new york half marathon recap

finally it happened and i ran my 13.1 miles on a sunday morning on march 18th.

the first ever race, for which i was training since the end of december 2011.

it was awesome despite the fact that i caught the cold three days before the race day, and even the night prior, wasn't sure whether i should run or not with still ongoing symptoms of cold.  i drank tons of tea with lemon, honey and raspberries and teraflu on occasion all those days and felt much better on the morning of the race (i really- really wanted to cross the finish line).

i had to blow my nose as i ran, but nevertheless the whole experience was great. i loved the energy of the race and enjoyed the amazing course through central park, times square and along hudson river.  i had the best support i could imagine- my mom, sister, and askhad. he was literally running the whole race with me,  taking the pictures  along the way (best running paparazzi, i can say). askhad did not officially participate in the race but jumped in and ran almost to the finish line - it was such a huge support  for me!



we started off central park - one loop equals 6 miles (i knew every inch of that route!!!)  and it's quite hilly.

the course then ran down seventh avenue through times square out to the west side highway and around the tip of manhattan to south street seaport - all flat surface.

 during my training i was not following any specific plan. working full time with one day off, i just tried to accommodate as many runs in central park as i could (usually 3-4 times per week) along with yoga classes - it meant 'no'  to almost all happy hours.
if it was raining (thankfully winter was amazingly warm this year)  i would skip the run in the favor of yoga.  it was a bit scary to even imagine to run 13 miles, especially when my longest run was about 9 miles.  i am sure- training in central park (which is definitely the hardest part of half marathon course) allowed me to tackle the distance without much problem.

i managed to accomplish my goal- to run the whole thing and  though did not care much about timing was very pleased with my finish time - 1:48.