2010 NYC Half Marathon
Yesterday was my best half marathon yet. As I stood in the corral
waiting for the race to start, the chill in the air was a welcome change
from the heat and humidity of last year's race. The decision to move the
race from August to March was a good one. The course is definitely a fun
one. It starts with an 8 mile loop around Central Park before exiting
onto 7th Avenue. From there, the route goes to 42nd street, through
Times Square, and out to the West Side Highway where the course finishes
near Battery Park.
I started out with the goal of beating my time from last year. As long
as I did better than 1:51:49, I'd be happy. I was hoping I'd finish
within a minute or two of the half marathon PR I set back in January,
but I wasn't counting on it.
As I ran I looked at the split times, and roughly gauged how I was
doing, trying to stay on target for something close to 1:37 finish, but
primarily making sure I was doing better than last year's 1:51. At mile
8, just before exiting Central Park to head to Times Square, the clock
time was about 59 minutes. I realized that the winner of the race was
about to finish, if he hadn't already, and I hadn't even made it out of
the park.
This year's splits were much better than last year's.
| split | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|
| 5K | 0:23:42 | 0:23:22 |
| 10K | 0:47:32 | 0:46:09 |
| 15K | 1:14:45 | 1:07:59 |
| 20K | 1:46:09 | 1:29:28 |
| final | 1:51:49 | 1:33:26 |
This is the first time I've run negative splits. What really amazes me
is that not only was the second half faster, but every 5K split was
faster than the previous. There was an excitement exiting the park.
There was an amazing rush turning the corner onto 42nd street. The
crowds were great, cheering every runner as we passed by.I remember
around the mile 11 marker realizing I had a chance to PR, estimating my
time at about 1:36, and picking up the pace a bit. I started passing
people left and right. One runner saw me and yelled, "Go, man! Go!"
Out of about 15 to 16 thousand people that signed up, 11,493 finished. I
finished in 895th place; far, far, behind the winner who took home
$20,000.
Universal Sports had a live telecast of the event. I set the DVR to
record it before I left, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. It
likely focused primarily on the professionals who ran, including the
Marathon world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie.
This was a great race on a great day.
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Not a Paper Cup
I recently ordered the Not a Paper Cup from ThinkGeek. It looks like a
paper coffee cup but is made of ceramic. The lid is silicone instead #6
plastic. It should be awesome. It's not.
Advertised as 12 ounces, it actually only holds 8 ounces. Right there,
it's at most 66% as awesome as it should be. As one friend put it, "That
is significantly less awesome."
Now that I've used it I'll say that it's about 0% awesome and 90% suck
with 10% fail.
The silicone lid tastes, well, like silicone. It adds this horrible
flavor to every sip. I like my coffee to have a strong coffee flavor,
not a strong coffee plus silicone flavor. Maybe that's just me...
The double walled construction of the cup, in theory would add an
insulating layer to keep the coffee warm longer than a regular paper
cup. This was not the case and in a test yesterday, I found that the
standard paper cup kept the coffee warm for about an hour and a half
longer than the Not a Paper Cup.
In summary:
Coogan's 5K - Update
Officially I ran my best 5K to date. I finished in 19:41 averaging 6:20
per mile.
It was a rather hilly course, starting at 173rd and running up to the
Cloisters. After circling the museum, the same route was taken back to
173rd.
On Saturday I said I was going to PR. I was told that was a bit a of a
lofty goal given how hilly the course was. Sunday morning I woke up with
a bit of discomfort after gorging on sushi the night before and thought
I might not do well.
As I stood in the corral, those feelings changed. I knew I was going to
PR. And I did.
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