United NYC Half – I’m back!

I did it. I finished and I couldn’t be happier about it!

I did exactly what I said I was going to do, I went out there with a good attitude, I walked when I felt like it, I didn’t push myself on the hills (and man, there were some HILLS) and I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face.

Let’s get to the details.

United NYC Half – At the Start

This is the second year that the NYRR has started the race in Brooklyn. And while it’s great for folks that live in Brooklyn, it’s kind of a pain to figure out when to get there and how long it will take.

So being the neurotic NYer that I am, I was up at 4AM and at my buddy Joey’s apartment in a Lyft by 5AM. It took exactly 25 minutes to get to the start so after checking my bag, we got to the security checkpoint BEFORE IT EVEN OPENED! And it was like 30 degrees out with a nice steady breeze.

Okay, so security finally opens and thankfully we were blessed with VIP bibs so we got to hang out in a heated tent to wait the 90 minutes until the start. Side note, I would like VIP access to all races. How does one make that happen?

Anyway, at 7:20, after many trips to the porto-potties (this was a race after all), we said our goodbyes and went to our respective corrals.

At this point I’m getting a little nervous. This is the first race since I DNF’d the NYC Marathon. And while I was ready for the distance (and got permission from my PT to do it), being at the start line can be intimidating.

United NYC Half – The Race

So the gun goes off and off go the runners. It takes me a solid 11+ minutes to cross the start line. It’s been so long since I’ve been to a race that I kind of forgot to keep my pace down. Almost immediately I found myself out of breath and wondering what the issue was. A quick look at my Garmin, and I pulled back and got comfortable.

After the first half mile, the course takes you up the big hill in Prospect Park and out onto Flatbush for an out and back the length of the northeast border of the park (~1.25 miles each way). This is a mirror opposite of the Brooklyn Half course so I’ve run this section before. I knew to expect a gentle rise and crest in both directions so I planned my pace accordingly.

From there, the course is basically downhill until you get to the Manhattan Bridge and really enjoyable.

But that bridge! In a word, as my people say, oy. Getting onto and up to the crest of the bridge is the biggest hill of the race. For just about a mile, you’re running up an average of a 7% grade which can be intimidating coming back from injury. But I plodded along, pulling out my GoPro and just doing my thing.

Running up the FDR was a little surreal, in a good way. There was traffic heading south, and a ton of cars were honking and cheering on runners which was cool. Other than a small bump (just south of 20th Street) it’s pretty flat until you hit 30th Street for a really steady small rise that brought us to 42nd Street.

I’ve run the NYC Half five times but this was my first time on the course from Brooklyn to Manhattan so running through Times Square isn’t a HUGE surprise, but still super cool.

What wasn’t cool was the hump up 7th Avenue up to Central Park South. But we did it! And Gotham Cheer was out cheering us on!

From there, it was the reverse of the NYC Marathon, running east on CPS (which, in this direction is downhill). A quick bump up the chute into the Park, up the east side, across the 72nd Street transverse (which was new this year, they added that out and back on Flatbush in Brooklyn and cut out Cat Hill and the crossing of the 102 transverse, which, well, was a blessing).

The last 200 meters is an uphill to the finish line at Tavern on the Green, running south which is the exact opposite of the NYC Marathon.

United NYC Half – Analysis

I love this race. It is much more hilly than the previous course but that doesn’t take away from the fun of running it. You’re running past a million NYC icons from Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn to the Manhattan Bridge, past Chinatown, up the FDR with views of the Freedom Tower in the distance, past the Williamsburg Bridge, past the UN Building, across 42nd Street past the NYC Library, Grand Central Terminal, through Times Square (which literally shuts down for traffic twice a year the other day being New Year’s Eve). Then across Central Park South with Central Park on your left and the Plaza Hotel on your right just before turning into the Park. Past the CP Zoo (with its famous clock), Sheep Meadow – where they used to literally have sheep, across the 72nd Street transverse with Bethesda Fountain on your right and finally, up the hill to Tavern on the Green.

Phew

Where else can you see so many famous landmarks?

On a personal note, I think one of the best things to come out of this race for me is a renewed respect for the 13.1 mile race. I remember being nervous about running a 13.1 a few years back and my wife commenting to me that it was something I did every Saturday. And she was right. But the distance has taken on a special meaning for me. And I’m just really excited to be back.

I shot a lot of video while running and will be putting together a course strategy video for next year (similar to what I do for the NYC Marathon). IN the meantime, here’s the race in 60 seconds.