NYC Half 2011

Travel, expo, and pre-race eating
I took a red-eye flight out of LAX Friday night. I picked a window seat and tried to sleep through the entire flight, but I have a hard time sleeping in a seated position. My lower back started giving me problems. But luckily I slept enough that soon we were flying over Manhattan. It was pretty cool to see the Manhattan lights from the airplane. After landing, I took the Airtrain to Sutphin Blvd to connect to the E train.

I took the train to West 4th Street and walked to Washington Square. The weather was pretty chilly in the high 30s. I took a picture of the arch. Reminded me of When Harry Met Sally. But in the movie, you can see the Twin Towers beneath the arch. So sad.

Washington Square

I then walked over to the Metropolitan Pavilion, but the expo wasn't open for another hour. It was a pretty windy day. I had originally planned to eat breakfast at the Cafeteria on 7th Ave, but they didn't look open. So I walked around some more and decided to eat at McDonald's. I haven't had a sausage egg McMuffin in ages. Afterwards, I walked back to the expo and even though it was still 30 minutes before it opened, there was already a line forming.

Expo at the Metropolitan Pavilion

Line to enter the expo

We were let in right at 9am. It was nicely organized. After picking up my race packet, we were instructed to put on our bracelet before we were given our race shirts. The bracelet was required to enter race corrals and to be given a finisher's food bag and medal. They were definitely cracking down on bandits and the sale/transfer of bibs. I was expecting a much bigger expo but there was only about 12 small booths. I walked through it in a matter of seconds. I think I did 4 laps just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I walked up several blocks to my hotel in Koreatown... the Hotel Stanford on West 32nd Street which was located very close to the Empire State Building. I hung out in the hotel lobby. I tried to check-in early, but my room wasn't ready. When 11am rolled around, I walked over to Go! Go! Curry! on West 38th Street near 8th Ave in the fashion district. I ordered the Grand Slam. It was a lot of protein on one stainless plate and I enjoyed it very much. Sure it was a big plate of chicken katsu, pork katsu, fried shrimp, sausages and eggs, but it wasn't much of a challenge.

Go! Go! Curry!

Grand Slam#1

After hitting the Grand Slam, I took the subway down to Battery Park to try and visit the Statue of Liberty. The line was insanely long. It stretched for blocks. I decided that I would visit Lady Liberty some other day. So I rode the subway back up to the Penn Station and was able to check into my room. After dropping off my backpack and taking a quick nap, I went back out to visit the Empire State Building. I paid $21 to go up to the observation deck. It was more or less the same trip as I remembered taking when I was younger... you ride 1 elevator up 80 floors and another one for 6 floors. But unlike ~20 years ago when I last went up, there was a lot of lines. It felt like a Disneyland ride with the lines having you go through a gift shop. It definitely felt more commercialized. I took pictures of several famous Manhattan buildings before going back down.

Observation deck

Before returning to my room, I stopped by a CVS around the corner to buy some drinks, a gallon of water, and toothpaste. No more buying snacks. I need to stop eating crap.

Pre-race morning stuff
I woke up around 3:30am to get ready. I ate my Clif Mojo bar and drank my orange juice. I wore enough layers of clothing in preparation for the chilly race. The race weather was going to be in the 30s topping out in the 40s. I wore my Team in Training singlet over my navy blue Nike shirt with arm sleeves and calf sleeves. I wore my windbreaker and track pants to stay warm before the race.

I took the number 6 train up to East 96 Street and walked over to Central Park. While walking around in the dark near the starting corrals... I ended up hanging out with Edwin, a pretty dang fast runner from Florida. He runs his half marathons in about 1:10.

He gives me a few suggestions on how to treat my ailing leg. He had dealt with a stress fracture in the tibia before. After it came closer to the start, I wished him well in his race and I went to go use the portapotties. I then went to the UPS trucks on 5th Ave to drop off my bag. I went to the portapotties one last time before entering my corral.

Starting corral

I was hoping my legs would allow me to run with a normal stride, but I knew it wasn't going to happen just one week after the Safari Park Half Marathon. My goal was to just finish before the 3hr cutoff without further hurting my gimpy legs.

