Date: May 19, 2018

A rainy day but a great day for running the streets of Brooklyn. The forecast called for 80-100% chance of rain heading into race day so we were all prepared except for baggage pickup, more on that later.

Race start was at 7am so Anh and I made it to Brooklyn at 6 to park the car and get to bag check and our corrals. We found parking about 1.5 miles from the start so this was ideal for a warmup run. I made sure to pack extra black heavy duty garbage bags and regular shopping bags to be my shelter while waiting for the gun start. I used the black bags to cover my body and tied my shoes with the shopping bags. For my head, I used a race provided bag. I was for sure sheltered from the rain and kept warm and dry especially my shoes.

My race goal time was 1:35 with only MAF base training. I am a huge advocate for MAF training, It has kept me injury free for over two years now and given my past history of having knee surgery I am not huge of speed interval training. Tempo I love.

Throughout the entire run, I kept a steady pace and effort. The rain was ideal for keeping my core temperature down. There would be no need to drenching myself at aid stations with supplied water.

I cannot iterate enough how much I love this course.

We start at the Grand Army Plaza outside the Brooklyn Museum then enter Prospect Park. The course takes us out of the park at mile 7. Upon entering Ocean Parkway it’s a straight line to Coney Island.

Finished the race at 1:42, seven minutes shy of my race goal. This number does not deter my pure satisfaction with my energy and performance on the day. I finished knowing that I had more left in the tank for at least 5 miles more at that pace. This is encouraging heading into NYC marathon training which starts at the end of July.

Oh about bag check. It took me 40 minutes to retrieve my bag as it was still being retrieved and sorted at the finish. Brrrrr!