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Brooklyn Half Marathon

May 16, 2015 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

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Race Report:
Ran the brooklyn half with Zac to try and qualify for the 2016 NYC marathon. To do so, we had to break 1:21:00. We found out there was a 1:20:00 pacer so we decided we would run with him since it would take away a lot of the mental work and he would know how to pace the race smart since he knows the course. The race went off at 7:00 am so we were up since 4:15am. I had a bagel, a banana, and a bar before the race as well as 7 water bottles and a Gatorade. At the line we found the 1:20 pacer in the sea of people and stood next to him by the starting area. When the gun went off, it took us about 20 seconds to get up to the starting line so that is when we started our watches. Since the pacer started kind of far back, we had to spend the first mile really weaving in and out of people going slower than us. I had to focus hard not to lose him or Zac in the thousands of people out there early on. The first mile was a gradual downhill the first half and a gradual uphill the second half but this didn't really phase me since I was more focused on trying to stick with the pacer. The pace from the start felt quick but not crazy so I knew I could settle in during the later miles. It seemed like the pacer was going a little quicker than the goal 6:06 pace in the beginning but I figured he knew the course well and wanted to bank some time early on. At least I thought this was his plan until we came through the third mile in 5:42 and he said "oops too fast". That's when I realized the pacer wasn't the best at his job. We came through the 5k in 18:25 and then the pace settled into a more manageable one right around 6 flat give or take a few seconds. We got into prospect park which was supposed to be the most challenging part of the course. These miles consisted of a few very gradual hills, none of which were nearly as tough as I thought so I had no problem keeping up the pace here. We came through the 10k at 37:16, running 18:51 for that 5k, and we both agreed that we felt so comfortable it seemed like we had it from this point. So we started to push up from the pacer a little bit. The second half of the course turned onto one straight road that would continue all the way down until the last half mile before the finish. This road was very flat so it didn't pose any challenges in the terrain. By 15k we came through in 56:06, running 18:50 for that 5k, and I still felt really comfortable. The 10 mile split was 1:00:20 which I was surprised how easy I felt coming through this point. At this point Zac was a little tired so we slowed the pace a bit seeing as we knew we had a lot of time banked from the fast early miles to hit our goal. We didn't slow down too much though, just running between 6:10-6:20 or so. I was surprised that although we slowed down a little, we were still keeping the pace in the 6:10's. That pace has never felt so easy to me. We came through the 20k in 1:15:39, running 19:33 for that 5k. At this point Zac realized that he had a bad cramp in his left hamstring and I knew how bad that can be but that we were within a mile of the finish line and so close to our time goal. I tried to have us just run a pace that wouldn't make his cramp worsen to the point he had to stop. So even though we were getting passed by some people, we just focused on keeping a steady pace that would get him safely through the line. Surprisingly, even though his cramp was bad and we had to slow down a bit, the pace never went above the low 6:20s which I found impressive. Eventually we got up onto the boardwalk and saw the clock ahead and I figured we were going to make it. Normally I would've had us both kick it in but seeing as how his cramp was still there, I was afraid of having him kick too hard and dropping with 100m to go, so we just ran a steady pace through the line. I stopped my watch at 1:19:58 and was really happy to see that we not only qualified for the NYC marathon in 2016 but we also broke 1:20! This race was so much fun. I loved running a strong pace for a longer distance. Despite not having run over 11 miles in months, I was still able to run a solid pace for 13.1 miles and have it feel really good. It never even felt like a race to me, which was encouraging. I can't wait to get this two week break over with so I can put in the best summer of training I ever have!