A New York minute? I need 90.

I found out the other day that if I run a certain half-marathon time, I'd qualify to run the New York City Marathon this fall.

That certain half-marathon time for me would be 1:30, or a pace of about 6:50 a mile.

Breathe deep. Sigh. Blink.

That pace is slower than my 10k pace, but faster than the pace I held for the last half-marathon I ran, a 1;36 on a hilly course at Lake Benbrook in January.

But I think I can hold 6:50 for 13.1 on the right course, and the Oklahoma City Half Marathon at the end of next month just might be the right course.

So there, I've got something to train for, run a 1:30 half marathon.

It's been 24 days since I ran the Cowtown Marathon, so my legs are more than ready to begin a little training cycle. Today, I went out for a 6-mile run. It was really hot and humid for this time of year (68 degrees, 80 percent humidity). I figured I'd make this a tempo run, just sort of test out the wheels and go as fast as my lungs would let me without racing.

Here are the splits.

1 - 7:50 (warm up)
2  - 6:52
3 - 7:03 (against the wind)
4 - 6:48 (oops, didn't mean to go this fast)
5 - 7:20 (a few hills here)
6 - 6:56

Time: 42:50.
Pace: 7:08.

I felt better during the last mile, perhaps because I knew it was about to be over. By then, my legs were all loose and my breathing had steadied and I thought about running another mile but decided against it. No sense in rushing things.

New York, here I come?