Today was one of my favorite races of the year, Grete’s Great Gallop, a half marathon that is part of the Norway festival in Central Park and honors one of the greatest runners of all time and Norwegian hero Grete Waitz. Growing up in NYC and watching the Marathon on television, Grete Waitz was IT. She won 9 NYC Marathons and just dominated the sport and seemed to do it with a smile
In the past few years Grete has been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, so it was so good to see her out there at the starting line sending runners off. That is where the good times ended for me.
The race is supposed to be a fall 1/2 marathon run, yet thanks to global warming we started the race at 80 degrees with high humidity. This did not bode well for a half marathon PR and I really suffered under the conditions. I will spare the details of one of the worst races I have ever run, but I finished in 1:41:00 a 7:43/mile pace. This was my last race before the NYC Marathon so I am hoping to build some confidence over the next month and get over this race. I guess if I ran a 7:43/mile pace on one of my worst runs ever, I can look forward to a better time on a good day.
There were two highlights to the day; Grete Waitz cheering me on and clapping at the 8 mile mark and Pierce Brosnan (random sighting) in Central Park telling people “nice race “, just a typical day in NYC
Here is a picture of Grete at her peak
Countdown to the start, November 4, 2007:
32 Days
It is getting close and I should feel excited every day but there are always those days where your training takes a dip and you need motivation.
Well guess what, I have the cure for the doldrums. Just watch this video of the trailer for Marathon Movie and you will want to run a marathon tomorrow
DOFB
