Five on Friday: NYC Half Edition

 

[ONE]

The NYC Half is on Sunday.  I feel sort of ready.  I found out in mid-January that I got into the race via a second round of lottery drawings.  Between the craziness of Super Bowl and the insane weather, training has not been very easy.      

 

[TWO]

 

I have been training mostly on the treadmill for the past six weeks missing maybe two runs total for that entire time frame.  I took a bootcamp class on Mondays.  Tuesday was a longish run (5-6 miles) with Thursday and Friday being shorter runs (4-5 miles) and one long run on Sunday.  This past Sunday, I completed a 10 mile run that covered much of the beginning of the course and felt pretty confident, but I know those last few miles will be tough. 

 

[THREE]

 

I would be thrilled to finish the race in 2:30 something. If I keep a 12 minute per mile pace which I believe is possible, I will finish in roughly 2 hours and 36 minutes.  That would be ideal, but I know the west side of Central Park and its hilly nature will slow me down a little.  Hoping that I can regroup as I head out of the park and make up some time on the flat west side highway where I have done the majority of my training runs throughout the years.  

 

[FOUR]

 

My fastest half marathon time so far is 2:47 in the Diva Half that I ran four years ago so beating that would be ideal even if I end up in the 2:40's. I am as familiar as I have ever been with a course for this race so I'm interested to see if that helps or hurts me. 

 

[FIVE]

And, of course, the chilly weather could turn out to be a factor.  Right now, it looks to be in the low to mid 30s, but sunny!  I'll need more than the luck of the Irish to stay warm in those conditions :)

What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this weekend?
 

Andrea :)