staten island half

So I’m all moved in … well mostly … there are still some odds and ends I need to pick up in New Jersey, and I’ve barely started unpacking. But the hard part is over. Yay!0

Did the Staten Island half this morning … 1:36:27, a 7:21 pace. Good for 316 out of 3319 runners … or 291 of 2,051 men. I’m kinda kicking myself as I actually went out too slow. Was holding back a little too much. Ran about 7:30s to mile 8, then 7:10s after that (more or less). Felt very strong, though, so at least there’s that. And this is an improvement on the 1:36:57 I ran in the Queens half in May, which had been my best half-marathon time since that 1:31 in 2000. Aaah, those were the days.

I’d never ran Staten Island before — it is about the only prominent nyrrc race I hadn’t run before — but I rather liked it. Took the 8:30 a.m. ferry, which was packed with runners … the race started just a short walk from the terminal. And with this race I’ve done four of the five half-marathons (I was in Colorado for the Manhattan half), so I get the nyrrc’s commemorative patch.

I didn’t get to run anything after the race, though — had to get to work — so I’m trying to decide whether I need to run another long run before NYC, which is three weeks away. I’ve certainly done a lot of long runs in my training, but it would be good to get one more in.