Manhattan Triple Half Marathon

Well it was not quite a triple half marathon, but almost.  I ran 36 total miles and would have gone the 39.3 to make it a triple, but my running partner didn’t see the appeal of going for that distance so I just went home as my odometer clicked 36 about a block from home.  All summed up it was a beautiful day.  Here is the day’s recap.

My friends @aristorat, RY and one other got started at 5:30am under the cover of darkness.  This was the second year in a row for us to run to the Manhattan Half Marathon (MHM) and the conditions this year was a vast improvement over the previous.  The temps were in the 40’s under an overcast sky as opposed to 14 degrees from the previous.

I wasn’t sure how I would do this year.  As I’ve been mentioning, I’ve been fighting injury and malaise and don’t have any sort of training distance in me to warrant attempting a 25-35 mile run.  However, I was in the right frame of mind, so I figured I would give it a go.  RY set out on a moderate pace from the start and I asked him to back it down a notch.  I was going to play the run conservative and I was not going to expend a lot of energy so early in the day.  He was agreeable to running slower and from hence forth we set out comfortably into Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge.  We ran to 12^th Street and 4^th Avenue and took our first rest break in a Starbucks.

I took the rest break opportunity to shed some clothes as I was over dressed.  RY and his friend took off from @aristorat and me since they still had to pick up race numbers.  @aristorat and I used the bathrooms, had some water and then set off for Central Park.  Along the way I ran past my work office.  I wanted to see the distance from home as I soon plan to start running home from there.  I am happy that it is a respectable 8 miles which would make a good daily workout, a more pleasant commute and a time saver to boot.  Commuting to work by foot or bike is a good way to save money, get exercise and have a reliable method of transportation.

We ran another 2 miles from my office into Central Park for the start of the MHM.  We got there with approximately 20 minutes to spare, so instead of running some more we just had some water, snacks and relaxed on a bench.  The 20 minutes zipped by though and soon enough we were off running.  @aristorat set out on a more aggressive pace than I was able to maintain and after 2 miles I had to let him go.  The MHM is over two loops of Central Park.  I will admit that the first loop was a bit of a struggle.  However, just as I was finishing the first loop, I took a Hammer Gel and by the 7 mile I was feeling much better.  My pace improved and I had a new found energy.  In fact I negative split the race.

I had a nice runner’s high by the time I finished and I felt good enough to run home.  Had I not felt good enough to run home, my fall back plan was to join fellow running and tweeter @BklynRunner for brunch nearby.  I found @aristorat and RY at the finish of the race and I talked them into at least stopping by the brunch location so I could say hello and meet @BklynRunner.  It turns out that I knew one of her friends, the tough as nails runner @cdopher.  When we met up with the brunch crowd we were at 25 total miles.  Everyone was amazed at the amount of miles we were running, but honestly it is nothing once you put the training in.  We didn’t stay for long and soon set out for the West Side Highway for the trip south to the Brooklyn Bridge.

The run along the WSH was pleasant and uneventful.  We made a couple of stops along the way for water and bathrooms, but otherwise held a steady pace until the Brooklyn Bridge.  There we came across our usual Hot Dog Cart Vendor and bought some water and chatted a bit.  People say that my friends and I are hard core for running the distances we do in all many of weather.  I’ll tell you what though, being a Hot Dog Cart vendor on the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge throughout the year is hard core.

The run over the bridge was pretty as always, but also filled with oblivious tourists with which you have to dodge and weave between.  It’s a pain in the ass to run over, but the view makes up for it.  Once off the bridge, it was through the neighborhoods of Downtown Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Park Slope and then into Prospect Park.  I always love saying that I ran in NYC’s two great parks in the same day.  I tried to talk @aristorat into going for a loop of Prospect Park to complete the triple, but he was having none of it.  I thought of calling another friend to talk him into going a few miles with me, but as we exited the park my odometer turned 36 miles and I was only a block or so from home.  I decided to just end the run and call it a day.

I am very happy with my effort and I am still riding the endorphin high from it.  I have no idea where the strength came from to do such a run, especially since I have had nowhere near the training miles necessary to put in a marathon effort, much less an effort of 36 miles.  @aristorat tells me that the strength has always been inside me, built up from the number of years Ironman training.  I just have to get my mind out of the way to release the inner Beast inside me.  If it wasn’t for the mind, just give the body some fuel and you can probably go on forever.

Next up is a 32 mile run around the circumference of Manhattan on January 31.  I am really looking forward to that.  It is a run I’ve always wanted to do.