At the Brooklyn Half Packet Pickup

I have kept my running miles to a bare minimum since my left knee got injured a few months ago. I however managed to do a long run (13 miles) last Monday in preparation for today’s Half. I am very glad I was able to complete this run because it at least gave me confidence that my knee would be able to hold up for the mileage. Unfortunately not the speed for racing. So the pace I would be able to hold today was very unclear (I would have been quite content just breaking 2 hours).

Anh and I decided to run together since we haven’t done so for a very long time.

At mile 1 we started off at an 8:30 minute / mile pace. I felt great from the start thanks in part to warmup running to the start from the subway. It was almost too good given my lack of mileage so I was a bit skeptical about the latter part of the run but knowing the Brooklyn Half Marathon course pretty well I knew the second half of the race is ideal for negative splitting so I know if my knee help up I would be okay. The second mile was the same 8:30/mile. We saved a bit for the one steady climb in Prospect Park. Again I was able to comfortably push my way up the hill with no knee issues. If anything the downhill is where I used more caution.

At mile 7 about right where we exit the Park and head towards Ocean Parkway I started pushing the pace a bit more due to how great I felt. I made sure to ask Anh if the pace was okay for her. Being that we haven’t trained together lately keeping pace moves comfortable for us both was essential.

From mile 10 to the finish I told her and we agreed to really push the pace for the last 5K. The weather did forecast for rain it wasn’t until mile 10-11 did it start drizzling (which I welcomed and loved) and went on to full torrential rain (which at this point I just wanted to finish). As in hollywood it stopped pouring immediately upon our crossing the finish line 🙂 (I swear I didn’t make that stuff up, lol) There was a slight pain in my right hip after mile 6 at which point I made sure to increase my cadence and shorten my stride. During the race we tried to make sure we walked most aid stations and fuel appropriately. It was only pass mile 11 that we ran through the stations. I had to stop twice for potty breaks but made sure Anh kept going with the steady pace we were running and I met up with her. At the two occasions I had to catch up to her I was able to hold 7:05s and felt good. This blew my mind because for the entire season I haven’t gone pass 8:30/mile in training.

We finished on the Coney Island boardwalk in a time of 1:47:41 / 8:13 per mile. The last 5K we averaged 7:50s. I couldn’t be any more proud of my performance today. This gives me some confidence heading into the start of training for the NYC Marathon in July. Nutrition was on point. I took one gel at mile 9 and water and gatorade throughout. Another great Brooklyn Half.

Before

After 1

After 2

After Dark