PR & NYC Qualifier!

Dave P Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:04 pm

This was no small goal. I needed to better my half from last year by at least 22 seconds in order to qualify for the NYC Marathon. Last year’s Hartford half was about 3 min better than I had ever done before & was under ideal cool conditions. Besides the aggressive pace, I was concerned about the rain. That meant added water weight, possible blisters, & being too cold. Thank God the rain was light. I decided to go with shorts, short-sleeve compression top, & gloves. It turned out to be a good decision. My arms were only slightly chilled a couple times. Besides that, I was very comfortable in the 50-something degree weather & light rain. Not only did I have a set goal of 6:45 pace, but I had memorized each mile split. I kept coming up +/- a few seconds each mile. I was hitting my goal dead on & was feeling good, but could I keep it up? That pace is 2-3 seconds faster than what is needed to go sub 1:29. I was factoring in a small buffer. It wasn’t until mile 11 or 12 that I started to really believe I actually was going to meet my goal. It took a little time for my old eyes to focus on the finish line clock. How many seconds is that past 1:28?! Am I going to miss it by a few seconds? No, I have plenty of time! Praise Jesus!
1:28:17
2nd out of 265 in Age Group
Top 2% overall out of 5,881
NYC Marathon qualifier!
"God is good all the time, all the time God is good!"
BTW, I was shivering so bad post-race, that they refused to give me a massage & sent me to the med tent. Rolling Eyes