I feel really great about my finish at this morning’s NYC Half Marathon. Despite the heat it turned out to be the strongest race I’ve had in months. I’d like to think that increased focus on my training the past couple of months has really started to pay off.
Now if you’ve read some of my other posts, you know how interested I am in increased levels of speed and fitness in the unemployed runner. But before I get carried away here, today was no PR. In fact, today’s race was more than three minutes slower than the PR I set at Grete’s Great Gallop in Central Park last year. I am happy to say, though, that today’s race was nearly 10 minutes faster than my most recent half marathon (I have some painful memories from this year’s Brooklyn Half). Just when I was starting to get frustrated with increasingly slower times and increasingly sluggish performances, I’m finally starting to see some positive results. So if there’s one thing I’m happy to be getting out of all of this intense focus on my training, it’s that I’m starting to regain some real confidence in my running. Oh, and my legs are starting to look pretty damn good in shorts, too.
Seth
Posted by Jim on August 16, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Screw the better running time, it’s all about the shorts. Appearances are everything.
Posted by Mike on August 24, 2009 at 7:40 AM
I had almost exactly the same experience. I fell apart during the Brooklyn half but remained strong in NYC. Unfortunately, the NYC half was my slowest one! Good strategy, bad tactics (i.e. training).
Posted by Finally, a Personal Record « RUNemployed on October 3, 2009 at 1:37 PM
[...] running superhero today (see also previous posts Unemployment + More Training = Superhero? and Maaaybe getting a little faster). Finally, after three months of focused training I finished a race in record time. At this [...]