Race Information

Name: NYCRuns Falling Leaves Half Marathon

Date: October 15, 2022

Distance: 13.1 miles

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Website: https://nycruns.com/race/nycruns-falling-leaves-half-marathon-5k

Time: 2:05:30

Goals

Splits

Training

I started running in July somewhat spontaneously when my partner suggested we bring our (very old) running shoes on vacation since we’d be away from our bikes. Prior to this trip I was cycling a few times a week and strength training 3x a week. My partner and I ran together more than 7 years ago, but it was a short lived part of our lives as every run was all out gas and our fitness wasn’t great- we hated it. This time we had a blast on the trip running slowly along the Massachusetts coast and got hooked.

I decided to follow a half marathon training plan with no race in mind just to have some structure and work towards my goal of being able to run that mileage. I picked the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan, realized it lined up to the day with the NYCRuns Falling Leaves half marathon, and said fuck it and signed up. I followed the plan pretty much to a T and my partner ran nearly all of the runs with me, though she had no interest in the race. The plan is nearly all easy miles with some race pace medium/short runs mixed in. I had no idea what race pace was going to be, so those runs were kind of a testing ground. On the final one, I ran 9:35/mi and my race average ended up being 9:29, so I feel like I eventually learned how to listen to my body. I did adjust the long runs near the end, pulling out the 5k and 10k races to work towards a 13.1mi training run 2 weeks out so I could taper off a bit. I did that training run in 2:25. I’m glad I built in the taper because I felt great on race day and it was nice to see my Garmin tell me I was peaking the morning of the race 😂. I built a pace pro plan on my watch with a manual trace of the course loaded in so I could setup a negative split and account for the hills—this ended up being a huge help on race day.

I did get diagnosed with a hip impingement about 3 weeks out from race day when I went into PT to address some hip soreness. The work I’ve been doing with them has definitely helped, but I need to work on my form and keep up with strength work.

Pre-race

Woke up around 5:30 and had a cup of coffee and some overnight oats. Did my warmups, took a 💩, and triple checked I had everything I needed. We took a Lyft to the park, went straight to the start area. I did some more warmups, peed, and tried to stay calm. My HR was already hovering around 120 from nerves, but I felt good and ready to start. This would be my first organized/competitive sporting event in nearly 2 decades lol.

Race

The first mile was awful. Because my HR was already high from nerves, I was running a good bit slower than I had hoped and immediately thought “this is going to be a slog”. It was also pretty cold (50F) and I was in shorts and a SS shirt because I knew it would warm up, but my raynauds was acting up in my feet. I usually don’t love the first 1-2 miles of a long run, but this felt worse. By mile 3 I was warming up and settling in, but still feeling a little off.

Per usual for me, by mile 5 I felt great. This is where I always hit my stride on my long runs and start feeling real good. By this point I turned off the screen with my HR data on it and was just focusing on hitting my splits and checking in with myself. I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy the suffering.

By mile 10, I was glowing. I felt like I had been put through the spin cycle, but I was hitting my splits. I fueled and hydrated well and never felt close to bonking even as I was shaving minutes off of my miles.

The sprint down the finish line was the longest quarter of a mile I’ve ever run. I felt 50/50 odds that I was gonna puke, but then I saw my partner and my friend at the finish line with a sign that said “what are you running from??” and just laughed instead. My watch was telling me 2:05:49 and the clock was telling me 2:10:and change, but I didn’t care either way- I felt great. Once I cooled down I did care and really wanted to know what my official time was😂. Shortly after the race I got the email that my official time was 2:05:30. That felt real good!

Post-race

Walked to one of my favorite coffee shops, had some more black coffee and an iced matcha latte in short order. We grabbed brunch next door at a new-to-me spot and I inhaled a fully loaded veggie breakfast sammy and crispy potatoes with spicy mayo. Then we went back to our friends house and watched The Night House, and I was weird and stretched out on their floor. That night my partner and I shared a bottle of wine, had dinner, and passed out very early.

All in all, a great experience. I had so much fun, reminded myself I can do hard things, hit nearly all of my goals, and feel excited to learn more and grow as a runner. I’m doing my second halfie, and first trail run, next month but I’m planning on running that one sloooow and just taking in the views.

Happy to be here ✌🏻.

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