Saturday, April 29, 2006

Queens Half Marathon - 1:33:48 and 7:09 pace!

An interesting morning to say the least. I stayed over at my father's place in Queens on Friday nite and woke up at 5am to get ready for the race. Well I left the house at 6:30am and hopped onto the Q25 bus. Upon reaching Roosevelt and Main Street, I realized I forgot to bring my chip! I was planning to give up on the race and the fact that I wasn't "fit" enough after slacking off during my european vacation was always on the back of my mind. Nevertheless, since it was only 7am, I decided to get out of the bus and hailed a cab.

Thank god for the cab driver. Thank you Manish Kumar. He realized I was in a rush and sped through red lights just to get me to Mcneil park before 8am. The roundtrip fare was 31 bucks plus tips, no biggie because all I have to say is Manish Kumar is the man!

But then again, after talking to Riyad, I was told that there should be extra chips in the race. Bloody hell! I could've use that 26 bucks for drinks tonight!

Ok, so i'll stop digressing and back to the race. Unlike Brooklyn with killer hills after mile 10, the Queens route consisted of numerous small hills. I started with Riyad and Irwin. Eventually Irwin and I teed off at 7:15 on mile one. Until mile 3 I saw Barry from afar which is typically a good sign since he is a great runner! I just told myself that I can do well if i can keep up with Barry. On mile 4 and 5 I was head to head with him and he zoomed off on the descent on mile 6. At that point I knew i was going to break my previous 1:35:59 - mainly because I was sub 42 on mile 6 as opposed to sub 45 in Brooklyn. I just knew if I keep up the pace I can get a new PR and that's basically what i did.

I was basically enthralled by the sense of community in queens. No doubt that I was raised 14 years of my life there, I was happy to see spectators giving a helping hand on water, gatorade , slices of oranges and their cheers to keep us fresh and motivated. I definitely didn't sense this in Brooklyn.

Mile 12 and the end was torture. Even though i knew I was going to set a PR, i still felt I went a bit too fast in the beginning. My net time was 1:33:48, 7:09/mile pace, third in my team, 300 overall and an age grade of 63.1%

Other quick notes from the race:

-Congratulations to our fellow dog, IRWIN with a time of 1:36! He has automatically qualified for the 2006 marathon!

-The team with those unnecessarily retarded "I ran my faster 10K...." green singlets is from TEAM FOR KIDS. How did i found out? Well on mile 2, I saw this guy wearing the singlet and I had to get close to him to see what team he was on because it didn't say on the back. Hence I had to get in front of him, turn my head and check. Pretty sad right? Since I am at a race and my concern was to see what team these retards are from. Remind me to never join Team For Kids one day.

-After mile 8, 9, 10 and 11 a fellow runner from Staten Island Track Club was cramping. Even worse, he still beat me. Bloody hell! Anyway, I talked to him afterwards to see how he was, and he seems fine now.

-Congratulations to my fellow curry sistah Rupal with a time of 2:05:31!!!!!! Make India Proud! hahaha

Next up, Long Island Marathon on 5/7/06

Aloha and Cheers,

Moz

2 Comments:

Blogger nyflygirl said...

Hey-I think I was standing near you guys at the starting line! i was the chick in the Flyer singlet, red shorts and sunglasses. I saw a bunch of guys in Rez Dogs shirts and thought you looked familiar but was't sure-next time I'll be sure to say hi (BTW-were you at the happy hour Thurs?)

anyway-congrats on your PR! I completely agree about the sense of "community" I saw among the locals during this race-was very nice. (I too prefer Queens to Brooklyn!)

7:10 PM  
Blogger Morrissey said...

Thanks! Yes, Irwin, Riyad and I were standing between the 6 and 7 mile marker.

Unfortunately wasn't able to make to the happy hour due to prior engagements, but from what I heard, I totally missed out! I'll be there next time!

7:28 PM  

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