Nurse on the Run

So remember how I’m really bad at mentioning that I’m running races?  Some things never change, especially when I plan on treating the race more like a random run.  This is what happened with the Queens Half Marathon that took place this morning, as I signed up a couple months when the “omg the Queens half is about to sell out!!” craze hit.  Yes, I am easily swayed by a registration deadline.  I figured it would be a good tune up for marathon training and if I really didn’t want to run it, registration was only $25.  (However, I’m the cheapest person alive and even wasting a cheap entry fee would annoy me.)

So sign up I did, and this morning I ran it.  Race report?  Here we go.

it’s ungodly early

The race started at 7am in Flushing Meadows Park, which is a far cry from the races in Central Park that I’m used to!  Since I live only a mile from Central Park, those races are amazingly convenient and I’m a bit spoiled.  I met up with Christine (yay UESers!) at 4:30am to ride the subway together to Queens.  It was strange being on the streets at that time in the morning…there’s a 24 hour diner right on my corner, and I’m pretty sure a lot of the diners had yet to be home from their nights out!  People were also smoking outside this random/shady lounge across the street.  I only had four hours of sleep, but at least I had been to bed at that point.

It was nice to have someone to help keep me awake on the ride to Queens, and definitely fun to catch up with Christine about life and blogs and running.  Due to the early morning and subway work (the 7 wasn’t running from Manhattan, whose idea was that??), it took about 75 minutes to get to the Citi Field stop, which isn’t all too shabby.  That gave us plenty of time to hang out with some other runners, use the port-o-potties a bajillion times, and still line up at the start with plenty of time to spare.

Early morning with Christine!

With one of my fellow nurses…lots of runners on my unit!

The nurse pictured above saved me by offering sunscreen and Body Glide pre-race…thanks Helen, my chafing issues and already sunburned and peeling back thank you.

to the start

I actually got in the corrals by 6:50, which is amazing for me since I’m usually squeezing in during the National Anthem.  However, the race was delayed by 10-15 minutes due to clearing puddles from the giant rainstorm we had on Friday night.  I’m tempted to say the temperature was in the low 80’s, although the NYRR site says 79 degrees…I don’t believe that.  Definitely sunny.  Soon enough we were on our way.

i don’t really remember what happened

You know how I often talk about how I get “in the zone” and can forget what happens for miles?  That’s what happened during this race. While I remember a lot of it, most of it just blends together!  I’ll try to remember the highlights…

I started off with Megan, who I ran 16 miles of the Ocean Drive Marathon with.  Going into the race, I said that due to the heat and my lack of training for a half (and maybe in general?), I was just going to use this as a well supported long run.  Maybe 7:45-8 minute miles.  Nothing crazy.  My legs have been tired lately!!  Megan said the same.  Which is clearly why we started off at 7:15 pace…oops?  I saw Baker right by the start and yelled to him…he said, “Kill it!!”  to which I thought to myself, “If by ‘kill it,’ you mean ‘have a nice long run!’ then yes, I will kill it.”  Little did I know…

I lost Megan before the first mile as she took off in front of me.  I wanted to run in control and wasn’t up for the pace she was setting!  Hold on Susan, this is a long race.  My miles were fairly consistent and felt good…fast, but not gasping for air.  Definitely good for a half marathon, although I knew no records would be set today.  I just wanted to enjoy myself and run a strong long run, although after about two miles I realized that I never can just run a race as a run…something kicks in and I want to go!  The first miles felt like they flew by!

Miles 1-5:  7:28, 7:18, 7:21, 7:27, 7:23

As I said, no PRs were going to be broken today (at least for me!), and I was okay with that.  After about five miles, the race hits a part of the course where there’s an out-and-back so you can see the runners in front of you as they loop back around.  I love when courses do this because looking for runners who you might know is very distracting and I somehow end up running faster!  Lam was the first person I saw, and then as I looped back around, I saw Megan behind me.  (She had stopped for the bathroom.)  Katherine from Neon Blonde Runner was in town for the race as well, so I kept my eyes peeled for someone in neon colors (her signature running gear!), and I’m pretty sure I spotted her…but by the time I realized it was her, she was well past me.  Oops!

So that was distracting and led me to speed up a little bit…hooray.  The waters stops were awesome since they were about every 1.5 miles, and every now and then there was a “misting station” which felt great in the heat.  I made the mistake of wearing a black tank top which soaked up all the water and felt super heavy…should have gone with the sports bra look.  Definitely soak to the bone.

Miles 6-10:  7:13, 7:21, 7:15, 7:19, 7:18

Pretty strong second five miles!  Literally right after the ten mile mark, I saw Baker who snapped this awesome picture of me:

That’s one good looking knee…

It was great to see a familiar face, as the half had very, very few spectators…and most of them were probably from Queens!  (Thanks for coming out, Baker!)  Definitely not the same as races in Central Park when most of the Runner Army is out in full force, either racing, cheering, or running the opposite way of the race to cheer and squeeze in a run.  However, as I said above, I was pretty zoned out for most of the race, concentrating on holding a fast yet comfortable pace and keeping hydrated, so I didn’t notice the lack of crowds too much.

