brooklyn half marathon race report

The quick and dirty

Great course, great weather, great organization for over 14,000 runners.  I had a decent race.  I'm quite sure I PRed by at least 4+ minutes with a ~1:57:20  - 13.22 miles at a 8:53 pace per my Garmin data.   Unfortunately, my results are not on the NYRR website.(I have emailed them and they are researching).  I'm gonna be bummed if my info isn't found and if I never have an official result.      Nyrr found my results - my official time is: 1:57:18.   Officially a 4:20 minute PR.

The long version

I arrived in Brooklyn on Thursday and had a couple of relaxing days in the city.  Short quickie runs, enjoying amazing food, shopping and visiting with Ricky and Catherine (daughter-in-law) left me in an extremely happy and relaxed mood.  I had a couple of goals rattling around in my head.

goal #1 - appreciate and enjoy every second of this experience. I KNOW how lucky I am to have such a wonderful son and love the fact we are so close.  To be in the city of his choice and to have the health and fitness to run this race makes me indescribably happy.

goal #2 - run a sub 2 hour half marathon.  This would be my 2nd half(my 1st one was ~4.5 weeks prior) where I finished in 2:01:38.  I was hoping running at sea level would easily put me in the sub 2 hour range.

goal #3 - run a 1:55:xx.  I definitely thought if I ran smart and didn't make any mistakes this was possible.  It would be a stretch - but I felt it was totally possible. 

pre-race

Catherine and her sister,Megan, were also racing the Brooklyn Half.  I was very excited for Catherine as it was her 1st half marathon. Megan is an avid runner with a 1:48 half marathon PR.

We all got up ~5am.  Ricky is NOT a morning person, so for him to get up and get ready to be on course for moral support was very special to all of us.  He made 3 signs with everyone's name.  Being a graphic designer he knew ugly and unusual color combos would stand out and be easy to spot. I was slightly disappointed that my sign said "Cynthia".   I would have preferred "Ricky's Mom"...I like for people to call me "Ricky's Mom" because that is who I am.

We had arranged for a car to pick us up and take us to the start.  As we saw the hoards of runners trying to hail cabs - we congratulated ourselves for being smart enough to reserve the car.  I wish I had taken some pictures - it was so energizing to see so many runners. All shapes and sizes - 14,000+ of them willing to get up early on a Saturday and run 13.1 miles.

We arrived at the start around 6:20 and then split up in order for Megan to get her coffee and drop off her post race bag.  I had to hit the potta johns and was worried about the time as they said they close the corrals at 6:40.  I was in the 4th out of 10 corrals and didn't want to get stuck in the back.  Megan and I both had bib numbers in the 8000 range and we able to start in the same corral.  Catherine (who hasn't raced as much as Megan) was in a few corrals back.

As I hung out in the corral, I was hanging near the fence hoping to see Megan and Catherine. Amazingly Megan spotted me!  We would get to at least start together. 

Miles 1- 3

I had plotted out the course on Google Earth and knew that the first 6 miles were hilly and the remainder was a slight downhill.  I was shooting for 8:40s/8:50s to start off with and was hoping after the hills were done ~mile 6 that I might be able to crank it down some more and hit the 8:30s.  Yes - very optimistic I know but I was really counting on having a sea level "boost".  ;p

After they said "GO" it was a slow walk up to the start. I made note that clock was at ~7 or 8 minute range (couldn't quite remember after I started running) when we actually passed the start line. Amazingly, we were immediately able to start running at a decent pace. Megan is tall and lean 34 year old. She suggested we run together and said if I needed to go ahead to go.  However; I was quite sure I wouldn't be able to keep up her. We ran first 2 miles together and the pace felt like a good race pace.  Mile 1 clicked by in 8:53 - a tad be slower than I wanted but not bad.  Mile 2 clicked by and it was still feeling like a sustainable pace at 8:42. I was carrying all my water on me but Megan was going to use the water stations.  She pulled ahead a bit to grab water at mile 2 and that was the last I ever saw of her. (I was NOT surprised...)  

Mile 3 was where Ricky was supposed to be.  It's the corner where mile 3 enters Prospect Park and mile 7 exits Prospect Park.  I looked in vain for Ricky and his signs but I never saw him there.  He tells me that he saw me. 

Mile 3 was mostly downhill - I remembered from the Google Earth map that it had ~100ft elevation loss and I had planned to take advantage of the downhill, so I was shocked and disappointed to see mile 3 click by at 9:37! A FULL minute slower??  WTF?!!?!  I didn't feel I let go of the previous pace but maybe with Megan gone I lost my sense of pace??  I don't know what happened.  I certainly wasn't feeling tired at this point - I was feeling good and the first 2 hills during mile 1 & 2 felt like nothing. 

I had 2 gel flasks of watered down gels with me.  250 calories in each flask - the plan was to keep my glyogen stores topped off by swigging 125 calories every 25 minutes.  I took a swig in mile 3 but I don't think that's what slowed me down - I think I must have let my mental focus wander off. Oh well...nothing you can do but keep running.

Miles 4 - 6

We were inside the Prospect Park at this point and it was really beautiful. Everything was so green and there was a lot of shade - a great place to run for sure.

