Weekly Recap and the MORE Women’s Half Marathon

Yesterday, I ran my third half marathon of 2016 at the MORE Women’s Half Marathon in Central Park. I’ll share my weekly workouts and then get to the race recap and other scenes from the weekend. Actually, first I’m going to show you all this beautiful creature I spotted on my walk home from work on Tuesday, because puppies are priorities. But after that!

 

 

 

 

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 4.1 miles

Wednesday: 9 miles

Thursday: Rest day

Friday: 4.4 miles

Saturday: Rest day

Sunday: MORE Women’s Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

 

 

I planned three shorter runs during the week, but ended up with a long run Wednesday because I couldn’t sleep the night before (meaning I was up and at ’em way earlier than I needed to be for work, giving me an extra hour for my workout) and also because I hadn’t run more than the 8.7 miles I ran the day of the Scotland Run 10K since the New York City Half Marathon last month. It felt strange to be out for so long, then get dressed and head to work, but I also felt ridiculously accomplished that day. I doubt I’ll be doing any marathon training long runs on weekdays because they’re just going to get too long, but I can definitely see upping the mileage on summer mornings when I wake up with the sun and want to get out before the heat of the day is upon us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning, I woke up just before 7am, had my pre-race lemon water and snack, and jogged to the start line with time to spare before 8am. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate proximity to Central Park? The course was two counterclockwise loops of the park, with an additional third trip around the bottom to get in one last mile. Now, I am not a runner who loves hills, and I knew when I signed up that this course was basically one constant up-and-downhill undulation, considering it’s in the park where I run every day. But I was doing it for fun, planned to walk whenever I needed, and was just as excited for my friend Katie to run her first half marathon as I was to finish myself. We didn’t end up running together but I’m proud of her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first loop around the park went pretty well. I wasn’t wearing my watch, but saw by the timer that after the initial weaving to get out of the crowd I was keeping a 9:45ish/mile pace. However, things got a little tougher for me on the second loop around. Nearing Mile 8, I began to feel dehydrated even though I carried a small water bottle with me. It was only in the 50s, but very sunny, and after running in cooler weather for so much of the spring (it was sleeting last weekend!) my body hadn’t adjusted. I slowed down a little, got water at a couple of the later stops, and made it to the end, but I was not feeling my best. When I checked my time after the race, I saw that I went from a 9:58/mile 10K pace to a 10:09/mile pace overall, for a finish in 2:13:01. I was just happy to be sitting at EJ’s with Brett, slurping water and coffee and eating a frittata with turkey sausage and gluten free toast after rehydrating with a few post race apples when I found this out 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

The remainder of the weekend was spent refueling with a lot of sugar. We walked up to a relatively new gluten free bakery called NoGlu on Madison Avenue near 91st street. It’s an export from Paris, and they have lots of French treats as well as muffins and cupcakes. We sampled two canelles, which were little pastries made with crepe dough, as well as a blueberry cheesecake. All delicious. There was a trip to Emack and Bolio’s later Sunday afternoon. Then on Sunday evening after dinner, we went to 16 Handles and spotted a new shop across the street called Treat House that features all treats made with certified gluten free rice crispies, otherwise known as sugar rush heaven on earth. So it took a few new finds, and a few old favorites, to get me back to my usual self.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not signed up for any more races between now and the marathon, but I might try to find another half to run as a September tune-up, and there might be a random 5K or 10K that pops up this summer. The focus now is on finalizing my marathon training plan, and all the fun we have planned for the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever run an all-women’s race?

 

Do you prefer hills, flat courses, or in between?

 

What’s your favorite food to refuel with after a race?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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