Danika, and Abbe set off to run to the start about 5 minutes ahead of me. Booked it down Fifth Avenue in the dark I was peering way ahead to see if they were coming into sight. On the corner of 88th Street an older man was hailing a cab that didn’t exist. As I approached he asked if he could run with me to the start. “Of course!”

He was hoping to break 2 hours in the race. I would like to think that our little warm up down Fifth helped him o achieve that.

I finally found the girls at the security entrance and we made our way to the corrals.There we hung with Josh and Brianna, hopping around trying to stay warm. I saw a Battalion shirt headed my way and it happened to be Kelly. I ran with her, fist bumped goodbye and then made my way to my corral.

The gun went off and we jolted forward, immediately pushing a 6:30 pace. Although it was cold, I felt fine and was enjoying myself.

Harlem Hill kicked my ass. I did perk up though on the descent when I saw my friend Juan cheering. I ran over and gave him a high five.

The West Side Rollers were their usual challenging self.

I was excited to be nearing the exit of the Park. Don’t get me wrong, The Central Park is my backyard and I love it dearly, but it is the most challenging part of this particular race.

We hopped out onto 7th Ave and into what I call… The Canyons. Running straight down into Times Square (a place I normally loathe) is quite a cool experience. I saw my friend Beth cheering and just as I was approaching some gal in an Oiselle Team shirt ran by and she and cheer buddies went nuts, missing me. Oh well.

Take a sharp right onto 42nd Street and head towards the mighty North River. Up on the right, Battalion Cheer Squad Commander Eric was on the scene! A quick high five and I was off, barreling semi controlled downhill.

Luckily for us runners, as we hit the West Side Highway the wind was at our backs. The miles started to tick off quick. I saw Helen, who I also gave a high five to followed by the whole Gotham City Runners cheer squad! Some Aussie running next to me asked how I knew everybody.

Running through the Battery Tunnel is cool, until you have to exit it on an uphill at mile 12.5 with the wind in your face.

I finished in 1:27:06, not my best and not my worst, I was happy. I returned to the finish line just in time to see Abbe, Danika and Kelly all finish within seconds of each other! Abbe had a 2 minute PR!

We headed over to our after party at Irish American (that’s me!) and I proceeded to order a Smithwicks and a full irish breakfast. Delish.

Battalion members slowly trickled in until there were 15-20 of us eating and drinking, discussing our races. It was one hell of a day! Congrats to all!