Ice Pop Series Rockaway Beach Half Marathon 2021

Registering to run a half marathon in June is not the wisest of endeavors from a weather perspective. Perhaps that is why there were only fifteen registrants in this one? I think the only reason I did it is because after over a year of quarantine, I’m just so damn bored of long run routes that start and end at my front door. Not that running back and forth on a boardwalk is really any better, but logic is often not my strong point.

This is actually the exact same course from the World AIDS Half Marathon in December. Unlike the Rockaway Beach 10K, it does not start and finish at a convenient part of the boardwalk… as in, it is a mile from the beach parking lot. And, more importantly, the bathrooms. I tried and failed to find street parking, so I ended up in the Stop & Shop lot, which isn’t such a big deal because it’s not that far. Except I then had to run to the bathroom, which, of course, was about to be closed for cleaning, so even though the maintenance worker let me in, I felt bad that he was waiting and so I rushed, and that clearly did not take care of matters. So I ran the other way after that, having been told that there was another bathroom there… except there wasn’t. Wonderful.

Carbon-plated shoes should give me wings! (Spoiler: they did not.)

So the race starts, and my stomach is obviously less than thrilled, but what else is new? It was warm, which I don’t mind much, but the wind was coming in from the west, so we started into a headwind, which I do mind. I went out a little faster than I probably should have because that let me tuck into a pack of high school kids.

I came to my senses after the first 5K; a PR clearly wasn’t going to be happening, so I decided to just enjoy a nice long run along the water instead. (It felt nicer under the baking sun than it did running into a cooling breeze. I hate wind.)

It did kill me a little to cross the halfway point in just over 47:00, because with the way I was positive splitting, I was expecting to finish around 1:36 or 1:37, and even though my time doesn’t matter, I still do care about it.

This is clearly before I decided that since my stomach wasn’t happy anyway, I was going to risk taking a gel — it’s still in my pocket. Either it had magical properties that took a couple of miles to kick in, or I really am faster in the heat (sans headwind), because I somehow picked up the pace to the point that it looked like I might actually manage to run under 1:35.

I tried. But, alas, I failed — which I don’t understand since I’m pretty sure I crossed the mat before the clock flipped over to 1:35, but I guess chips don’t lie?

Garmin recorded 13.15 miles in 1:35:02, 7:14/mi.

Officially, 13.1 miles in 1:35:01, 7:15/mi. 4/15 OA, 1/2 F. Huge competitive field here, obviously.

And after all that, my Garmin told me my recovery time is four days. So much for taking it a bit easy on myself since I’m running a 5K on Wednesday! Honestly, it’s great to run a lot of races because it gives you a reason to cop out: I need to save it for next time. (I’m only being a little bit sarcastic. And I listen to my own body more than my Garmin, since it is crazy anyway.)