This past Saturday I ran Grete’s Great Gallop, the half marathon part of the Norwegian Festival this weekend. B, J, my brother and I all met up in Central Park, wished each other luck and then split into our respective corrals. This was going to be my brother’s first half marathon so I was very excited for him! This was also going to be J’s second, so it was also a big deal. Unfortunately my left knee has been killing me for the last few weeks. I’ll blame it on not stretching after my long BK bridge park run, but I think I’m also adjusting my stride for my new sneakers. I went into the race just hoping to finish.

Miles 1-5 were kind of hard, I was very aware of my knee and weaving around people caused more pain so it felt like people were passing me. Something great happened at mile 5, maybe it was because I had already done almost a full loop of the park, or because right there started the last few miles of the marathon, but I felt great. I was happy and didn’t notice my knee. Then I hit a wall at mile 10. Perhaps it was because I had just gone up a hill and then down and then was about to go up a longer one, but it hurrrrt. By the time I got up that second hill I actually felt nauseous and was nervous I was going to barf. I have no problem throwing up, but I believe if they see you vom they make you stop, I didn’t want to be forced to stop. With the nausea came back my knee pain. The next few miles were tough. Things that got me through - seeing an elderly man with a shirt on saying that he had run every single NYC Marathon, how inspiring! Also, watching the Achilles volunteers and runners practice alongside our race was motivating, if they are up for the task of running, I certainly could be! I didn’t get to do my normal sprint to the finish but I made it without stopping and without barfing! After chugging a lot of water and eating a plum I felt much better.

I was upset that this could have been my worst half, but then when the results were up, I saw that it wasn’t! In fact, it was faster than when I ran BK with Sara and McKenzie and faster than my first few races. In all, I’ve now ran 11 half marathons and this was my 6th best (or 5th worst, but I prefer to look on the bright side). I’m hoping to bring my half time back down to where it was for the NYC half and the BAA half. To do so I’m going to get back on doing speed workouts during the week and keep an eye on my long run times as well. I’m glad I had this race as inspiration and hope it will keep me moving forward.