Long Island Half Marathon
Today is the day! Before I left this morning at 6:00am, I weighed myself and had lost 2 pounds - big mental boost going into the race! When I got to Eisenhower Park at 6:35, it was cloudy and in the low 50s. Lots of anticipation and excitement at the start; thousands of runners for the half, full and 10K races. I was a little anxious about my right heel, but as the race started, all was ok. Shortly into the race, it began to "sprinkle" and continued to light rain throughout the race - the rain was not a problem since I was pretty warmed up. After 5 miles regular walk breaks seemed like a good idea. My quads were burning. I knew I'd finish if I just pushed on. By mile 10 the heel was bothering me but not seriously. From here on I could feel the finish line and began to push harder and through the heel pain. By the time I hit the finish line I was kicking hard, coming in at 2:19:56 or a 10:40 pace.

I felt so accomplished. This was my 13th half marathon and not my best performance, actually, far from it but, it was the longest race and distance since October 2007. This race laid the foundation for my summer training for the NYC marathon in the fall. But, I was hurting: toes, left sole blisters, right heel, quads and chafing. I really wonder why I do this. Surely the finisher's medal isn't it.

Well, it's now a few hours later and my body is coming back to me and the hobbling around is becoming less pronounced. I think I'll take a couple of days off ~ I've earned it.