Tomorrow marks the very first time in my New York City running career that I'll be racing at the NYC Half Marathon. Why? Well, a couple of reasons. First, it's kind of hard to get into and, until this year, there was no guaranteed entry option like there is for the marathon. Second, it's an expensive half! The five races in the Half Marathon Series each cost $30, I believe. The NYC Half costs $117! So that is a little hard to stomach. But I've heard good things about it, and last year I ran four of the five borough halves, and so accidentally qualified. I figured it was a sign that this was my year to run.
What also makes this exciting is that my friend Marilyn is running. She flew all the way from the Bay Area to visit and run! So hats off to her (and her boyfriend Amir) for making the trek.
This afternoon we went to the expo to pick up all our race materials. In retrospect, I wish I had taken some pictures to put up here. Alas. What I can do is put up a link to the course route. It's one counterclockwise loop of Central Park, a mile-ish stretch down 7th avenue and then about 5 miles down the West Side Highway before finishing at South Street Seaport.
If I have anything like a home course, this would be it. I run the West Side Highway on almost a daily basis and Central Park...well, it's Central Park. If you run and live in/around NYC, it's inevitable that you've run a considerable number of miles there.
I'm optimistic about tomorrow's race. Baseline goal: break two hours. Ideal goal: PR (under 1:58). Optimistic goal: I won't say, because I'm afraid I'll jinx it.
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