BRONX HALF MARATHON

ADDED MY REAL RACE REPORT BELOW

Just posting results, as it's been a long day. I will fill in the rest of the race report tomorrow when I am more awake. Waking at 3:30am for this race has finally caught to me. Time for some ZZZZZZs!!

Official time 2:07:23

My Garmin says I covered 13.25 miles, but that included the zigzaging:(

Avg pace 9:43

avg HR 157 Cardiac Drift: 170

Great run. Didn`t want to push it, found a great comfortable pace and stuck to it!

M1 9:57 avg hr bpm 142
M2 9:25 avg hr bpm 156
M3 9:27 avg hr bpm 159
M4 9:25 avg hr bpm 160
M5 9:22 avg hr bpm 162
M6 10:11 avg hr bpm 163 (we were running into the wind at this point)
M7 9:32 avg hr bpm 161
M8 9:43 avg hr bpm 157
M9 9:43 avg hr bpm 156
M10 9:41 avg hr bpm 158
M11 9:43 avg hr bpm 155
M12 9:43 avg hr bpm 154
M13 9:43 avg hr bpm 159
last .1miles 1:33 avg hr bpm 167

The day started early, WAY early. Usually for my races, my alarm goes off at 4:30ish, but today I was up at 3:20, 10min before the alarm was due to go off. My 6 year old Allie woke, and wished me good luck, and then she climbed in to bed with Mr. Beachy, while I made my oatmeal & banana (my staple pre-race meal), and got out of the house by 4:10, to meet John B. at 5:00am, and to be at the race by 6am (we didn't know when they would begin to close the roads). We found a parking spot, thankfully on the Grand Concourse, and then found the start/finish, then walked to the Bronx Science High School to get our bibs. While we were walking, it was pitch black, and we were commenting how warm it was. I checked the weather on my iphone, and it was telling me 53 degrees. I didn't believe it. Once at the H.S., we got our bibs and hung out inside for awhile and this is where we met up with my brother's friends, John, Amy and Nancy. They were super friendly. We went back up to check our bags, around 7:30, and again commented on how warm it was. Sun was starting to come out, and the day looked just perfect. I checked the weather again, and it now said 55F and sunny. I really was thinking, I'm in trouble, I'm way over dressed. We checked our bags and made our way to the start at about 7:45am.

OMG, the weather could not have been more perfect, except I didn't believe it. They had been predicting 47F and 20-30MPH winds, and I figured at 7-8am it would be cold, NOPE, it was 56 at the start and winds, they say were only 7mph. I actually enjoyed the wind, cause it cooled me off LOL I wore way too much clothing and was HOT. I wore full length tights, and wind pants on top of those. And I wore a long sleeve cool max shirt, with a long sleeve cotton shirt on top. I knew at the start I was way over dressed, but didn't feel like ditching these clothes to good will, so I ran on as dressed. By mile 2ish, I was saying. Today's clothing should have been shorts and a singlet. LOL I actually welcomed the windy conditions, as it helped to cool me off LOL Oh well, race was GREAT.

I originally wanted to run this race at a 9:09 marathon pace (but my OVERALL goal was to run it as a training run, not to push it, as I really wanted to be able to run my run on Monday), but once I started I realized 9:09 wasn't happening as I was too hot. Plus, prior to the race I met Amy, who was running her first half marathon ever, and decided I'd run with her. She was thinking 9:30 would be doable. So off we went. It was amazing. We chatted the whole race and I learned all about her running/training journey. What amazed me most was that I have never chatted/talked/spoken during a run, let alone a race. Once we began talking I quickly thought, uh oh, am I going to make it? Will I end up sucking wind, keeling over from the conversation, but I didn't, and it was the greatest conversation to have with a new runner! As we hit about mile 4, and we were warmed up, I asked Amy if she wanted to speed it up a bit, and maybe aim for the 9:09, she said no, and I said, no problem, we're hitting our splits pretty well, lets stick with this. We both crossed the finish together and it was fantastic.

I still had a lot of gas in the tank, and was happy cause I knew I'd be running again tomorrow. Not sure if I will do 16 as planned, but I will definitely run 6 and then see how I feel!