The race
From the very first step, I could only land gingerly with the left leg. The cold weather also made my right hip flexor very stiff. It was a very gimpy awkward uncomfortable hobble. There was no way I could keep up with anyone in my corral. I was placed in the 3000 corral because I was originally going to attempt a 1:45. I stayed off to the side trying not to block anyone. I tried to find a gait that didn't cause too much pain or discomfort. The lap around Central Park was full of uphills and downhills. I took my first walk break at mile 3. I took a Hammer vanilla gel at 1 hour into the race. Then I took a S cap at about 1:15 into the race.

I got a lot of support from the Team in Training folks. Around mile 8 one of the coaches, Erin, came up and ran next to me to check on me. She probably noticed me hobbling. I told her that I was in pain most likely due to a stress fracture in the tibia, but all I was planning to do was to finish and I would be taking it easy once I got out of the park. She told me to seriously consider dropping out if the pain gets any worse. I promised her that I would be careful.

As I approached mile 9 we were running along 7th Ave and headed into Times Square. I stopped to snap a picture. Just to be able to run through here was worth the registration fee.

Running through Times Square

We turned on West 42nd Street and headed towards the Hudson. I slowed things down as my right hip flexor was starting to really hurt. The walk breaks helped with the pain. I took a Carb-boom apple cinnamon gel they were handing out around mile 10. From here to the finish, I just took it nice and easy since I knew I would definitely finish within the time limit. At around mile 12 I took my other Hammer vanilla gel. I somehow managed to run without too much of an awkward stride about 800m from the finish line.
1: 10:15
2: 10:05
3: 10:48
4: 11:46
5: 12:10
6: 13:05
7: 12:27
8: 12:48
9: 11:39
10: 14:13
11: 13:31
12: 13:14
13: 13:12
13.1: 0:53
Finish: 2:40:07

Post-race stuff and more eating
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and upon walking further, we were given a bag of post race food. The bag had an apple that I saved, pretzels, and bottled water.

Race shirt, bib, and medal

Finisher's medal

This was my slowest half marathon and by far the hardest I've had to try to finish. But I'm glad I did it. It was much easier running a 1:49:xx at Disney World.

After eating the bag of pretzels, I walked over to the WTC area. There was a lot of construction taking place here. That's good to see. After snapping a few photos I took the subway back to my hotel to get cleaned up. I got a few stares from subway riders and during my walk from Penn Station. I'm just glad I didn't pull a Barney Stinson on the subway.

I got cleaned up and watched some TV before taking the subway down to 8th Street NYU to go eat. I walked up to the famed Ippudo NY to eat some ramen! There have been lots of reviews raving about this place. So of course I had to check it out for myself.

There was a huge line of people waiting to be seated. I was seated right away since I was dining solo. I ordered the special Nakasu Kawabata ramen and a Kirin ichiban beer. I'm not a big fan of Japanese beer, but they don't serve Guinness so it'll have to do. :) The broth was very flavorful. I definitely prefer it over Santouka's. It was so tasty and the noodles were good so I ordered extra noodles (kaedama). Ippudo's ramen was definitely good, but in my opinion not really worth the price. But hey, the line is long for a reason. It's really that good that you've got to try it at least once.

Ippudo NY

Kirin ichiban

Special Nakasu Kawabata ramen

Kaedama!

I took the subway back to my hotel and just vegged out. I slept pretty early.

Before leaving for the airport, I stopped by Go! Go! Curry! again to eat another Grand Slam. Katsu overload! There was some snow showers in the morning, but by the time I checked out, it was just a misty rain. I was able to walk around to everywhere I needed to go without getting too wet.

Grand Slam#2 before I leave

I took the E train from Penn Station to the airport. I kind of zoned out and missed my stop. I got off at Jamaica Center by mistake. I even exited the subway before I knew I was at the wrong station. I went 1 stop too far. I had to pay $2.50 to re-enter and ride the train back 1 station. I really need to stop taking naps on the train. The last time that I took a snooze while riding the L in Chicago, the snooze cost me a new irreplaceable Chicago Marathon finisher's shirt. Luckily this time it only cost me $2.50.

Oh and as I was boarding the plane, I saw Lindsay Lohan sitting in first class on my flight back home. She's been looking rather disheveled as of late. So sad. I hope she gets her life together and stop wasting a blessed life.

Speaking of blessed life. I certainly felt blessed to be able to fly all the way out to NYC just to eat, sight-see, and run a half marathon. It was very fortunate for me that I chose to run NYC instead of the LA Marathon. In my present condition, I would've never made it through that monsoon in LA!