My next race which I have in mind will be the Manhattan Half-Marathon on Jan 24th.  I have to say the half marathon is one of my favorite distance.  Although it’s one of the longer distances, in some ways it’s the least intense, and therefore, the easiest.  You can only PR at this distance by finding the fastest pace that you’re able to run comfortably and relaxed.  What relaxed exactly means; well that would be hard for me to describe and might have to be a separate blog entry all together.  In fact, I’m not sure others who are experienced at racing this distance would necessarily agree.  But it’s true for me at least.

I think the idea of keeping it under a certain intensity for a successful half marathon, which I’m making up here by the way, might be applicable to other distances like a 10 mile or 15K  race, but those race distances are not as common in my area.  The marathon is the only race longer than the half that I see held in my area, except for the odd NYRR 18mi tune up, which is another favorite of mine.

Racing a marathon, however, is another animal all together.  Although the intensity for the early and middle miles is much easier than the half marathon, the distance you cover gradually wears you away completely by the time you cross the finish line.  This wear is also different from the wear other races do to you.  Of course everyone’s different, but for me, the soreness from racing a marathon leaves me feeling injured while the soreness of racing a half leaves me feeling stronger.

I’ve often wondered about an ultra. The intensity must be less than a marathon starting out, but what does racing an ultra leave you feeling like.  I strongly considered doing the Knickerbocker 60k this past November as a fun run.  Mostly just to cover the distance and be able to say I did it. The thought of spending the day doing easy running, and the feeling afterward, seemed very appealing.   However, it was only 3 weeks from my NY marathon and the 20 miles I ran that day felt anything but easy; so I was wise to have skipped it.

Going towards the other end of the spectrum in race distances, a 10K would be next.  This is my least favorite distance. This is the point at which the intensity changes from that of the half (and maybe 15k) enough to say it’s a hard intensity.  On top of that, it’s the longest distance for which a hard intensity has to be held.  So this is the distance you’re going to spend the most time running a very intense pace.

St Patricks 10K

St Patricks 10K 2007

Unfortunately, I don’t see many 10ks.  Or, for whatever reason, I keep missing them due to bad timing.  I’ve only ran two 10ks and my PR was set right after an ice storm on a hilly 2 mile loop.  It won me 3rd place AG so it was good enough for me.

The shorter distances increase even more in intensity, but the time spent running them decreases.   A 5k being the most intense is over the quickest so I don’t dread them as much.  The same is true for a 4 mile race. The 5 mile is somewhere in between but significantly more manageable than the 10k in my book.

You would think from the sound of this so far, that I don’t like to race; but that’s not true.  For instance, spicy food  hurts my tongue but I couldn’t live without it.

So any way, for 2010, I’m thinking of sharpening my PR for the half.   It’s long overdue since being set back in 2007.  But for the half coming up next month, I don’t expect to set any records.  Far from it.  I’m still coming off marathon recovery and just starting to do marathon pace runs again.  Shortly, I’ll work up to tempos and maybe intervals once or twice before the race.

I don’t particularly like this race either.  I’m not excited about the course, since it’s a variation of the same course of almost every NYRR race.  When I race in Central Park I know every hill and every turn so well that I’m feeling it mentally before I can even see them.  Ironically, I love to train in Central Park though.

But, what I dread the most is the preparation in the bitter cold that takes place right before the race.  The thought of standing around in racing gear waiting to start in 19 degree weather during the early morning turns me off already.  Yet, actually running the race itself feels great in the winter.

So, in the end, if I get out of bed that morning ill consider the race a success.  I’ll be doing it just to see where I’m at.  I may even be surprised.