I received several emails regarding my previous post on this blog, where I was saying that I was unprepared for this edition of the New York City Half. One of them was from a dear friend of mine who guided me a few months ago, he said:
“My unsolicited advice for Sunday is to have fun and not stress about your time. We all do races that we are not prepared for. To me, racing is a measure of your preparation and hard work. Pushing to compete against a predetermined time is not only dangerous to your ultimate goal (Boston) but in a way, disrespectful to your training. When the training is right you will perform. If you could perform despite the training what does that say about the training?”
I kept thinking about this before the race and I decided to follow his advice. For the first time, I ran without thinking about the clock, I was just trying to enjoy myself and keep my heartrate around 165 BPM. We were very fortunate, it didn’t snow, there were a lot of spectators despite the cold, and thanks to Stefan’s amazing pacing, I had a great time!
Yes, we finished in 1:39:07, which is 7 seconds faster than my previous PR on this distance. But more importantly, I am convinced that because I didn’t pressure myself, I executed very well. This is something that will definitely help me in my professional and personal life. Now if I can be both well prepared and execute as well as today, I will become one good runner!
I want to thank Alexis, Dominique, Beatrice, Gemma, Nicole, Fiona and all the others for braving the cold and cheering for us at the most important moments! This race wouldn’t be fun without people like you all. You deserve a medal just as much as I.
And of course, a very special thank you to Stefan for guiding and mentoring me through this race and to Thomas and Scott for opening the road. This was a great team effort!
I still have four weeks before Boston, I can’t wait to go back to Central Park for a long run.
