Race Recap: More Fitness Half Marathon

On Sunday, April 14, I ran the NYRR More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Half Marathon in Central Park – my first post-baby #2 race at almost 4 months postpartum. I knew I was in for a tough race because of the fact I’d only run 3 times in the 2 weeks prior to the race because of my chest pain/pleurisy issue (which actually isn’t over yet, but I’ll explain more about that another time). I had been feeling okay leading up to the race so I wasn’t too worried about the pleurisy causing any problems. I was more worried that my legs might not be on board for 13.1 miles.

We had fun the day before the race walking around the city.

Zain being a tourist

Ezra being cute

Tourists

We woke up to this gorgeous view the morning of the race

It was a beautiful morning in Central Park when we lined up for the start.

Family pre-race

Lining up!

The race was 2 laps around Central Park. Did you know Central Park is extremely hilly? I’d heard rumors that it was, but I didn’t really believe them until I felt those hills. The first loop around the park didn’t seem too bad. It was fun to take in all the sights along the way.

Hills

A little more than halfway through the first loop, we were lapped by the leaders. It was pretty amazing to see Deena Kastor run right by us!

Lapped by Deena Kastor!

We passed the split that headed to the finish line halfway through the race which was a pretty big tease.

They won’t notice if I just sneak over to the finish line, right?

Can I hitch a ride?

I ran the race with my cousin and her friend. We stayed together for the first loop which was fun because it made the miles go by quicker. They both live in NYC so they were able to point out to me what everything was that we were passing. During the second loop, I felt like I needed to speed up a tiny bit so I went ahead. I took my packet of Energy Bits at about mile 6 and I really felt them kick in and give me an energy boost by about mile 7. I didn’t take any gels during the race, just my Energy Bits. I was able to speed up my pace a little more which probably wasn’t the smartest move. During the last 3 miles, I was barely lifting my feet off the ground. I kept telling myself to just put one foot in front of the other. I reminded myself that the sooner I finished, the sooner I could see my boys. I took 3 tiny walking breaks for about 10 seconds just to catch my breath.

The last mile felt like an eternity. Mile 12 was near the starting line so to have to run past the starting line and keep going another mile to get to the finish was really hard mentally for some reason.

I crossed the finish line with an official time of 2:25:15 – my slowest half time, but I’m happy with it considering it had been less than 4 months since I had Ezra. It’s hard to believe just a year ago, I PRed at the Iron Girl Half with a time of 1:58. I have a lot of work to do to get my speed back!

The race was definitely tough, but I enjoyed my first time running in NYC. I’d really love to do another race there one day. After the race, I zombie walked my way out of Central Park to make my way to brunch with my boys and some of my hubby’s family.