Half and Half

There’s nothing quite like leaving a blog to fester for a few months (well 4 months to be precise).

It’s been a bitterly cold and icy winter, so keeping up with the regime was tough. But… in January I ran my first ever half marathon, just missing out on cracking 2 hours.

My official time was 2:01:33, which as my only result is my PR – I should have been pleased, but was in truth bitterly disappointed. 2 weeks earlier, a random guy distracted my on Broad Street in Manhattan’s financial district (trying to sell me on the merits of Bitcoin) and I put my foot over a curb over extending my ankle. I winced at the time, and knew immediately it was trouble for my half.

I set off well enough, and after 9 miles or so was well on target for a sub two-hour time. Unfortunately my ankle wasn’t up to it, and after the 10 mile mark, I was running on one leg and slowing with every step. My last two miles were 11:30 min/miles, losing me at least 3 mins off my training pace.

I need to work on my running face, but that guy behind me looks in more pain than I do.

But, it was a great experience and I learned a lot – and in January I ran 70 miles, something I’ve never done before in a single month and quite an achievement given the average temperature in January was 10 degrees below freezing.

So tomorrow is the NYC Half, and my hopes are in the balance for beating 2 hours. I’ve only run 30 miles in March war far, although I should reach 70 miles again this month, and my ankle is still causing me trouble. So much so, I am thinking of getting physio if I have the same trouble this time. On the flip side, while the Manhattan Half was two laps of Central park, which means two steep climbs per lap, the NYC Half is much more forgiving. After one lap of Central Park, it’s a run downtown either slightly downhill or flat. Many PR’s have been set on this course.

So, a prediction is probably going to jinx me, but I am hoping for a 1:58 time. That means running around 9/min miles.

Then it’s the Brooklyn Half in May…