The Westchester Half: What a Difference a Year Makes

Last year I ran this half marathon in 1:41:32, a 7:45 pace. I came in 79th out of 564 finishers and I was very happy, as that was my new personal record by a wide margin. Earlier this month Team for Kids did the race again, and I beat last year's time by 12 minutes and 39 seconds, completing it in 1:28:53, a 6:45 pace. I finished 32 / 685, and since 2005 my pace increased by 1 minute per mile!

One bad thing is I let the two guys visible over my left shoulder catch me and beat me, the one in the white shirt by 5 seconds (Scott), the guy in TFK green by 1 second (Coach Pete). They actually beat me by more than that on official time, but I am going by chip time, since they started before I did.

I'm not exactly sure what is going on with my hair in this photo, but it may hold the key to understanding my success. There was an analysis of my hair / hat situation in the post on the Nike Half Marathon (see the archives for August). I ran this race entirely hatless and ran 18 seconds a mile faster. Coincidence? I think not.

We ran tonight, and actually got lost in Central Park, which is kind of incredible when you consider we have been training for 16 weeks now. Actually we weren't lost so much as we missed a turn, which happened because I wasn't listening to the instructions before we started. My bad. :-(