A Non-Race Race Report (T-Minus 11 Days)

Ready to go!

We're now 11 days out from the NYC Marathon. I'm feeling pretty good so far. I'll be ready for 11/5, no question. 

​This past Saturday 10/21, I ran the 2017 Halloween Half Marathon in Morristown, NJ. This was my last real ​long run before race day. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how well organized it was - and how many runners there were! And because it was a Halloween-related event, there were many runners dressed up for the holiday. It was big fun!

​Before I even registered for the event, I made sure I could easily get there and back. Since I was coming all the way from Queens - and not driving - I wanted to see that I could grab trains, etc. Turned out I could! It was also lucky that the race start wasn't until 10am. This gave me plenty of time to get there, pick up my bib, and use the P.O.P. twice. 

​I did some warm-ups and massages for the legs, then I was herded to the Start area, about two blocks from Race Central. I brought my Go Pro for a dry run (using it for the marathon!) and hooked it up. The gun went off and that was that! I placed myself right with the pacers for the 2:30 group. Thinking I was running an easy long run, I figured 11:30 pace would be about right. As it turned out, I dropped them at Mile 1. 

​On the upside, it was a beautiful day (if still a little warm), but I had a nice run. I didn't run nearly as slow as I should have (11:30 pace or so), but I couldn't seem to pick it up to a solid marathon pace (10:17). That was the only disappointing part of the event for me. 

​The aid stations were every 3 miles (ish) and all had Halloween candy available. I ate M&M's and Twix. YUM. I was also smart enough to stop there and have NO more candy. It was the right call. Too much sugar could have been bad while running. 

​Along the way, I met up with a woman (Meg), and we got chatting about this-and-that. Races we'd run, what our goals were, the weather. Her husband was on the course at one point in some residential neighborhood, cheering her on. That was kinda nice. 

​Around Mile 5 I decided to check on the battery in my Go Pro and it seemed it was running on fumes. I took it off and changed out the battery -- all while running. It wasn't terribly difficult to manage. However, I discovered sometime after Mile 8 that the 32g card was way too small to cover the remainder of the race. I was disappointed in that, and even more annoyed that I had to continue wearing the thing on my head for almost another hour! Urgh. (Since then, hubby has ordered a new 256g memory card and I got more batteries to be safe). 

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​The course was hillier than expected! Towards the end, Mile 12 or so, I ended up walking over one overpass because I was just darn tired to anything else uphill. That ought to be interesting running the NYC course <sigh>. But, I sprinted down the hills and had a REALLY strong dash to the Finish. 

​I picked up my medal, grabbed some food and changed into dry, warm clothes. It was 3:30p when I got home! Indeed, this had really taken up a good portion of my day. As I said, it was fun, I rested up and ran 3.8 recovery miles on Sunday in the local park. 

​When I get the video edited from the Go Pro, I'll be sure to post :)

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Post-race, medal happy!

Somewhere after Mile 8 on the course