When we hit the mile 4 course marker my garmin hadn't clicked over for mile 4 - so thinking maybe something was wrong with the previous mile marker I reset my garmin to match the mile markers on course.  Mile 4 shows as 8:23 but at .93 of a mile.  oops! 

When we hit mile 5 - I heard a guy next to me say to his friend "ok - this hill coming up separates the men from the boys".    I kept waiting for the "hill" to show up but I never felt it.  Mile 5 clicked by in 9:05.  My garmin shows 71 feet elevation gain in that mile so that must of been "the hill" - it didn't feel bad at all!

When my garmin showed 50 minutes - I finished off my gel flask and replaced my "gel flask holster" with the full one.

Mile 6 felt really good - it was fairly level elevation wise and I was pleased when I saw mile 6 click by in 8:38.  Good to be back on track, legs were feeling fine and effort was still feeling hard but sustainable.  time to crank it up a notch!

Miles 7 - 9

During mile 7 I felt the downhill this time (~100ft elevation loss) and this time I made sure I took advantage of it and mile 7 clicked by in 8:30. "good" i said to myself.   I was feeling GOOD at this point - I did a mental check  I was working cardio wise but I wasn't dying and my legs weren't hurting so I was in happy.

This is where we were exiting the park and I was dreading being in the exposed sun. This time I looked around and saw Ricky and his signs.  I shouted to them and I heard him holler out "MOM!!"   I exited the park with a huge smile on my face.

On mile 8 we were routed down an on ramp to the highway - that was pretty darn cool.  As far as the eye could see was a sea of runners.  My worry of being exposed directly to the sun was negated by the fact it was 7am in the morning there was plenty of shade.  Mile 8 clicked by in 8:38 and mile 9 in 8:48.  During mile 9 - I took another swig of my gel flask.

Miles 10 - 12

These miles were pretty much a straight with a slight downhill.  My legs were complianing a bit - they didn't feel glyogen depleted - just a little tired.  I held a consistent pace for the next 3 miles.  8:53, 8:51, 8:56. I remembered to keep fueling - I finished off my 2nd gel flask at ~11.5 miles. Originally, I was hoping to even turn it up a notch during these miles; however, I felt if I did that I might crash and burn during mile 13.   So I kept on with that consistent pace.

Mile 13 - 13.22

I "thought" I was speeding up during mile 13 - it sure felt like it. Turns out it was only a 9 minute mile (I swear it felt like 8:30!)  The last .22 were at a 8:25 pace.  This is where my HR was in crept up to 173 and by the time I ran up to the boardwalk and the last 200 meters to the finish I was breathing hard and loud.  I hit the stop button on my garmin and it showed 1:57:20 - 13.22 miles at a 8:53 pace.

YeeHAW!  I got my sub 2.  Yeah - I had to get it by running at sea level, I'll take it!!!

Aftermath/race dissection

Megan had an awesome race by finishing in 1:51.  Catherine had been hoping for a 2:15 but she finished in 2:05!!!  She didn't have the best training cycle due to work travel and several weddings to attend in the prior months, so she was really happy with her time.

So great that all of us had such great races. 

We all met up in the family meeting area and then went to the beach and put our feet in the nice cold water.  That felt good.  We hung around Coney Island for a while, but none of us were up for riding any rides.  Actually, my stomach wasn't feeling so hot after the race.   So we jumped on the subway home.

All-in-all, I'm very happy with this race.  I negative split (again).   My only "mistake" was at during mile 3 when I lost focus and slowed down. That  might have cost me a minute.   I ran really strong during miles 7 - 9 during my last half and this half - I think I need to take advantage of that energy spike a bit more.  I fueled well and ran strong the entire time.  Can't ask for much more than that as a new runner, eh??

Catherine, me, Megan

guys on stilts

the newlyweds - Ricky & Catherine

me and my little baby, Ricky (sorry ricky -you'll always be my little baby)

ricky and megan

thoughts on negative splitting

I know everyone says this is the best way to race.   This was my 6th race (3-5ks. 1 - 5mile, 2- halfs) and for the last 4 races I have negative split. This time I negative split by over a minute.  I'm always worried about going out to hard and blowing up, but now I'm thinking that maybe I'm too conservative at the start.

HR avg was 166 - I would have preferred an avg in the low 170s

I have another half marathon coming up in 2 weeks.  This one is at altitude but mostly downhill.  I think I'm going to go out an an aggressive pace and see what happens...  ;)

Steamboat Half on deck - 6/3/2012 - mostly downhill @ 6600+ elevation tho...

Lost race results found.

UPDATE:  Results found with splits!

Stats:
Time:  1:57:18
Age Group:  49 out of 186  (26%)
Gender: 2075 out of 7070 (29%)
Overall:  6415 of  14,166  (45%)
Age Grade Percentage:  63.58%
Age Graded Equivalent Time:  1:43:34

Sadly, NYRR does not have my race results.  I'm emailing with them right now.  I found some random picture of me crossing the finish line and the clock reads 2:04:29.  I seem to recall crossing the start timing mat when the clock was 7 or 8 minutes (I can't quite remember) so that jives with my garmin time of 1:57:20.    But it sure would be nice to have some official results...

At 4'10" it was really hard to find myself - I am rarely visible in the mass of people.