As promised, my camera failed in my attempts at snapping pictures at the NYC Half Marathon this morning. I added a link to the race below. So many teammates put in work that I can’t go into detail. Larry who is a frequent contributor to this blog, banged out a PR as well as a goal with a 1:41:18!! It was a terrific showing by CPTC all around … incredible PRs including a jaw dropping performance by Carl Dambkowski of 1:09:44. To put that into perspective, the woman’s winner, Mara Yamauchi, clocked in at 1:09:25. The men’s winner was Peter Kamais of Kenya at 59:52. For Carl (or any other human) to be inside of 20 seconds of an elite/world-class man or woman is insane. Racers had great weather to support the effort … 54*, sunny with a slight breeze.
While I did not bring pom poms, I certainly did my best to cheer. We managed to see both the elite men and women flying by at the start, including an arms-length away from Haile Gebrselassie and Deena Kastor. I knew they were tiny, but I think my daughter was taller than both. BTW – our father/daughter jog was very pleasant. We did about a mile on the Reservoir and stopped for a bite to eat after. She seemed to enjoy it, so we will try it again in two weeks. Next week there is a children’s event at the Armory so we’ll head uptown and let her run a few track races with other kids. No running for me today (beyond the little jog). My legs are heavy and left quad is sore. Last night I went old school with a kitchen rolling-pin to work on it for a while, followed by ice. That really hurt (in a good way) so I’m hoping I worked out whatever kinks are lurking in there. The same treatment is on the docket for this afternoon.
Needless to say, I walked away from the race pretty psyched about the future. Nearly all, if not, most of my teammates PR’d and beat their goals. All of which is encouraging to witness first hand that the training is paying dividends for all of us. I know I am progressing, but it’s even more worthwhile to step back and observe how others are doing as well. Kind of the point of being part of a team, no?
2010 NYC Half Marathon