Josh McWilliam » Running

2006 NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Staten Island

jmcwilliam — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 20:04:00 +0000

The morning of the race, I had to drop Kristianna off at Columbia because she had class, and then go down to the race. While driving to Columbia, we kept noticing police car after police car on the Henry Hudson and the West Side Highway, many of which were parked near an exit. We thought this was strange. After dropping her off, I tried to get back onto West Side Highway going south, but it was blocked off by a police car. I proceeded to try and make my way south using various streets, for about 4 more exits, all of which were also blocked. Finally, in frustration, I tried making my way accross Manhatten to get to the FDR drive on the other side of town. I only had directions from the West Side Highway, but I figured I would figure it out.

When I finally got there, I found out why the police decided to block off the West Side Highway as soon as I got off. The Northbound of the FDR was also blocked off, because thousands of cyclists were participating in some sort of race. It must have been around all of Manhatten. Anyway, I did finally make it to Staten Island without too much trouble, but by the time I did, they blocked off the exit I was supposed to take because it was part of the race, and it was too close to race-time. So again, I had no directions, but again eventually figured it out. By the time I did however, it was already race time, and I still had to register, check my bag, stretch, etc. I think I wound up being the last person to start the race, with the next last person about 100 yards ahead of me. That was a new experience. But, all in all, I wound up catching up and passing several hundred people, and wound up finishing with a net pace time of 10:11. So, I almost broke the 10 minute mark. Perhaps next time I can.

Distance: 13.1 Miles, 21.1 Kilometers
Date/Time: Oct. 15, 2006, 9:40 am
Location: Staten Island, NYC
Weather: 44 deg., 63% hum., wind 3 mph

Overall Place: 3108
Gender Place: 2006
Age Place: 349
Finish Time: 2:20:53
Net Time: 2:13:40
Pace / Mile: 10:12
AG Time: 2:13:40
AG Gender Place: 2048
AG %: 44.3%

2006 ING NYC Marathon Tune-Up

jmcwilliam — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 20:03:00 +0000

This was the longest I have ever run. It was 3 laps around the outer loop of Central park, which equates to 18 miles. But, I finished, so that definitely made me feel better about doing 26.2 miles in the NYC marathon in less than a month. Still though, 8.2 more miles is a lot.

Distance: 18.0 Miles, 28.9 Kilometers
Date/Time: Oct. 8, 2006, 9:30 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 55 deg. rising to 67, sunny, calm

Overall Place: 3286
Gender Place: 1956
Age Place: 294
Finish Time: 3:27:05
Net Time: 3:23:05
Pace / Mile: 11:16

2006 NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Bronx

jmcwilliam — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 20:00:00 +0000

This was my second half marathon. Wow did this one suck. The official tempurature was 77 deg from NYRR, but that is not even close to accurate. When I was about half way through, the radio station I was listening to said it was like 87 degrees, and it felt like 92. That was at about half way through the race (9:30 AM). Anyway, the last 5 miles were pretty brutal. I am still sore a couple days later. I feel like I’m walking on stilts. It was most definitely a function of the heat, but also a function of the fact that I didn’t really train for this one nearly as much as I should of. Strangely enough, walker dude passed me at about the same spot as he did last time (~ mile 9). I had a little chat with him. He said that his average pace is something like 10:30 minute mile, and during a walking marathon race, he will do more like 9:30. Thats amazing. The guy walks faster than I run.

Distance: 13.1 Miles, 21.1 Kilometers
Date/Time: July 9, 2006, 8:00 am
Location: Bronx, NYC
Weather: 77 deg., 62% humidity, wind 7 mph.

Overall Place: 2824
Gender Place: 1913
Age Place: 288
Finish Time: 2:32:06
Net Time: 2:28:38
Pace / Mile: 11:20
AG Time: 2:28:38
AG Gender Place: 2011
AG %: 39.8%

2006 NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Queens

jmcwilliam — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:59:00 +0000

This was my first major running event. I have never run more than about 8 miles before, let alone over 13. The run went well. It was a beautiful day, not too hot. My main goal was just to finish. I did that, and with a pretty decent time. The time would have been even better if it weren’t for the fact that we got there slightly late, and the line to the bathrooms was rediculous. So, I decided to start the race and hitup the first bathroom I saw on the way. Unfortunately I was not the only one with that idea, so about a mile into the race I wasted about 10 minutes on line to go to the bathroom. All in all it was a really good race. I started really dogging it around miles 9 – 11. That is when this speed walking guy passed me. I just thought, shit, this is embarrassing. I tried to keep up with ‘walker dude’, but he just kept pulling away from me. With about 1.5 miles left though, I saw him about 100 yards ahead of me and decided that there was no way he, and the other people I had been trying to keep pace with, would beat me, so I turned on the after-burners. I ran as hard as I could the last 1.5 miles and must have passed at least a hundred people, leaving walker dude in the dust. The last 50 yards before the finish line was an all out sprint. Some dude yelled out ‘lets go big guy’, which caused me to look and almost trip, taking out this row of girls and this photographer and his camera (which I’m sure is probably worth more than my car).

Distance: 13.1 Miles, 21.1 Kilometers
Date/Time: April 29, 2006, 8:00 am
Location: College Point, Queens, NYC
Weather: 48 deg., 38% hum., wind NE 22 mph.

Overall Place: 2518
Gender Place: 1642
Age Place: 305
Finish Time: 2:18:26
Net Time: 2:16:23
Pace / Mile: 10:24
AG Time: 2:16:23
AG Gender Place: 1741
AG %: 43.4%

Scotland Run 10K

jmcwilliam — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 19:57:00 +0000

Well, this was my first running event ever. I had no concerns about finishing this or not. What surprised me though was the time in which everyone else finished. I was getting passed by all sorts of people much older and much fatter than I am. This of course pissed me off, so I ran my butt off. I don’t think I have ever done a sustained run that hard before in my life. 9 minute / mile pace for an hour is pretty good for me. Anyway, it definitely gave me some respect for people that do this regularly and made me realize why I really do need to train for a real marathon.Distance: 6.2 Miles, 10.0 Kilometers
Date/Time: April 2, 2006, 10:00 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 57 deg., 29% humidity, sunny.

Overall Place: 3005
Gender Place: 2024
Age Place: 405
Finish Time: 1:00:14
Net Time: 56:29
Pace / Mile: 9:06
AG Time: 56:29
AG Gender Place: 2286
AG %: 47.5%