The Staten Island Half Marathon was Sunday morning starting at 9:30AM. The NYRR's website had warned everyone that the last possible ferry to take over would be at 8:30, so I headed out early to catch the 7:30. Good thing, because if there is one thing that New York City does really well, it's screwing up any plans you have for travel on the weekends. I got to 59th Street on the A and ran upstairs to take the 1 train to South Ferry and there was a No 5 train sitting there. Now, the No 5 train does not run on the 1/9 line, but hey, it's a train, it's here and it's headed South, so myself and several other runners got on only to hear an announcement that the No 1 train would not be running to South Ferry that morning and would be stopping at 14th Street blah blah blah take a shuttle bus from Chambers Street from the No 2 ~~~~~~ as if.
I got off at 14Th with everyone else and at my elbow was a tiny woman runner. "I'm going upstairs to catch a cab, "I said, "and you are welcome to join me. I'm Jonathan. " She nodded enthusiastically and introduced herself as Alice in an Australian accent so thick you would have thought it was a Vegamite sandwich. We counted what little cash we had on us as we ascended the stairs. Turning quickly on the sidewalk I raised my arm to hail a cab when a voice from another cab that was sitting nearby shouted, "Are you going to the race?" "Yes, yes" we said and after the cabdriver moved a pile of stuff off the passenger seat, Alice and I joined the two strangers who were imploring the cabdriver to step on it to South Ferry. Our fellow travelers were the very talkative Kevin, an Irishman from Brooklyn who likes to run the 59Th Street Bridge (the bane and horror for many NYC Marathoners) and Brigid, who was on her way to meet a bunch of folks who were going to do seven miles before the 13 mile Half in order to get in their twenty mile training run. The cabdriver drove like a maniac with Sufi music blaring over the voices of the Aussie, the Midlands man and the two Americans.
Bridget found some of her running companions and left us at the terminal. Kevin and Alice and I had a great trip over on the ferry, talking about where to buy and what to buy in running shoes, reviewing races that we've been in and what was the best food ever given out at the end of a race - Popsicles was the favorite.
I said my goodbyes to them after we reached the starting area, I knew I was going to be keyed up a little and wanted to go do a little pre-running myself. What I did do was stretch and then go stand in line to pee, then I jogged a little, then I stood in line to pee some more. I swear I am the most hydrated person on the planet, I had a cup of water, I went to go pack my baggage bag with my sweatshirt and then----- I had to stand in line to pee again and I peed about the same cup of water.
(By the way, runners don't line up in front of each porta-pottie like they do at rock concerts, they form longer lines that have four or five porta-potties under their watch. It's better the runner's way because you don't have to hope that the one you are in front of doesn't contain the guy with the bashful bladder.)
It was pretty chilly, about 45F, but not a lot of wind. I took my sweatshirt early and was toying with the idea of running with my jacket on but open, but at the very last moment, I took it off, went back into the baggage area, found my bag and stuffed it in. As it turns out, that was a very good thing. By the top of the first hill I was plenty warmed up and only twelve and a half miles to go.
The race itself was very fast, pretty hilly and a lot of fun. My splits were a minute faster than in training, I hit 1 mile at 9:49, 2 miles at 18:something and did five miles in 47 minutes, that's six minutes faster than I've ever done that, I hit six miles in one hour and one minute and was very happy being swept along by the crowd. This bunch of runners were all here to tune up for the marathon in three weeks so for me it was like being one of those leaves on the highway as the big truck zooms by, you just get sucked along by the draft. We did a U-turn at the midway point and you got to see just how many sloggers there were behind even the likes of someone like me. It looked like a thousand, maybe more.
At the eight mile mark with five miles to go, I tried picturing in my head where I would be in Central Park, one mile further would be that first water fountain north of 79Th Street, two miles further would be near the crossover etc, thinking that instead of concentrating on where I was in the unfamiliar landscape of Staten Island warehouses, I would be able to imagine just how much farther I had to go. So I started looking for the Nine mile marker, but it never seemed to show, I ran and ran and ran and ran and began to believe that mile was the longest and slowest I had ever run. I kept recalculating my time for the 15K (9.3 miles) and was dismayed as my best time for that distance came and went and still no sign of the sign of Nine.
~
That's because there wasn't one.
~
The next sign said 10 miles and my relief was incredible. I felt like I had been given a free mile. Yea!! Only three to go, not four!! And the best part was that those two miles were supposed to have been the hardest of the run, so now they were behind me too. I chugged along chasing after a couple of people with Brazilian flags on their hats and jerseys because they seemed to be going along at about the same speed as me. I passed them on the last sharp downhill and then floated the last half mile to the finish. 2 hours 16 minutes and 23 seconds. Nearly five minutes faster, yes, faster, than the NYC Half Marathon so that is my new PR for 13.1 miles.
I learned a couple of things:
Always take enough money to take a cab both ways if necessary. (The subway took two hours to get me from South Ferry to home. I could have run home in the same time.)
Bring my cellphone.
Pack some Advil to take at the end of the race to help reduce any inflammation.
Also, take the camera.
I would have loved for everyone to see the folks at this race, Kevin, Alice, Bridget, the bunch of folks who were determined to do a stretching routine while heavy rock and roll blared out from the podium. The leader kept having to scream things like "Okay, now relax your right leg, BENDING your knee and keeping your FOOT flat on the ground!!" Everyone was laughing and trying to stretch.
This was not a picturesque race course, but I would have shot a few pics of the runners trying to find just the right apple or bagel at the end. There were no Popsicles but it was too cold for that sort of thing anyway. 
Oh, and keep in mind what you get to have once you get home--- a nap and this:
yum.
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