace, I started to get confident, and excited, that I could actually make my goal with plenty of time to spare.

Then, the hills came.  As I saw my pace increase, I tried to keep my anxiety level down. I did my best to power through the uphills, and do the best I could to make up time on the downhills.  At this point in the race, we had hit a few turns as well, (the course was an out-and-back with a few turn arounds) and I was increasingly losing time from missing the tangents, as well. Nonetheless, I was able to keep my Garmin to hover around the 9 min/mile mark, so I knew I was still in ok shape.

By the time I hit mile 10, arguably the toughest hills on the course, I was pretty sure if I stayed under a 9:30 min/mile, I would be able to make my goal. Hey, math is not my strongest suit to begin with, and is definitely not a strength of mine about 1.5 hours into a race! I tried not to worry so much about the watch and just focus on running as strong as I could.

Miles 11 and 12 clicked off. I knew the course was going through a zoo, and while I'm sure it made for some fun scenery, but at this point, I could of been running on another planet, and not really cared what was around me.  All I cared about was making it to the finish line, in under 2 hours.  Finally, I hit mile 13, entered White Stadium back in Franklin Park for the grand finale, and saw 1:58:xx on my watch. I was going to make it! I crossed the finish line, and heard the announcer say "Folks, don't worry about the clock - remember your finish time is based on your net time. If you are coming in now, you are still well under 2 hrs!".   I wanted to run on stage and hug my new best friend - well, if I wasn't so tired and thirsty.

Final result? 1:59:47. Finally!

[caption id="attachment_1298" align="aligncenter" width="224"] So happy post-finish. The first medal is for completing the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the second one is for completing all three races in the B.A.A. Distance Medley[/caption]

I couldn't be happier with how my race went. However, I can't celebrate for too long - it's back to work this week with some tough intervals and one more long run. I still have a marathon to crush in one month!