Westchester Half Marathon

Sunday October 8th.

After watching the Yankees get dismantled by the Tigers, and my alma mater Michigan State get blown out by their arch rival Michigan the previous day, I had some steam to blow off in a race! Our coach said we should run this race at as fast a pace as we can hold steady for 13.1 miles. In other words, RACE !

Temperature when I awoke at 5 ayem was 46 degrees, so I ate a banana, had a cup of coffee and some gatorade and headed for the race. By 6:30 I was given my race number, #69, and a scoring chip, then I had a 2 hour wait until the start. Luckily I drove and brought a book, so I sat in my car, drank some more coffee and relaxed. At 8:15 I headed out to the start, about 100 yards from my car. I found my running mates, Jeff and Oscar, and off we went on a beautiful sunny morning. I was hoping to run at about a 7:45 minute per mile pace for the entire race, but found we were running at about 7:30 per mile after one and two miles. I felt good, so decided to just go with the flow. From that point on I just ran a steady pace, passing runners on the way, never looking at my watch for the time, just running according to how I felt, and I felt pretty good !

This course was run on the Bronx River Parkway, a two lane road, and rather flat. At the halfway point we turned around and headed back north up the other side of the Parkway. At this point I could see and cheer for my teammates as they passed by. There is great camaraderie among our group! By 10 miles, I started counting down to the finish as the pace was starting to wear me out. I could hear footsteps of other runners just behind me and decided I would not be passed from this point on, so I picked up the pace with 1 mile to go. When I reached the 13 mile marker and had about 100 yards to go I found a group of Team for Kids runners who finished ahead of me, cheering me on to the finish. They provided just the boost I needed to kick to the finish line. I finished in 1:37:26 or a 7:24 pace per mile.

This is the first time we have been allowed to really race as a group. Before this we have been using the races as training runs at a set pace. It felt pretty good, and was a good mental boost to know I can run hard for half a marathon. This race increased my confidence level for the big race on Nov. 5 th.



26 days to go.......

Stay healthy!

Peers