Yonkers Half Marathon

13.1 Miles
2:09:39 Time
9:54 Pace

My official/ranked time was 2:10:05 and the net time was 2:09:39.

My prior road half PR was 2:17:41 (Yonkers 2010, the only road half I had run prior to today.)

I finished strong.  I really finished strong.  I ran a negative split (see comments below) and the last two miles were the best miles.  I feel I just took off, and I was flying by people at the end.  I went in thinking I would just take it easy and not really care how I was running.  I didn't want to run too hard and risk injury or worry about recovery time because of New York.  Then I got warmed up and I was feeling good, better than I had been feeling recently.  I figured let's see what I can do.  I was worried that I would crash toward the middle but other than it went really well.  When I was told I was at mile 12 but I thought it was mile 11, that helped give a big boost.  I don't think it was quite mile 12 though because of how much longer it took to finish.  I felt great when I finished and had no problems eating or anything, unlike how I felt when I ran this last year.

I don't think my body was in top shape because I ran Friday and Saturday, but I gave a great effort today.  I probably could do a little better in better shape but a PR is a a PR.  A big boost of self esteem.  Then my self esteem was reduced when I was talking to this young woman who ran it in 1:57.  She said it was her first half, she did her 1 ten mile run, a lot of treadmill running and barely ran for the last two weeks (I think injury or something.)

-Other notes

CardioTrainer had total elevation 361 yards.

Some pictures (including some of the rolling hills Yonkers is known for) http://www.flickr.com/photos/59540935@N08/sets/72157627576121545/

The weather was good.  Perfect actually.  It was like high 40s at first (8 AM start) and then it went up to like mid 50s.  Not too cold or hot for shorts and a tech shirt.

For breakfast, cereal/smoothie, then bagel w/cream cheese/banana/small coffee right before the race.  For fuel I had 3 Cliff Shot energy gels and water at most of the aid stations (there was one at each mile).

-Negative Split information

CardioTrainer had 13.36 Miles/2:10:01 Time/9:43 Pace

Mile 01 09:30
Mile 02 09:49
Mile 03 09:35
Mile 04 10:36
Mile 05 09:58
Mile 06 10:15
Mile 07 06:15 (68% of 9:11)
1st Half 6.68 Miles/1:05:58/9:53 Pace

Mile 07 02:56 (32% of 9:11)
Mile 08 10:01
Mile 09 10:01
Mile 10 10:11
Mile 11 10:06
Mile 12 08:57
Mile 13 08:57
End .36 02:54 (.36 miles CardioTrainer only shows full miles but this should be correct)
2nd Half 6.68 Miles/1:04:03/9:35 Pace