Brooklyn Half Marathon – Guest Correspondent

So last Saturday was IT the day I had been training for for just over two months. All week I had been thinking about it… How would I do? What should my goal pace be? Was that nagging feeling in my left calf going to flare up and stop me from crossing the finish line? Well, short story is I made it, the long story is:

The week of March 15th, inspired by Terrence’s commitment to his training and his overall improved health and fitness, I signed up for my very first half marathon. Running the Brooklyn Half marathon would be special to me because when I started running it was a race I always thought I would like to try. Several years, and lots of hard-won experience later, I realized I was actually close to fit enough to finally attempt it!

Terrence and I put together a training log for me on google docs and I was off! At first the training was counterintuitive. I was running shorter distances than I was used to and at a slower pace. I tried to use this time to adjust to my new schedule, getting up to exercise 5 mornings out of the week, instead of just three. By the time my harder runs were figured into the schedule, I was so used to my routine days of running that I actually looked forward to them!

Training went very smoothly and I enjoyed it lots. I had some small stress injuries here and there, but nothing that didn’t work it’s way out in a day or two. My longest training run was on the week of May 3rd, when I ran 12.1 miles, exactly 1 mile short of what I would have to do for the half marathon. That day I was nervous for my run, but felt pretty good, I ran a cautious 9:03 pace and felt good afterwards. I also took my first “ice bath” that day! It was both torturous and amazing. Torturous for the obvious reasons, but amazing because it actually helped so much!

Fast forward to race week… Out of superstition I didn’t check what race day weather would be until Friday night, I was worried it might be rainy, but it was just right. A sunny day, but not too sunny. Warm, but not too warm… the perfect weather for my race. Terrence and I decided that 8:20 miles was going to be my goal race pace. Secretly I didn’t think I could shave that much time off of my 12 mile training run pace, I decided I would push myself as hard as I could, but I would be content with anything around 8:40.

I got up around 5 am on Saturday, just a little earlier than I would normally get up for a training day, and made Terrence and myself a light breakfast. After that I suited up in my favorite warm weather running gear pinned on my bib, put my d-tag on my shoe and we were off.

We jogged up to the park and there were so many people. I commented to Terrence how the races that he does have such a small field because they are so specialized. Here were 10,000 other people who were going to run my goal distance that same morning. Pretty amazing! I have to say I was just as proud for each and every other one of them for making it through their training like I had.

After some short speeches and the starting announcement we were going! The first half of the run was two loops around Prospect Park…. Oh, Prospect Park loop, how many times I have run around you. I know that part of the course like the back of my hand, since I do so much training there. This part of the course actually made the task of the race seem much less daunting to be running half of the race on such familiar territory.

Without too much pain, I manage the two loops with Terrence, conquering the long hill on the north side of the park, not once, but twice with relative ease.

This is where the real part of the race started for me – coming out onto Ocean Avenue and starting the last half towards Coney Island. Mentally this was a challenge because it was uncharted territory. It also was the part of the race where I would go beyond my base training levels and really start pushing myself. As we turned out of the park it hit me, a piercing pain in my inside right calf. I decided to tough it out… run through it and see what happened.

One of my favorite parts of the race came at this point, seeing all the people running down an on-ramp onto three blocked off lanes of a six lane high way was so surreal and awesome! We were a bunch of people using the road that is normally ignored and cursed by commuters for an enjoyable activity we’d been looking forward to for months. It really goes to show you how transformative perspective and mood can be.

Running on the highway was great because it gave us more room than we had in the park to spread out. It was bad because it was pretty flat and pretty straight… The lack of variance in the terrain actually made the miles seem longer. Though they were less punishing, there was less stimulation. No small hills and obstacles to overtake, meaning I was solely focused on the biggest obstacle, the finish line, the whole time.

Around mile 8 or 9 I finally told Terrence about my ankle bothering me… I was worried because I felt like he was pulling ahead to urge me on and I didn’t want to overdo it and worsen my predicament. I promised to tell him if it got much worse and we kept on going. It’s funny…almost immediately after I mentioned it to him it started to ease up. I think he was sending me some positive mental vibes to pull through and they were just the cure I needed!

At this point I was eating goo and was getting water at every other water stop. To help with my time, Terrence would run into the water stations and get the water for both of us! There were some people gathered on the side of the race route and I have to say their encouragement was definitely welcome. I know a lot of runners run with ipods and don’t even listen to the crowd these days, but I for one, loved the community spirit of the race, it was definitely motivating.

Around about now we were just coming off of Ocean Avenue and I knew the boardwalk would be in sight soon. Despite my gasping and panting, Terrence told me I was doing really good. Which definitely gave me a huge boost in morale. We were past mile 11 and now I was feeling like I would probably make it, again. Concentrating on sticking to my steady pace I started thinking about how my Mike and my Mom were just around the bend.

Boardwalk here we were! The last bit of the run on the boardwalk had to be less than half of a mile, I wanted to push it and run triumphantly, speedy over the finish line, but I knew I didn’t have that much go left, so steadily I worked my way same pace over the boards and through the crowd. There they were!!! Mom and Mike! I knew it was almost through and I was so proud I’d made it. I figured I had done bad time because of how beat I felt. Terrence and I hugged and grabbed some food… and I even took a trip to the port-a-potties without looking at my watch or trying to figure out what my pace was. Why look and be disappointed, better to just focus on the positive point that I made it through. Finally, upon re-joining up with Terrence, Mom and Mike. Terrence told me the pace that his watch recorded for us–8:07/mile–AWESOME. I am not ashamed to say I was so happy I cried.

I can’t honestly say I enjoyed every moment of my first longer-distance race. Some parts felt downright torturous. However, I can say: it motivated me, I definitely loved training, and the happiness I felt at having worked through an accomplishment, with Terrence there by my side was so moving it can’t be described in words. That said, I guess my next step is to decide what my new goal will be… another half marathon, with a better time? a full marathon? (Terrence is voting for the Philly marathon) As of now, I don’t know what I will set out to achieve next, but I do feel confident I’ll be able to make it to the end with such an awesome coach, supportive friends, and amazing cheering team!