2011 NYC Half Marathon - 1:22:38 / 6:18

Chip Time: 1:22:38 (PR)
Pace: 6:18
Rank: 318/10190
Age Grade: 71.6%
*race pics courtesy of jeff dengate*

Throughout all the NYC halves I've raced in, I was very inconsistent. I raced horribly in 2007, 2009; however did Ok in 2006 and broke my first 1:30 and 1:23 in 2008 and 2011 respectively. For the past several months, this was the only race as of 2011 where I feel that I raced to my current fitness level. The NYC Half marks my first PR of 2011 - whew!

Recently after a PR @ the Ted Corbitt 15K, I've been going through a slump. Well, it was more like going through races where I felt that my training did not translate well with the race results. Maybe I haven't respected recovery days which then impeded the race outcome. Although I had some injuries (sprained ankle @ the armory a few weeks ago, foot tendonitis, bursitis), I still didn't think I competed well on my previous races. On hindsight, I believe that in races, bad and good ones will come hand in hand and if I don't experience the bad, I will never appreciate the good. Hence, this will be one of the races where I will appreciate and savor.

I came into the race with some sort of redemption or some confidence builder. Furthermore, I made sure that during the race, if I stayed behind my teammates Stephen, Kieran and Erin, I should be in good shape. That's basically what I did; to hang/tag along with them as much as possible. It was after mile 10, when i realized I had a chance to PR in this race.

Funny thing was, now that I'm reviewing my splits, I beat my 10K and 15K PRs. However, I will not count that as my "true" PR...just not right. Hence I will try a real definitive 10K and 15K race and pop in a PR...hopefully!

Overall, I'm extremely ecstatic with this race result and I really could not have done it with my CPTC teammates. All the training, the long runs, the track workouts, the coaching (thanks Tony!), friendships/comraderies really made me believe in myself and to train harder.

Again, I'm happy with this result and I know that not every race will be a PR. I'm definitely going to enjoy this result and never take any PR for granted. I think it is time that I give my body a rest with some TLC! Till then...Boston? #1590! My highest Bib# in 3 bahstons baby!

Splits:
01: 6:21:57
02: 6:13:31
03: 6:16:58
04: 6:24:59
05: 6:12:21
06: 6:28:32
07: 6:16:94
08: 6:19:78
09.3: 8:21:31
10: 4:16:77
11: 6:19:98
12: 6:18:26
13: 6:11:04
.1: 37:52