Brooklyn Half Recap

Last Saturday I ran my 9th half marathon!!!  I still find it hard to believe that I run and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE long distance races.  Remember, I'm a former fat girl who used to drink beers and smoke butts.

I set out to run the Long Island half as a training run for Brooklyn, that little training run ended up being a PR so I now had even higher expectations for this race.  I went in with no sleep, was up at 4:30 in the car by 5 barely making it to the start on time...and I had to pee...bad!

Picture me in between these guys (image via google)

NYRR does an ahhhmozing job of setting up races so I was super surprised there were no porta-potties at the start, especially since 15k runners were running this race!  It was almost a bad scene but I took the cue of my male compadres and peed along a fence on Flatbush Ave behind the only fat tree I could find to somewhat cover my bare ass! It was do or die so I didn't care.  Even though I once almost crapped my pants during a race, I found a place to go, but it was a new scene having to pee in front of thousands.

Ok, back to the running.  I did manage to PR (2:08) but it was a tough race for me!  The last few miles were torturous, not at all like LI when I breezed through the last 3 miles.  I was struggling, but I managed to keep my pace somewhat steady and I kept reminding myself that I could do it.   Once we entered into the Coney Island section of Ocean Parkway I knew I was golden and that the PR was going to happen - now the question was by how much I would PR (2 minutes!!!)  I didn't care though, it was hot, I was done and I wanted the race to be over.

I have to say, although the 2nd part of the race was pretty boring (Ocean Ave for like 6 miles) it was so fun to run this race.  Ending on the Coney Island boardwalk was a blast and really energizing.  I will definitely run this again, unless of course NYRR changes the course distance like they did for Queens and the Bronx  which has really made me super mad (sorry NYRR, I considered unfriending you but instead liked someone else s nasty post about the changes).  I LOVE the half mary distance and was planning on KILLING Queens since I had such a crappy run last year. Oh well.

This week I've been taking it easy, I have a slight head cold and I'm running the Long Beach 10 miler on Sunday.  I squeaked in 2.5 miles before work so that was good and a run on Monday after work, better than nothing.