new york city half marathon preview

haile gebrselassie wins the 2007 nyc half marathon in 59:24!

i just got back from niketown with my nyc half marathon bib, chip and tech shirt. now it's official - i'm the 20th and final member of the world lung foundation team! subsequently, in an update to that post i included a link to the team's fundraising page.

if you are so inclined, and haven't already done so, PLEASE consider making a contribution to the team. this is what your support will enable:

"World Lung Foundation today announced that funds raised by its running team in the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE will be used to provide life-saving asthma treatment to at least 1,000 children in Kenya. The grant will be provided to the Kenyan Association for Prevention of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease."

read the full press release here.
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thanks for indulging that brief public service announcement :D

as to the race itself, i ran the first nyc half in 2006 (when it was held last weekend in august). emmy and don also ran it. we drove down to the race together and, while i didn't write up a race report for that one, i've posted don's mini-report below.

the highlight of that day was, after the full loop of central park, exiting onto 7th avenue with the sounds of "welcome to the jungle" blasting out of two huge loudspeakers on either side of the avenue. we ran south down seventh avenue and made a left onto 42nd street on the way over to the west side highway. that stretch of running, especially down 42nd street, was fantastic! if there was a low point, it came on the west side when the heavens opened up and it poured! but even that was brief, and couldn't diminish the positive vibe.

i finished in 1:38:36, a 7:31 pace. but emmy's 1:31:30, a 6:59 pace, was good enough to take third place in her age group! and don finished in 2:00:33, a 9:12 pace. as don points out in his report, it took a long, long time for him to retrieve his bag after the race - the result of poor truck placement. but aside from that logistical nightmare - it was a great, if somewhat wet, day to run the streets of new york city!

for more detailed coverage of the course, check out alex's great race report from the 2007 race!
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First New York City Half-Marathon,
by Don Capone

Alarm went off at 4:27 having slept very little. Totally forgot that my Quads would keep me up all night from the Westport race and that's exactly what they did. Picked up Frank and Emmy at 5:37 in Scarsdale and headed into the City. I was told they closed out the race at 10,000 runners but the announcer said between 10 & 12 K. Anyways it was a mess of people. By the way I felt, I was doubtful I could finish. The race started in Central Park and it looked like the same ole boring Nyrrc race course of loop de loop the park but this time we did one and a quarter loops and then took a left turn onto 7th ave. WOW. Like hearing the bridge of a funky rock tune, you could just feel the lift of inspiration plus AC/DC was blaring some rock tune over the load speaker. Once on 7th ave. it started to rain but nobody cared. We were all into it big time. We ran right through Time Square (nothing boring about that) then took a right turn onto 42nd St. and headed for the West Side Drive. Took a left onto the WSD, ran past Ground Zero and finished in Battery Park. Baggage Claim was not good. Took over an hour and a half to get my stuff and a subway ride back to the car. Seventh Ave was unforgettable. Felt like an American in a great American city with great American people.

and, here is don's retelling of a running adventure that emmy took part in a week earlier, and told about on the drive down to the race:

"Crossing the Border" by Emmy (in the third person). She was on her way to Canada on a family trip right about the time they caught the terrorist whack jobs in London so security was in a heightened state so there was a longer then usual line trying to get across the border, so what does Emmy do. She jumps out of the car and decides to go for a run leaving her husband and children in the car. I kid you not. Anyways long story short...after she finishes her 5 miles she finds her husband has already crossed the border with the children and the car and she must try to walk across running shoes and all. She had to do some very fast talking to make it happen but she won the customs guy over.
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here are our 2006 mug shots,
courtesy of brightroom

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update: check out my 2008 photos and results.

check out my world lung foundation team photos.