I survived! In many ways, this was my most challenging race this year. We flew from Oslo to New York (sadly not on a direct flight) on Saturday. Our flight was delayed, so we didn't land til 11 pm. Luckily I had got 1.5 hours' sleep on the plane because I only managed to get another 1.5 hours at the hotel. So I was up at 3, and made my way to Central Park at 6:30. As we had only arrived, breakfast was one homemade energy bar I had brought from Oslo, followed up by a commercial energy bar 1 hour.
It was a chilly morning, but I managed to keep myself warm and busy til race start at 8. The course consisted of two loops around the park, plus 100 yards to the finish line. Mapmyrun kept me constantly updated, and I was thrilled to hear that I was doing really well. I made sure that I kept my heart rate down. I was also happy to see that only one of the so-called 'noticeable uphills' was an actual hill. It didn't feel that good the second time around. I spent a lot of energy keeping going, but like Oslo, things started to get difficult at mile 11. At mile 12, I had a breakdown, and had to walk quite a bit. Other runners tried to help me keep going, but I was really worn out. Luckily, I finished at 2:28 - improving on my Oslo time by 1 minute. And I ran for 2:10 before stopping - I have a new and improved fuel belt, so I ran past all the drinks stations before the one between miles 11 and 12.
Post race we were given a bagel, pretzels and water. As well as the medal below.
In hindsight, I guess I didn't do too badly considering the conditions. Imagine if I'd actually been rested!
Galloway style HM and marathon training
Maidstone HM race report
Another Bath HM report.
The big 20 miler!
HU Spring 2021 HM race report 🏃♀️
