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rr: brooklyn half marathon (Read 583 times)

    saturday was my sixth brooklyn half marathon. my finish times have ranged from a 1:30:15 in 2005 to a 1:43:16 last year. it's, without a doubt, my favorite road race. having grow up in brooklyn and spent a good portion of my life there may have influenced that ranking - haha. also, this particular race combines locale with my favorite type of course, point to point. the layout makes it seem like 3 separate race: the out and back on the boardwalk, the ocean parkway straighaway, and the loop of prospect park. on a good day this is easily a pr course. each year my wife, pat, drives me down to the start in coney island and then meets me at the finish in prospect park. she and my daughter combine this early morning visit to brooklyn with a brunch in park slope while i run the race. most years some friends ride down to the race with us. this year, emmy and rob joined us. it was rob's first brooklyn half. emmy, though she couldn't make the race last year, has made gone with us in prior years. my daughter didn't join us today because she had to get ready for a trip that afternoon. one of my favorite views on the course is the parachute drop at steeplchase park. this iconic symbol of coney island looms in horizon as we make the intial 1+ mile run down the boardwalk, past it and to the turnaround. another favorite is the turn off the boardwalk alongside yet another coney island landmark, the cyclone! even with the overcast skies threatening rain, i couldn't help thinking about summer days here. once we swing onto surf avenue and make our way over to ocean parkway, it's back to ordinary road racing. from a social perspective, we ran into a bunch of friends at the start. tom, art, and tony from the taconic road runners. tony directed the sybil 50k last weekend, and tom was there as well. i also ran into my friend sue from central park track. my good friend mike, from prospect park track, and a regular at this race - either running it or out supporting his teammates - missed it this time because of family commitments. i also caught sight of a few blue wtc singlets out on the course. from a running perspective, i hoped to run under 1:40. i put in only 18 miles (6 mile runs on tues, thurs, and friday) during the week. i doubt i'll log more than 40 miles for the week. next weekend is the li greenbelt trail 50k. it's a bit of unfinished business from last year's racing season. i want to run it faster than last year (and skip the bonus miles as well). my splits today were: 7:05 7:22 14:27 7:30 21:57 7:21 29:18 7:27 36:45 7:36 44:22 7:40 59:42 7:50 1:07:32 7:55 1:15:26 8:04 1:23:30 7:43 1:31:13 7:38 1:38:52 0:47 1:39:38 7:36 pace the constant headwind on ocean parkway caught up to me by mile 9. after a pair of progressively slower miles, i ran my slowest mile, 8:04, on the hills in prospect park. then i caught a second wind and dropped the pace for the final two miles. that was good enough to finish under 1:40. rob finished up just behind me, in 1:40. and even better, emmy, who had caught and passed me in mile 5, finished in 1:35 - good enough for 4th place in her age group http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa79/rundangerously/brooklyn%20half/010.jpg a few more photos posted on my blog.
    http://rundangerously.blogspot.com
      RD-I posted a report on the Master's group. It was my first time to run to run Brooklyn....wasn't it a blast? I tried, with some success, to draft on the Ocean P'kway...but felt a little more at home in Prospect Park (I live a little over 2 hours upstate so rollers and lots of trees are the norm) I saw some Taconic shirts at the start...there was a really good vibe there at the beginning. I had donned my bright yellow Headsweats cap...helps to hide the lack of hair. Did you encounter a very stern marshall at the bagels? I was really impressed with her lack of a sense of humor. Thanks for posting...glad someone else from RA was out there. Walt
        Good racing and thanks for the report. BTW, who's that in your avatar?
        Quit being so damn serious! When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. "Ya just gotta let it go." OM
          thanks walt! the only uncool guy we enountered was a loud course marshal at the porta-johns at the start. he kept walking up and down the line shouting "get your stuff on the baggage buses - they're going to leave in 5 minutes!!" that was 45 minutes BEFORE the start. not only was it unhelpful - increasing the stress of those already waiting, but the buses weren't about to leave - and, most importantly, there were a couple of extra "late" buses to deal with runners that missed the regular buses!! otherwise good time all around! my friends came in from ct, and met us in westchester for the drive in. where upstate did you drive down from? for me this well worth the hassle of getting to start in coney island - great atmosphere! thanks evryday!
          http://rundangerously.blogspot.com
            Great race report - congratulations. I was a spectator - a couple of the people from my running club were taking part.
              evryday, that's bob dylan and allen ginsberg (circa 1975). thanks yorkshire! what club are you with?
              http://rundangerously.blogspot.com
                evryday, that's bob dylan and allen ginsberg (circa 1975).
                thanks...I checked out your blog...grateful dead links...good stuff
                Quit being so damn serious! When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. "Ya just gotta let it go." OM
                AnneCA


                  Hey, that's my HM PR race! From 1992! Big grin Also, my 10K PR (from the same year) was a race called the Greenway 10K that went from Brighton Beach/Coney Island, up Ocean Parkway and ended in the park -- no loop of the park for the 10k. I think the HM course in those days may have been different. It may have just been loops of the park, but I don't remember. Still have the shirt, though! Anyway, loved reading the report, and congrats on beating your goal!
                  seeEricaRun


                  Awesome

                    thanks walt! the only uncool guy we enountered was a loud course marshal at the porta-johns at the start. he kept walking up and down the line shouting "get your stuff on the baggage buses - they're going to leave in 5 minutes!!" that was 45 minutes BEFORE the start. not only was it unhelpful - increasing the stress of those already waiting, but the buses weren't about to leave - and, most importantly, there were a couple of extra "late" buses to deal with runners that missed the regular buses!! otherwise good time all around! thanks evryday!
                    That drives me crazy about these races. They are always yelling at you to do things ridiculously early, like line up at the start a full half hour before the race. I've shown up after the starting bell for the Brooklyn Half (a train got stalled, and so there was a train-load of us running the opposite way from the racers on the boardwalk trying to get to the start), and still been able to get my baggage on a bus. But congratulations on a great race! The Brooklyn Half is also one of my favorites (I ran it twice).
                      thanks anneca! are you a bklyn expatriate as well? thanks seeericarun!
                      http://rundangerously.blogspot.com
                      AnneCA


                        I might qualify, but at the time I was a Brooklynite, I was an expatriate Hoosier. My favorite Brooklyn run was across the Brooklyn Bridge. I lived in Cobble Hill and did that one all the time.
                          running over the bklyn bridge is awesome! that's one of my favorite runs as well. before we moved up to westchester in 2000 we lived in bklyn heights. i'd run along the promenade and over the bklyn bridge (that's also the year i got back into running). in the early 80's, when i was in college - and lived on the other side of the bridge - i'd run back over to the bklyn side!
                          http://rundangerously.blogspot.com
                            thanks yorkshire! what club are you with?
                            My club is in my profile - FOG Running. I can safely say we are all a lot slower than you!
                              speed? what's speed got to do with it? you guys look like you're having a blast at those races! that's what it's all about Big grin
                              http://rundangerously.blogspot.com
                              mgerwn


                              Hold the Mayo

                                Hey RD, congrats on beating your target, and thanks for the RR. Sounds like a great race to run. I've meant to get to Coney Island for many years now, but just haven't gotten around to it. I've heard rumors this will be the last year for the park - any truth to that? Or will the Cyclone be there for years to come to lure those runners on?
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