Since I am surprisingly still awake this afternoon, your energized Admin, I thought I may as well put up the first race report from today’s NYRR Manhattan Half Marathon. I expect the other members to follow up with their personal reflections at a later time and date.

6:45am - alarm goes off and it is still dark outside. The feeling of what the hell am I doing comes over me like a ton of bricks. Hit snooze a couple of times and finally wake up, get dressed and begin chugging an XL can of sugar free Red Bull. Remember do not look for me for diet advice.

7:10am - the boys from Brooklyn are on time and scoop me up in the East Village on the way to NYRR headquarters on E.89th street. Dukes are on the way.

8:30am - start line is freezing and the gun goes off. I start the normal trot at the packed start and realize I really should have used the potties before the race.

8:30 - 9:02am - Running the first 4 miles and cannot stop thinking about bathroom. Lines at potties are too long so I press on.

9:10am - Mile 5, stop at pottie and wait close to 5 minutes for the bathroom. I guess a PR is out of the question for today.

10:16am - Finish the race in 1:46:00 a pace of 8:05/mile. This was a pretty good time and pace considering I have run about 6 times in the past 30 days and waited about 5 minutes in a bathroom queue.

Overall impressions are that for a race I should not have run, I ended up having a great race and good time. Slowing down once in awhile and not racing can be a smart move. I think that I am ready to get back into training and the Dukes overall look very strong coming into the 2008 season. Once we have full matching gear I believe we will be a force to be reckoned with.

Oh yeah for those members that missed today - We had a pact!!