In my last blog I mentioned that one of my goals in life had been to see Lance Armstrong ride in the Tour de France and that I’d been fortunate enough to make that happen in several mountain stages of the 2004 and 2005 editions of the race. Another of my lifelong goals has been to visit New York, and especially to run in the so-called city that never sleeps.
I’ve always loved to combine travelling and running. It’s a fantastic way of seeing places that you maybe wouldn’t normally visit and it puts a completely different perspective on the purpose of being abroad. Down the years I’ve warm weather trained in Portugal and Greece, altitude trained in Austria, and raced in some of the biggest cities in Europe including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Florence, Dublin, and of course London on many occasions. All were amazing experiences and totally different in their own right. However, i’ve always been desperate to broaden my horizons even further by running in America.
At some point in your life the really important things start to take over and, with two young girls who are growing up fast and want to spend more and more time with their Dad as well as holding down a full-time job which seems to be getting increasingly demanding by the day, unfortunately the time that I can commit to running is becoming less and less. Anyone who knows me will be well aware that if I can’t commit myself 100% to something then I don’t bother doing it at all so, with the demands of work and family life stacking up, I started 2013 feeling that if I didn’t run in America in the early part of this year then it would probably never happen. In many ways it was time to seize the moment.
There seemed to be one very obvious option available to me, the Boston Marathon in April. However, having already committed myself to running the Marathon of the North (MOTN) in April, Boston just wouldn’t fit into my plans and therefore I started having a look around for an opportunity to run a shorter distance race in the States.
There seemed to be one very obvious option available to me, the Boston Marathon in April. However, having already committed myself to running the Marathon of the North (MOTN) in April, Boston just wouldn’t fit into my plans and therefore I started having a look around for an opportunity to run a shorter distance race in the States.
There were several opportunities that interested me at first but as soon as the prospect of running the New York Half Marathon caught my attention it became a no-brainer. Not only would it be the perfect distance in my build-up to the MOTN and perfect timing coming 6 weeks out from my `A` race, it would also allow me to achieve another of my ambitions of running in New York.
So, at 7.30am this coming Sunday morning (or lunchtime for those of you back in the UK munching away on your roast beef and Yorkshire puds) I’ll be stood in Central Park on the start line of the NYC Half. For once I’m going to be going all out to run a good time in this marathon build-up race, as opposed to my normal approach of building a half marathon into my training schedule and running it controlled (at marathon pace) with tired legs. I’ve adapted my marathon training this time around with New York specifically in mind. All of my tempo runs and longs runs in recent weeks have been slightly shorter and quicker than normal and I’ve also incorporated some good speed work into my interval sessions. This has left me feeling in excellent half marathon shape and a fair bit quicker than I otherwise would have been in early March. Most significantly of all I’m going to taper properly for Sunday to make sure that I am fresh and 100% ready to run a fast time. Only once Sunday’s race is over will my attention return to the specific training for the MOTN.
The course for the NYC Half looks spectacular and never leaves Manhattan. The first 6 miles are an undulating circuit of Central Park before a gradually downhill final 7 miles as the course winds southwards through such world-famous attractions as Times Square and Broadway, before finishing in the shadows of the Ground Zero memorial site and World Trade Centre redevelopment. Even the New York Marathon course doesn’t come anywhere near to covering the extent of Manhattan that the half marathon course does, so it really will be the most amazing 13.1 miles of my life provided I can concentrate on the task in hand and not get distracted by the scale and significance of everything around me!
Race report to follow next week.
The course for the NYC Half looks spectacular and never leaves Manhattan. The first 6 miles are an undulating circuit of Central Park before a gradually downhill final 7 miles as the course winds southwards through such world-famous attractions as Times Square and Broadway, before finishing in the shadows of the Ground Zero memorial site and World Trade Centre redevelopment. Even the New York Marathon course doesn’t come anywhere near to covering the extent of Manhattan that the half marathon course does, so it really will be the most amazing 13.1 miles of my life provided I can concentrate on the task in hand and not get distracted by the scale and significance of everything around me!
Race report to follow next week.