Laura Smith Writer

United Half Marathon Recap

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#NYRR #UnitedHalf #NYRRvols

This past weekend I made the trek to NYC from our quiet little home in the Berkshires, to run the NYRR United Half Marathon. It has be a bit of time since I have run a longer distance, with the marathon in early November and months of ice and cold between, I have not put in the training for this race. But I had signed up to volunteer at the Expo the day before, distributing race shirts, and finishing the race and recording via Strava would gain me entry into next year’s event, so I needed to at least attempt it. As I am on my way to earning credit towards my 9+1 for the 2026 TCS NYC Marathon, I really needed to complete this event (I was willing to walk it if need be!)

We arrived in NY well before lunch as my husband was heading to another event that morning and we decided to drive in together. I had plenty of time to kill, so I wandered around, grabbed lunch and plopped down at the New York Public Library for a spell before volunteering. My volunteer shift was fun; NYRR is always organized, and I met some nice folks during my shift including a kind woman just back from running Tokyo. After picking up my own bib and shirt I made my way back to the apartment for some dinner and a good night’s sleep. Why do New Yorkers feel the need to continuously sound their horns in the middle of the night? I was on the 12th floor, and managed to finally sleep within a rare bout of silence, only to be woken up by my alarm at 5:30, at which point I promptly decided that I would skip the race and head home to snuggle with my dog. I roused soon after however, remembering just how much money I invested in this weekend, and how long I had been waiting to run this race again (2 years). I had enough time to down some coffee and AG1, cover myself in sparkles, dress and make my way to the subway for the journey into Brooklyn. The security lines at the start were long, but it was fun to chat with others as we waited to go through metal detectors and bag searches. Next year I will pay attention to what is allowed past security as this race is not like the marathon, where we all have enough supplies to keep us throughout our hours of waiting in the cold or rain. My clear plastic bag held too many items (I did not eat breakfast yet as the subway was shoulder to shoulder the entire ride) including food, shoes, and my on course fuel. The NYPD officer at security informed me that I needed to get my life together (true, but this statement did find its way into my therapy session a few days later) and I hastily dumped what I could in the trash before making my way to the porta potty lines.

I am always pleasantly surprised when I can strike up a conversation with another runner, and I found a few that were also flying solo to chat with me as we waited in the dreaded lines. There never seem to be enough bathrooms, despite NYRRs increasing the number each year and it is the one technicality that continually causes me stress. Soon enough though my wave was making our way to the start corrals, ready to begin our journey from the Brooklyn Museum of Art to Central Park. For the most part I do enjoy this race: Prospect Park is beautiful, Brooklyn has incredible energy and many spectators, and the Brooklyn Bridge crossing was an added bonus. FDR Drive however, is not that much fun, but I managed to plug away, fueling at set intervals and listening to podcasts as the miles ticked by. Soon enough we made it into midtown Manhattan, ran through Times Square, grabbed ourselves some Maurten gels (an added bonus this year!) and made our way to Central Park for the finish and slow hobble back through Columbus Circle and home. Despite my undertrained body, I managed to run (albeit extremely slow) the entire course (even as I made deals with my legs that I could walk the hills). And I was pleased at the finish line to run into those runners with whom I had friendly chats with at the start. My post race Starbucks (a guilty pleasure) was consumed and I packed up to catch the train home. After trekking back to Grand Central only to find nowhere to sit, I not so patiently waited for the 3:09 train home, grateful for the soft seating in the train after putting 35,000 steps on my legs. I had pushed through my resistance, run this iconic race, and was looking forward to snuggling with my furry friends who waited for me at home. Until next year!

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● About Me

I wrote and published my first blog post on May 26, 2009. I was about to turn 36 and had been accepted to Mount Holyoke College as a non-traditional student, on my way to completing a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Medieval Studies. I had managed, finally, to know what general direction I was traveling. As a self proclaimed voracious reader I knew that I needed a vocation that would allow me to engage daily with words: reading words, writing words, and hearing words. I also needed to eat, so I navigated my way to a teaching position and I began to fine tune my craft. I love to teach and I love my students, but I also needed to continue to hone my own literary technique, voice, and style. I continued my education in order to delve deeper into literature, making connections, and most definitely, writing. I gained more confidence as a reader as well as a writer of both creative and analytical text. That first blog post in 2009 is short, the writing average, and the topic mundane, but as I continued to learn from other writers I began to understand that to become a better writer I needed to write more. Each time I write and release a poem, a post, or a story, I hone my skills. I invite you along for the ride, for this journey of mine as I attempt to wrangle a wealth of ideas and competing directions into an organized freshly paved path to publication. I might get distracted along the way, but sometimes those detours lead us to amazing views and new friends. 

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