New York City Half Marathon

I would never schedule the race on the first weekend of March Madness...I forgot to inform the race organizers that the Saturday before the race is my annual march madness mayhem bbq that runs all day with ribs, fajitas and all kinds of other foods, so we should run the race a different weekend; this is not race fuel in case you were wondering.  Luckily I survived my own stupidity, so we got have a great time watching some hoops and it didn't ruin the race.

This was the most well organized, and coldest, race I have run.  The race started at 35 degrees and somehow I decided to dress like it was going to be 50...not a smart move.  Other than that, the NY Road Runners have race organization down to a science.  They have the best signage, clocks/mile markers and some amazing volunteers.  


You will see in some of the pictures my shirt says "Dash for Dad."  The NYC Half Marathon is such a popular race, that you either have to run for a charity or get selected in the lottery.  I unfortunately did not get a lottery spot, so I decided to donate to and run on behalf of Project Zero, a charity meant to help fight prostate cancer.  My grandfather fought and ultimately succumbed to Prostate Cancer, so it was a great cause to run for on top of the 11, 12, 13 Challenge.

The first 7-8 miles was run through Central Park, which if you haven't done before is gorgeous.  You run through the park, and other than the skyline you can see at some places, the tree cover tricks you into thinking that you running someplace other than the biggest city in the world.  

Once you leave the park, you remember where you are as you run down 7th avenue towards Times Square.  I have been to Times Square a bunch of times, but without a single cab honking or 10,000 tourists taking the same picture, it has a much different vibe.  I almost tripped over the uneven pavement multiple times as I looked up at the Coca-Cola sign, the giant billboards for all the shows and the news tickers running the mornings' news updates.  It was like VIP treatment for 10,000 (the number of runners) of my closest friends as they close off the busiest intersection in the city.  

The race finished heading south towards the financial district and the under construction Freedom Tower at Ground Zero.

I worked for a summer overlooking Ground Zero and its great to finally see the Freedom Tower going up.  I know there has been great controversy regarding the decision to build such a massive building in that location, especially with 1776 feet.  But to me it represents what we stand for here, you may knock us down but we are going to pick ourselves up and rebuild ourselves bigger and stronger than ever.  

That's the mentality we are taking to the challenge, no one said its supposed to be easy, but we are going to face it head-on and will be stronger at the end of it.  Hopefully what Kathy and I are doing will help empower her mom to keep fighting and know that she is not doing this alone.