Words and pictures by Noah Devereaux

Our new records updates for NYC Half are a triumph of the elliptical. The dreaded machine is going to be important for me now that I’ve lost my place on the half marathon records to a last minute injury. Training was going great and I was ready for a breakout race until Thursday when I wore half a size too small shoes and inflamed the tendons on the top of my foot. Ted Brakob has had shin splints for the better part of the year but still ran 1:15:43 on 20 minutes of elliptical a day and a couple fast long runs. It was only a matter of time before Ted got onto the records for every distance from the mile to the marathon. Hopefully if I put in more than 20 minutes a day on the elliptical I can hold onto some aerobic fitness and get back onto the records at Brooklyn Half in May.

Watching the live tracker I had a glimmer of hope that I could hang on to 15th place because it had Sean Quealy on pace for 1:17:17, one second slower than my PR, through 15k. He hasn’t been injured recently and is really good at closing strong so it wasn’t much of a shock when he finished in 1:16:53 for 14th on the records.

Joelle Reeves did her own time on the elliptical with some minor tendinitis this year but didn’t let that slow her down on the way to 1:24:07 and 7th place on the records. At least I didn’t have to worry about Johnny Nuzzela bumping me even farther off the list since he decided to help Mary Johnston run her best race. I don’t know if Mary suffered through the elliptical while she had a stress fracture last fall but whatever she did she’s faster than ever now and dropped a 1:24:46 for 9th place.

As usual, you can see all the records at pptc.org/club-records/ and if you have anything to add please email records@pptc.org

Club Records: NYC Half Updates