Park half marathon 5 years later

Before I dive into the race recap… let’s see what happened last week.

Last Sunday we went to Alyssa’s first birthday party. Now that Lizzy has showed us how well she behaves, we take her out more often.

she had fun playing in the crib… staring us with her amazing hair!!!

Sofia’s loving her new class. Every day I go to pick her up, they are doing something different. This time was a dough playing? Sofia loves everything cooking related and it’s pink, so I let her play.

on Saturday we went to Susan’s house and celebrated early the chinese spring festival.

these two girls are bounding so much!!!

Susan’s mom prepared a nice spread of dishes for us.

It was lunch time and Lizzy didn’t have her nap yet and was a bit annoyed. So I ate quickly and went home with her early and let the rest of the family have some more fun.

then I rest for the rest of the day because Park Half Marathon started at 7am on Sunday 9/11. I had the outfit prepared

I run it in 2011 with two friends. It was my first half marathon and I ENJOYED so much the training and the race that I can’t find any reason not to do it again. This time.. 5 years later with two beautiful girls, I went back. Originally with 5 friends but one got injured and couldn’t run.

I woke up before 4am (Lizzy’s schedule). After feeding her, I couldn’t go back to sleep and I had planned to wake up at 4:35 anyway so I got up early. Had a big glass of water while I pumped, a bowl of oatmeal and 1 decaf coffee. I prepared breakfast to go for Tony and Sofia, and a mug with coffee for me just 1 hour before the starting time.

At 5:35am, I went to wake Sofia and Tony up. She was super excited to go to watch me race again and didn’t even fuss when I woke her up 1.5 hr before her usual wake up time. I dressed her and help her with teeth brushing and we were ready.

We left the house at 5:50am, on the dot to the plan. My friends already pick up my bib the day before so we had plenty of time before race. We arrived the area around 6:15am and saw runners walking around. We parked quickly and joined the crowd to the starting line. It was quite a walk. When we arrived we spot Belen and her bf Ale. All excited. Then Belen and I went to the potties line (long line) and managed to finish the business just 15 min before 7. I still didn’t have my bib. Fortunately Tony and Ale met with Agustin and Ghana and got my bib. ALL READY! I had to say bye to my loves… but knowing they’ll be waiting me at the finish line was the best part of the race.

I lined up behind 2:00:00 finish time. My A goal was to beat my PR which I thought it was 2:00:00 (turned out it was 1:57:21). My B goal was to finish well and injury free.

The race was packed… so much larger than in 2011. As last time, I run without music and glad I did that because it was impossible to run without knowing what was going on around me, there was always someone passing by or I needed to find a way to pass by.

Mile 1-6 went fast, mainly trying to run and pass people in the narrow path. I felt good, I felt strong. I tried to maintain between 8:30-9:00. The course was a rolling hill so it kept me entertained. I was thirsty and felt empty stomach because it was been almost 2 hours since I last ate. I waited until the first water station to have the 1/2 pack of GU that I carried. On the way, I passed Ghada and then Ale.

When I passed mile 7, I checked my total time, it was exactly 1 hour. I told myself… okay, you have a chance to PR, just maintain the pace and maybe push a bit.

Mile 7-10 was the hardest. I knew I passed the midway but still have a long way to go. I struggled to maintain the pace. Fortunately there was a woman that had similar pace than mine, and we were passing each other for entertainment. For each mile, I made sure I was on the way to reach the target of finish under 2 hrs.

Along the way there were live music (a guy and a piano in the middle of the trail side), superman, high five guys and tons of neighbors cheering us. My mental game was to look for the next entertainment spot or water station.

Mile 10-finish was uphill. I knew that was coming and was ready to tackle it. I slowed down on the hill and return to the normal 8:45 pace quickly. My upper body was getting tired, my legs started to be felt but I knew I’d do it. I just needed to keep up until the end. In moments when I struggled, I thought about the happiest things in my life: the moment Sofia was born and handed to me; the first time Tony asked me to marry him; and Lizzy’s smile when she sees me everyday. They gave me the strength to keep pushing until the very end.

Once I saw the tunnel, I knew I was going to PR and still managed to finish strong even picking up a bit of pace until I crossed the finish line.

Sofia and Tony were waiting for me there among the crowd. They were excited, I was exhilarated.

Belen and Agustin arrived few minutes before. We waited for Ale and Ghada. I toured with Sofia to the food area. They offered water melon (the best!), oranges, banana, bagel, scrambled eggs, sandwich, pasta, cookies, pizzas, even sausages. I had no appetite at that moment but still managed to have watermelon and a banana.

Still no sign of Ghada. We got worried. 30 min later she texted Belen letting us know that she had to quit. She was devastated and I felt for her. Weeks and weeks of training, expectations about getting to the finish line strong, especially this is part of her NY marathon preparation, they all raised expectations about this race. But sometimes we have to make the hard call and do what our body calls us for. My friend Sarah said: the beauty of running is that if at first you don’t succeed then you dust yourself up and try again for a different race. I can’t agree more. Running will always be there for when she’s ready. I told her the next day that I’d run with her next year if she wants to. We run for life, not for a particular race.