Tough Day in NYC at Grete's Great Gallop

Tough way to get state No. 19, but I wasn't really ready for this race (and I knew that going in.) I really wanted to see where things stood ... and get in a couple of states.

I've done back-to-back half marathons twice. One in April 30-May 1 in 2005 (Iowa and Nebraska) and earlier this year in May (North Dakota and Minnesota.) I'm not sure what tomorrow will hold in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Both attempts at doubles before, I was pretty well-rested going in. (This weekend, just isn't the case.)

It also showed. My body just wasn't ready to take the constant pounding that the course meted out. (Treadmill inclines of 1.0 just don't really compared to the battering that my body takes. Lesson learned.) Not one of my better days, especially after running 2:19 in Fargo, North Dakota in May as well as Erie, Pennsylvania in July. Even the 2:23 in Parkersburg, West Virginia in August on absolutely no sleep at all and in the moderately warm temperatures was great compared to today.

Waverly's with me and she got to see a good bit of Manhattan again (first time since summer of 2002) - so that's a good thing! She got to hang out in Central Park this morning. We walked down to Times Square (from 73rd to 43rd) and had lunch there at the ESPN Zone before walking back and heading north here to Connecticut.

So you ask: What was my time? Cover your eyes. 2:38:39. Was 3,529 of 3,718 finishers. I turned it into an ultra in mile 10 -- walk the uphills and try to simulate running the rest.

Tough course. The people that run the park regularly are in great shape for the New York City Marathon. With the NYC Marathon, you have the first mile that goes over the Verrazano-Narrows, followed by the long stretch through Brooklyn (which, in parts, is a very slight incline and the roads are not good - especially in miles 9-11).

By the time you get to the Pulaski Bridge, which is the halfway point, you're really feeling the effects of the 10:00 a.m. start as well. The Queensboro Bridge is right about mile 15.5, and then once you come off of it, you have the long run up 1st Avenue to the Bronx before crossing back into Manhattan. From there, after a turn or two, you run along the street that borders Central Park and then into the Park for a little bit of the rolling hills for about 2 miles before turning near 59th Street and turning it back to the finish near Tavern on the Green.

I'll say this: There will be no cheap wins on this course on November 3rd when the U.S. Olympic Trials for the marathon will be held. They'll do three (3) full loops and parts of two others. However, they'll be spared some of what we ran today according to an excerpt from an August New York Times article:

"After starting at Rockefeller Plaza, the competitors will enter the park at Seventh Avenue and head west, running one 4-mile loop, then four 5.1-mile loops before finishing near Tavern on the Green. Although athletes will be spared the steepest climbs (and descents) at the north end of the park, the course’s relentlessly rolling hills and frequent turns will make it challenging, particularly for rhythm runners who excel on long, flat stretches where they can settle into one pace."

A handful of American runners ran the NYC Half-Marathon presented by NIKE in early August, but one runner told me today is that it only included one loop in the Park before going out to the streets. Haile Gebrselassie won that event in 59:24 while Abdi Abdirahman was second in 1:00:29. Fellow Americans went this way: Alan Culpepper (6th in 1:03:34), Peter Gilmore (15th in 1:05:06) and Brandon Leslie (21st in 1:06:52).

Here's what Abdirahman said about running through Central Park:

The week was as much a mental training tool as a scouting mission for Abdirahman. By running a hard nine miles on the trials course Monday, the day after the half-marathon, he was able to experience the pain of pounding through Central Park on fatigued legs.

“Running the course when I had done a hard 13 miles the day before gave me the feeling of the last couple of miles, when you’re tired,” Abdirahman said, referring to latter stages of a marathon. “That’s an advantage — just to know what the course can do to you when you’re hurting.”

I experienced the "pain of pounding through Central Park" at a much slower rate of speed!

As bound by the "Truth In Blogging Act", here are the ugly splits:

Mile 1 -- 10:17.96
Mile 2 -- 11:07.70
Mile 3 -- 11:00.44
Mile 4 -- 11:23.82
Mile 5 -- 11:34.55
Mile 6 -- 11:49.47
Mile 7 -- 11:21.18
Mile 8 -- 12:25.73
Mile 9 -- 12:40.03
Mile 10 --13:39.84
Mile 11 -- 13:05.64
Mile 12 -- 13:51.86
Mile 13 -- 13:06.74
Last .1 -- 1:17.54

At 1 a.m. Eastern Friday, I was still sitting in my office in Pasadena, California working.

I boarded a 12:50 a.m. Pacific time flight, which got me home around 6:30 a.m. Central time Friday morning. After sleeping off and on most of the day, Waverly and I were at the airport by 7:30 p.m. for an 8:50 p.m. flight that never left until 9:50 p.m. Central.

We were scheduled to be at the gate at 1:26 a.m. Eastern on Saturday morning, but we never got the car at Hertz until 3 a.m.

By 4 a.m., we were pulled into a spot along Central Park West at 73rd Street for a two-and-a-half hour nap (yes, in the Taurus) before we walked over to pick up the bib number and t-shirt.

At approximately, 7 a.m., we walked down to 59th Street at Columbus Circle to go to Starbucks to get her something a little bit to eat. I'm not sure if the orange juice and blueberry scone that I had (to get something in me) had any real effect on me or not.

Nonetheless, it was an interesting morning and day!