The Perfect Last Half: United Airlines NYC Half 2022 Recap
Warning: I've been drinking. And I haven't been drinking water, which is bad. So I take no responsibility for this recap.
Good news is, I'm usually a fairly coherent drunk so we should be okay.
Also, no pictures in this because I don't feel like transferring them from my phone but maybe I'll post some when I post my weekly recap tomorrow.
Packet Pickup:
The timing of this expo (and the race, actually) was not the best. I was in Queens on Thursday (had it not been for the race I would have stayed for the weekend), so that wasn't an option for the expo. So I decided to take the day off from work Friday so that I wasn't driving myself crazy trying to squeeze everything in. I left Queens around 8:45ish, got back to Manhattan a little before 10, and then had a 45-minute barre3 class at 12. I walked from barre3 to the expo (it was about a 1.6 mile walk).
The expo itself was nothing too exciting. I had to show proof of vaccination to get in (but that was the only place they asked for it). There was a row of bib pickup spots and I went to the first one because I wanted an early bib number (except for the marathon, NYRR assigns bib numbers at pickup). I got 25447, which I think was pretty close to the start of Wave 4. Bib pickup then dumped into the New Balance shop, where I browsed a bit but knew I wouldn't buy anything. Down the stairs was the Jackrabbit x Fleet Feet area, where I also didn't buy anything. I picked up a free water, found myself on the wall of names, and then left. All in all, I spent about 20 minutes at the expo. Then I went home.
Race Morning:
Morning Prep:
I woke up at 6, which was a little earlier than I really needed to be up but I figured it was better to give myself the extra time rather than rush. I had packed my stuff the night before, so all that was left was getting dressed and filling up my water bottle. I was ready to leave a little before 7, but didn't actually get out until 7:05 because I didn't want to have to wait too long for a train.
Getting There:
The commute was actually pretty easy! I took the train from near me down to West 4th (which is the stop closest to my barre studio) and then switched for the F, which was right by the entrance to the no-bag zone. I think it took like 50 minutes door-to-door? Something like that? So really not a bad commute at all - better than when I used to commute from Queens to the Central Park races.
Start Area/Corrals:
So they changed the corrals a bit since 2019 and this time I was in the last wave, not the second to last wave. The start area was still uber muddy (let me tell ya ... my throwaway pants were a mess after I took them off), but at least it wasn't crazy crowded. Reminded me a bit of the marathon corrals - we had to wait before we could get into our corral (they were finishing loading up wave 3 when I got there) but there was plenty of space to wait.
Wave 4 was supposed to start loading corrals at 8:30 (with corrals closing at 8:40) but my corral didn't open until about 8:39. Which was less then great but I made it in pretty quick, ditched my throwaway pants and top (the top was something I bought on Friday for $10 ... owned it for less than 48 hours and wore it for about 2), and was ready to go.
I started the race around 8:54, which makes sense considering my wave start time and corral.
The Race:
The First 5K
So remember how I said I was going to run with my mask on? It didn't even make it out of Prospect Park. I had some breathing issues in the first mile or so, and I took off the mask to see if that helped (it didn't, but once it was off I didn't put it back on until the post-race area).
Other than that ... nothing much doing in this part. I think I knew I was going faster than expected but it felt easy so I was okay with it. I had a moment where I realized that the corral area from my first year doing the race is now part of the course (they changed the course a drop between 2018 and 2019), which I don't know why I didn't realize last time I ran this but okay. Overall, a decent start.
Official Split: 38:37
5K to 10K
This segment included the Manhattan Bridge, so I knew it was going to be slow. Going in I expected to walk the whole bridge and that's pretty much what happened (might have done 1 or 2 run intervals but mostly walk). But I took a lot of pictures and it was great. Also, someone had a "halfway there" sign when we got off the bridge and we were not even at 10K yet so ... no. People suck.
Official Split: 1:21:32 (42:55)
10K to 15K
This segment is mostly the FDR drive, which is a somewhat quiet part of the course but I still like it. The sun was kinda beating down on me (and I may have forgotten to put on sunscreen) which was rough and I did struggle, but nothing too bad. At one pointed I swapped my intervals to 30 seconds running/60 seconds, but that only lasted a few minutes because it just didn't feel right.
Nothing too exceptional about this segment, just kept moving forward.
Official Split: 2:03:23 (41:51)
15K to 20K
This part of the race has been pretty hard for me in the past, since I normally struggle on 42nd Street, but this year it wasn't too bad. Times Square didn't excite me as much as it normally does, but it was still fun.
Once I got into Central Park I switched my intervals to 30 seconds running/60 seconds walking. I looked at my watch and saw that I was nowhere near 3 hours (I think I was around 2:39 when I got into the park) and could probably finish under 3 even if I walked most of the park (which was something I had been considering), but decided to try the switched up intervals and it worked for me. So that was a good gameday call. I probably could have stuck with the 60/30 but I think I wouldn't have felt as good about it.
Official Split: 2:45:31 (42:08)
The Home Stretch
I tried to go back to the 60/30 intervals for the last 1.1km but it just didn't feel right. So I stuck with 30/60, but made sure to cross the finish line running. And I felt good when I crossed the finish line. A good victory lap for a bad training cycle.
Official Finish Time: 2:54:29
I really wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this race, since I didn't really want to do it and the training cycle sucked. But being out there reminded me why I love this race so much. NYC knows how to put together a good race. I'm so glad I did this race. I don't feel a need to do it again, three times was enough for me, but I think it was the perfect end to my running days.
Post-Race:
I got my medal, took some pictures, and then got my mylar blanket and recovery bag (which had a lot of gatorade, an apple, pretzels, and a mask). I didn't really feel a need to stick around in the post-race area so I made my way out of the park. I went to the Starbucks across the street, which was crowded, but I actually didn't have to wait that long, which was good (yay mobile order). The subway is right outside Starbucks so I just took the 1 train home. And got some congratulations from people on my walk home from the subway, which was fun.
Once I got home, things went a little downhill. I had to email my brother some stuff before I ran into the shower, so that put me behind schedule. Then I just didn't really eat, which threw me off. I did a little baking and then mustered up the energy for a quick grocery run before I started my drinking, but even that didn't go as planned. I was very excited to go home and have all three types of beer that I have in my fridge (I've done it once before but it's rare because I usually only have one type of beer in the fridge) but I was feeling pretty sick after #2 (I think more related to the not eating than the drinking) so it didn't so much happen and I'm probably gonna conk out earlyish.
Goal Check-In:
Yep!
2. Sub-3:00 (probs not likely based on how slow I’ve been going lately but maybe race excitement will help)
Yes! I think race excitement definitely helped, as did the weather.
3. Go out on a high note (this is my last half, at least for the foreseeable future, and I wish I felt like I could end this journey on a good note and not feeling resentful about ever having started running in the first place. We’ll see if the race gives me that feeling, but I’m not expecting much).
This was such a stretch goal but I absolutely hit it. What a wonderful way to end my distance running days. As weird as it is, I think this was even better than having a runDisney half as my last would have been. Such a good last race. I'm happy with this.
What's Next:
No more halfs. But more running? That's TBD. Stay tuned for a post on that within the next few weeks, hopefully.