Since I have tried and tried to get into the NYC marathon and have had no luck, I decided to run the half NYC hosts in July. It was this past Sunday and was a very cool race. Almost seven miles of the run was through Central Park. We also got to run through Times Square and ended up in Battery Park. I ran it in 2:39, at an average page of 12:17, which is pretty good for me given the distance. I was expecting to be closer to 3 hours. Mostly, I think I did pretty well because my friend Kevin (an Exeter classmate) ran the whole way with me, even though he is tons faster than I am. It was a great way to hang out with him and wonderful excuse for a weekend in NYC. Mom, Armineh and I went. We ate, shopped, did some touristy things and saw the Lion King. It was a gift of a weekend.

…unless I sign up through the Community Fund. The race filled up on site so the only way to do it is to apply for a Community Fund spot, which means I pay the registration fee and make a donation that’s a little more than the registration fee. Then I could have a spot, assuming they get my application in time, and I would have made a tax deductible donation and done some good for the Lake Placid area. Should I do it? I’m trying to talk Jeanie into doing it with me because I can’t imagine doing an Ironman without her, but I’m not sure where she’ll land on the issue.

We could try for another race later in the summer, but that means training all summer. I’m not a big fan of the summer heat, which is why Lake Placid seems quite perfect…but for the whole filling up on site thing, of course. So Community Fund or no Community Fund? Any thoughts?

I keep telling myself that I need to write up a race report, but I haven’t had a chance to do that yet. It feels like a daunting task to try to capture in words the experience of that day. I’m not sure that I can do that. I like just rolling the whole experience around in my head.

The big question for me is: what’s next? I am looking for another Ironman to do next year, perhaps Lake Placid or Louisville or Wisconsin. I’m not sure yet. Mostly, I think it’ll depend on which I’m able to get into considering how quickly things fill up. I think I’m inclined to try to get into Lake Placid, which is in mid-July, so that I don’t have to train all through the heat of the summer. And then if I don’t get in, I can try for one of the other two. We’ll see how that plays out. I’m pretty sure I want to return to Coeur d’Alene in 2010 though. I loved that place.