My favorite race moments of the first half of 2022: Part 2
You would think that doing a marathon in the first half of 2022 would be my favorite road race moment for those six months. But surprisingly, that is not the case. The event only ranks #2 for my 35 races from January to June 2022!
I published the first part of my rankings the other day (see link below to read.) Here are Race Moments 2 and 3 (actually 3 and 2, since this is a countdown!)
Race Moment #3: The SHAPE + Health Women's Half Marathon, April 10. This race holds a special place in my heart, as it was my first-ever half marathon, way back in 2015.
And even before I ever did the event, I went to the race expo and dreamed of the day I would be strong enough to run it! Ironically, by the time I finally did the event, they stopped having an expo. Bummer.
Anyhow, this was the third time I ran this particular half, and it was my best NYRR race performance since the pandemic — 2:52:28.
I felt really strong until the end, and had high hopes for the Brooklyn Marathon I was doing in two weeks. So much for that!
Race Moment #2: The NYCRUNS Brooklyn Marathon, April 24. 6:44:17. I started 2022 with an audacious goal — to finally get below six hours in a marathon. (My PR is 6:04.) So I trained all year for this moment.
It just wasn’t my day, though. I lost my earbuds on the bus to Manhattan and had to borrow Squawker Jon’s earphones, but I didn’t see him until the second half of the race. So that meant no music for over three hours.
The security lines were so jam-packed that I missed the 7 a.m. start for the marathon and was in tears before the race even started. (A volunteer took pity on me and directed me to the start line, and I was finally able to start at 7:15 a.m.)
My Morton’s Neuroma was bothering me for the whole race, despite the cortisone shots I had gotten in my feet a few weeks before. So the pain was pretty terrible.
This race had both a half marathon and a full marathon, with the first half of the marathon on the same course as the half.
The first 13.1 miles were really exciting, despite my foot pain, going through Williamsburg and downtown Brooklyn, and also getting some breathtaking views of the Brooklyn waterfront.
Over 16,000 runners did the half, and I could totally see this race, as a half, giving NYRR a run for their money here and becoming the premier Brooklyn Half race. (I think there were only like 19,000 NYRR Brooklyn Half finishers this year, so this NYCRUNS race is already generating excitement!)
But as a full, not so much excitement here. That's because the second half was extremely “meh” — going through Prospect Park and then down Ocean Parkway (like New York Road Runners’ Brooklyn Half, only without Coney Island as part of it!) and back, and then a few more Prospect Park miles before the finish. And very few people (under 3,000) were doing the full, with most of them finished by the time I just got to the half.
As I said, my feet were bothering me the whole race, and by the time I saw Jon at the halfway point, I burst into tears and told him I didn’t know if I would be able to finish. That is the earliest I think I’ve ever cried uncle for a race. Even the ginger ale he had for me didn’t help me feel that much better. So many tears that day!
Also, it was a hot, sunny day, and there was pretty much no shade for large portions of the race. So I was baking in the heat.
The highlight of the race for me, if you call it that, is when I was told by a race official after Mile 20 that I was in danger of not getting an official finish time, and that I would need to get in front of the SAG wagon (a school bus) in order to do so.
So I booked it as much as I could to stay in front of that bus! And it wasn’t easy to do so. But there was no way I was going to not get a finish time, after how hard I had worked all year for that race.
There were a few other runners in the same boat as me, and we talked to each other to keep each other going — and ahead of the SAG wagon.
Squawker Jon was on the side of the road on Ocean Parkway around Mile 23 or so, just before we entered Prospect Park. And I pointed to the bus behind me and moaned something about needing to beat the bus to finish, and that I had to keep on going! He handed me that ginger ale bottle and I was quickly on my way.
I thought once I got into the park, the bus would not follow, but of course it did, and I still had to stay ahead of it in order to get a finish time.
Fortunately, all of us stragglers kept moving.
Finally, the race was over, and I was relieved to get a finish time, although for weeks, I still had nightmares about having to outrun the SAG wagon!
The other thing I remember about after the marathon was that somebody was selling nutcrackers at the edge of the park that day.
I got one and it went down extremely easy after that endless marathon. Very refreshing!
Squawker Jon and I went to Clinton Hall in the Financial District after the race for a meal. Not my usual Burger & Lobster post-NYC Marathon feast, but still pretty good food!
Coming soon, No. 1 on my top race moment list for the first half of 2022. In the meantime, do you have any favorite race moments?