NYC and Brooklyn Half Marathon

So this past weekend, my husband and I went up to NYC to visit his sister and her new baby.  We arrived Friday night around 8pm.  We had planned on arriving around 6pm, but my adult brain completely forgot my helmet at the barn, so we had to make the two hour round trip down to the barn to pick it up.  I had an odd week and it really threw me through a loop.  I rode Monday and Wednesday as normal, but also went down on Tuesday (for Ronin's shoes and to ride an extra horse) and Thursday (since I worked from home so we could leave early to go to NY).  Well, I botched that plan.  Thankfully, we still didn't hit too much traffic and had a good drive up to the city.

So my husband ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon Saturday morning.  He is such an inspiration.  I have never been a runner (he ran cross country in high school and has been running ever since), but I have been trying to pick it up.  I have been doing a walk-run program (of my own design) to slowly increase my amount of running.  I go for 30 minutes and vary the amount of running in a 5 minute segment (started with 4 walk and 1 run).  I now am up to 2 minutes of walk and 3 minutes of run, then repeat.  I used to be up to 4 minutes of run with 1 walk, but this winter derailed me with several foot/heal injuries and I had to restart in March.  As soon as it starts to feel easy, I finish out the week (I usually run M, W, F and do Pilates on T, R) and up it the next week.

Well, back to my husband who was amazing Saturday morning.  He had a goal of running a 7:45 average pace.  And he did!  He actually ended up running a 7:42 average pace.  There were a total of 40,000 people entered in the race and about 25,000 actually completed (many didn't show up at all).  But it was really fun; the course gave many opportunities to see the runners.  And the morning was beautiful; perfect conditions for running (cool and low humidity) and the course was mostly in the shade.  I dropped him off at security and walked to the 1.5 mile marker.  And to my surprise (it was at a cool circle with a huge monument) there was a farmer's market going on and there was a GF baker! So I got an apple muffin for breakfast and waited for the race to start.

Monument at the Circle

GF Baker at the Farmer's Market

Start of the race with a truck that shows the elapsed time

The Speedsters: the 1st place winner had a time around an hour, CRAZY

After he passed (I didn't get to snap a photo), I walked down to the 6 mile marker (the course did a lot of doubling back on itself) which  was about 1 mile from where I was.  Saw him there and took a pic :)

Looking good!

 After he passed the 6 mile marker, I hopped on the F train down to Coney Island to meet him at the finish.  The race was very fun and lots of people to cheer on the runners.

Finsihed in 1:42:06!

Then we took the train back to his sister's apartment, had lunch at a deli and rested and relaxed.  His sister took us to dinner at an amazing taco place and the food was great.  All the tacos were GF and delicious!

Then early to bed to leave at 6am for the Tournament of Champions!!!