Race Report - Brooklyn Half Marathon

Look at me, posting things on time and stuff.

The race was great. Big, but great. I woke up at 4:30, showered, walked Phoebe and got my race bag ready. In retrospect, I didn't really need the bag. I'd originally planned to change into regular clothes but there wasn't much point in the end.

I headed to the subway around 5:20, which should have been plenty of time except for a couple of things. First, I had to wait for a train for 20-30 minutes. Second, I took the F instead of the D, which left me on the wrong corner of the park. I got off the subway around 6:05, a little nervous because I realized I was almost 1.5 miles away from bag check with only 15 minutes before it closed. I ran it and got my bag into the truck just as the doors were closing.

It was a pretty train ride

I scrambled to my corral as it closed, around 6:30. It was pretty standard from there. We stood around for the next half hour as various officials spoke to the crowd and a rousing rendition of the national anthem was sung. Finally, the race started and I crossed the mat around 12 minutes in.

So many people!

I started faster than I anticipated, with my first mile coming in just under 8 minutes. This wouldn't have necessarily been bad, I was just worried that I'd go out too fast too soon. Maybe I shouldn't have worried about it, but hindsight is 20/20. I did the first few miles around 8 minutes. The first 3 miles were around Prospect Park, the next 4 or so inside it. As we exited the park we crossed the 7 mile marker.

Post-race boardwalk

Most of the rest of the race was down Ocean Parkway, before finally ending on the Coney Island boardwalk. I struggled a little bit toward the end of the race, but still managed a decent time of 1:47:39. Not my best, but certainly not my worst. Afterward, I met up with Jeremy, Amortya, Giri, Hua and Russ (first half for both of them!) and a few other friends for beer. It was a great morning! Gotta hand it to NYRR for making this a superb race.

Also, Amortya ran a 1:39:53, Jeremy ran 1:41 and Giri 1:19. It's awesome to be in such great company.

Hardware

Still to come: Long Island Marathon recap and BQ plan. Have a great weekend, and congrats to everyone who finished!