It was around mile 10.5 when I was kind of ready for the race to be over.  Although 2.5 miles to go is really not much of anything, I was tired and hot and ready to stop.  I’m well aware of the fact that I am a horrible mental runner, and I kept telling myself to stay strong, but that’s much easier said than done.  I knew I had a pretty good time going and wanted to keep it up…let’s keep chugging along.

At the last water stop around mile 11.6, I took in some water and immediately started coughing up a lung, so I stopped for a few seconds to clear my pipes.  Some guy came up next to me, rubbed my back a little, and said, “Keep going!  You got this!”  In any other context this might be a little weird, but it made sense in the running world.  I finished getting water out of my trachea and ran on.

Miles 11-13.1:  7:42, 7:58 (oops?), 7:35, 0:43 (6:21 pace)

The course was definitely very loopy and the last half mile was no different…we ran around the fountain, did a little loop-de-loop that seemed like it would never end, ran back around the fountain, then hit a straightaway to the finish.  The only redeeming factor was the fact that the mist from the fountain was very welcome on the way around.  I don’t really have much of a kick, but once I saw the finish line, I sped up a bit to get this all over with…hooray!

Saturday, July 30 – Queens Half Marathon
13.1 miles in 1:37:25, avg pace of 7:27

After the race, I got to meet up with a bunch of people!  I saw my friend Benny who recently qualified for Boston (hooray!)…he was also at the Ocean Drive Marathon, finishing a couple minutes ahead of me.  I chatted with him for awhile before grabbing my bag and changing out of my soaking wet clothes, which I literally rung out after changing.  Shortly thereafter, I got a text from Katherine asking if I was around, so I got to meet her…yay!

Running nurses!!

Katherine is a fellow nurse down in Virginia, and she works in a trauma (and surgical?) ICU, so we have a fair amount in common…her schedule is even crazier than mind, rotating days and nights in the same week!  No idea how people do that.  Since running nurses are the best people ever, it was fun to meet her and chat about running and nursing and city life!  She’s running her first marathon this year, so head over to her blog to follow along with her training!

Next up, I found Lam (and Megan) over by the fountain, and I was told that even in my new change of dry clothes, everyone who steps in the fountain must run a lap around it…in the center, where all the water jets are.  Sooo we kicked off our flip flops and got a soaking wet, definitely cooling run around the fountain in.  I guess I’m official now?  This is why I think it’s awesome when I get to visit other places…during the race, I broke out of my running spell to try and remember the places Lam pointed out to me during our run around Queens earlier this year.  Hopefully we’ll get to do another run together soon!

While I was visiting with others, I apparently had missed all the jumping pictures with Megan, so we took some of our own.  I look a bit atrocious in them,  but you take what you can post-really hot half marathon.  Check it out:

Pretty cool, hm?

Eventually Megan and I got some Mr. Softee and headed back to Manhattan on the subway…where I headed straight to Chipotle and enjoyed my well deserved burrito and shower.  Awesome.  Next up?  Drinks with Abbe (who PR’d today!) and Baker, then off to the Frying Pan for my first time ever.  Yep, I think that’s a pretty good day.

final stats and thoughts

13.1 miles in 1:37:23, avg pace of 7:27
Overall Place:  301/4797 (Top 6.2%)
Female Place:  24/2101 (Top 1.1%)
Age Group Place:  10/586 (Top 1.7%)

Overall, I’m quite happy with this race!  Earlier this week I was doubting my ability to run fast over a longer distance, both as a combination of the heat zapping my energy and me not exactly having the best training plan ever.  (Because, um, I don’t really have one?  Gah.)  In fact, I was having thoughts of changing my goal marathon from Twin Cities to NYC. (I would still run both, but just shift my focus to running fast in NYC instead of TCM…still thinking about it, that post is to come.)  Anyway, this race, while not the fastest and definitely not a great predictor for a PR in a fall marathon (although maybe it is because the heat definitely slowed everyone down?), was definitely a confidence booster and reminded me that I am a strong runner and can still run fast!  I’m especially proud of the second five miles…if I could run those splits for an entire marathon, I would be one happy marathoner.  Most importantly, I felt in control for most of the race and ran comfortably fast…I’ll take it.

Plus, look at those stats!  I know a lot of the fast kids didn’t show up, but I’m still pretty excited about it. 

Thanks for all the support on Twitter…you guys know how to make me smile!  Congrats to my fellow runners who got out there in this heat…I love our little running community and it was awesome to see all of you out there!  Here’s to cooler races.