A Little Update on Running
A week after the Central Park Half Marathon, two weeks before the NYC Half Marathon seems like the perfect time for a little update on my running, before the season is getting serious. Although – it should have been more serious than it is so far.
My running schedule for this winter was deeply affected by the New York Marathon disaster  – by now everybody who is interested in running should know what happened, and most people probably have an opinion, so I won’t add to that anymore. I didn’t go into Central Park to run with thousands of other people that Sunday. Instead I ran my own 10 miles here in Hudson County, promising to give $5 to charity for each mile I ran. That run was painful, I stopped regularly, and I just wanted to be home – I am wondering how the marathon would have been.
A few weeks later, NYC Runs announced their Central Park Marathon for February 24th, and I decided to sign up for it. I just wanted to do a 42.195 km race this season – my running year 2012 just didn’t feel complete. But in early February I switched to the half marathon option…
Why?
Because my training lacked. I like running in the winter, but I don’t like running the miles I needed for a good marathon. I was aware of that, I even adjusted my goal time (the marathon was supposed to be a last long training run for the NYC Half Marathon). But when I badly hurt my pinkie toe the day before the Manhattan Half Marathon and after I skipped two long training runs, I knew it made more sense to do the shorter distance.
I don’t know if it was the right decision. Maybe I was prepared to go the whole distance, and only my own doubts hindered me from doing it. But in the end it felt like the 21.1 km distance was a good preparation for the race on March 17th.
I have no idea where I am standing right now though. I did the Central Park Half Marathon in 1:55:08 which was pretty much what I was shooting for. If I am able to PR, it will be in 13 days. But: I had felt some pain at around mile 10 and I got much slower for a little while. Maybe I didn’t do enough speed intervals this winter (I focused more on the hills), maybe – again – I am just to pessimistic. Who knows…
Generally I am better prepared after this winter than I ever was at the beginning of spring. I already logged around 300 km since January 1st, and I should easily end up running more than 1000 miles (my yearly goal) before the year ends. If that is any indication, the NY Marathon should be great.