Brooklyn Half Marathon Recap

What a weekend! The past two days flew by. I've had the best time hanging out with my amazing teammates and some of my fabulous friends. On Saturday morning, I woke up at 3:30 AM while my friends were probably out closing down some bars to get ready to venture to Brooklyn for the Brooklyn Half Marathon. 

The last time I ran this race it was a massive disaster and I wanted redemption this year. 

This training cycle wasn't the best or strongest, but I did put some work in. We got to BK a wee bit too early but better safe than sorry. I met up with my Hellgate teammates and we hung out for a bit before heading to our respective corrals. 

Pre-race selfie!

Of course almost as soon as we entered our corrals, it started raining. What?! That was totally not on any forecast I read. While we were waiting, my teammate introduced me to one of her friends from Harlem Runs so we chatted with her and some of her teammates until the gun went off. They were super fun and had such a positive spirit. When the gun went off I felt great and tried to keep up with one of the Harlem Runs girls. Mistake numero uno. Mile 1 = 9:20. 

Necessities

After we started hitting some 8:45 paces in the second mile I knew I had to fall back or I might not even make it to Prospect Park. I also realized I had to pee and was on the hunt for a portapotty. Almost a repeat of the marathon! The next two miles I have no explanation for and they are where I REALLY went wrong. 

Mile 2 - 9:15
Mile 3 - 9:04

This race was a mix of idiocracy and ambition. I know what my half PR is and I know what my body is capable of, but I haven't trained for a race in over two years. I had been putting out a few nice training runs but I got a little cocky. 

I still couldn't find a bathroom that didn't have a line and I didn't want to waste any time so I just kept waiting. I am very familiar with where everything is once you get inside the park- every bathroom, water stop and med tent- thanks to my 2015 performance. 

Going into the park is where I started slowing down, probably because I started hill training late. 

Mile 4 - 9:31

I had been hoping to go into this race running a steady 9:30. That pace seemed reasonable as it was in between my hard and easy training run times. 

What I wanted to do be doing instead of running at this point

Mile 5 - 9:37

I finally found a bathroom after mile 5 with no line so I popped off the hill to use it. This is where I started really slowing down because I lost my groove. It's also where my head was kind of like, "I'm over this, let's do something else." I tried to not have a time goal and let my legs do their thing but I am pretty competitive after all. 

Mile 6 - 10:15

After I lost my groove, I had trouble getting my pace back. Everything I tried to hit my 9:30 it felt like way too much effort too early in the race. I had really wanted to sprint down Ocean Parkway but had a feeling in the park that wasn't going to happen. 

Mile 7 - 8:58

And then there was the mile 7 gem. WTF! I have no idea what I was thinking running an 8:58 but I have a feeling we were going downhill. No other explanation as to why I thought it was OK to do this when I couldn't even hold the pace I wanted, 30 seconds slower. OOPS!

Venturing to shelter after it started pouring

Mile 8 - 9:31

Back to normal and on the parkway at this point. I actually forgot how much uphill the parkway has and I couldn't get my body to sprint. I felt like the course was super quiet this year and was hoping the crowd at this point would carry me to the end. 

Mile 9 -10:37

And here is where my head said nope, we're done. I didn't stop/walk at all during this race (except when I stopped for the bathroom break) but I definitely started shuffling. And I wanted to walk SO badly. I also thought I was looking for mile 8 not 9 so the surprise was welcome. I also did this the last time I ran this race. 

Mile 10 - 10:15

Almost there! Only a 5K left. At this point I was SO looking forward to seeing my team waiting just after mile 12. 

Mile 11 - 10:32

Slowing down and REALLY considering walking. I didn't.

[Credit: Jared Maestre]

Mile 12 - 10:36 

Yay for teammates! As soon as I saw the mile 12 marker I upped my speed and was super happy to see Hellgate, and the boardwalk in front of me. I got my pace back to a 9:30 and struggled to hold it until the end. My watch was also early so when I thought I only had 800m to go I'm pretty sure it was 1200 which made the end that much painful. 

Mile 13 - 9:35

Up that stupid little ramp we go for the last .1. The numbers on my watch were moving and I booked it down the boardwalk to fight to get under 2:10.

Mile 13.1 - 2:09:21

The end! I was so happy to be done. I was definitely fighting for a lot of those miles. While I'm super disappointed with my time, I am glad I redeemed myself. 

Hellgate Ladies

Now, off to train for a Fall half where I hopefully won't be putting out as an embarrassing performance as this was. 

Xo,
Lynette