Sunday, September 14, 2008

Queens Half Marathon in 2 hours 26 minutes

Completed the Queens Half Marathon today morning in 2 hours and 26 minutes!!

Wasn't sure if I would be able to run well today given that I had run only once in the last two weeks, and also haven't had good sleep in a few weeks. Consequently I am thrilled to have achieved my goal of completing the marathon in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The early start at 7:00 AM meant I had to wake up at 4:15 AM to get ready and drive to MacNeil Park in Queens. I was quite motivated to get going today morning; easy traffic conditions ensured I was there at the start point way ahead of time. Turned out to be lucky as I got a partking spot very close to the start point. Got my number and speed chip, and had time to walk to the nearest Dunkin Donuts for a pre-race breakfast of Bagel with Cream Cheese and Coffee ;-)

The race was run through the residential area of College Point all through with the police blocking the roads for vehicular traffic; an unusual experience for me!

Met one interesting guy at the beginning of the race. He had dislocated his shoulder a month ago while racing against a colleague who had challenged him by saying "he is too fat to outpace him". This guy has been running the Queens Marathon for the last 9 years continuously and was here to keep his streak alive! I didn't wait at the end to see if he finished though.

The weather was pleasant to begin with and started to get hotter after a while. There were fluid stations at every even mile-marker. I stopped at each one to get a glass of gatorade and pour a glass of water on my head.

The 'band-aid-method' to cover my nipples while running did not work out today. I put on the band-aids after I had warmed up and sweated a bit; consequently they did not stick and fell off within the first two miles. Took off my shirt and ran without a shirt on for the rest of the distance to avoid bleeding.

Today's run was a thoroughly enjoyable run. It gives me confidence that I can finish strongly at the Philadelphia Marathon later this year, with regular long runs over the weekends till Nov 23rd!!

1 comment:

Kumar Basavaraju said...

Congrats Friend,
Wonderful and Inspiring to the lot who are just been doing the 5K and 10K races. And I really was wondering how you did it within your targeted time of 2h30min inspite of your out of shape running recently. Great and proud that my friend achieved, I really was thrilled when I saw your message of finish timings, Cheers once again !!!