Oh, that's right, remembered I. It wasn't nighttime at all but rather 4:30am, which could more accurately be described as the crack of dawn. But hey, them's the breaks if you wanted to partake in last Saturday's New York Road Runners Brooklyn Half-Marathon. And I most definitely wanted to partake.
With the race set to begin at 8:00am in Brooklyn's famous (and quite divine, if I may say so myself) Prospect Park and my wanting to drive to the finishing area at Coney Island, leave my car (so as to be able to drive back home as opposed to using New York's subway system) and get back to the start line before the race began, I was forced to leave my abode at an hour that even some ladies of the night would call too late. Compounded with this already tight timeframe, I had to make a pit-stop to pick up Bone who had courageously signed up for his first race of double digit miles. Seeing how nervous little Bone was in the days leading up to the race, it was incumbent upon me to do all I could to help quell his fears and boost his confidence. It was this quelling and boosting that forced me to wake up a few minutes earlier to allow for the extra time going out-of-my-way was going to cost me.
Despite NYRR's promise of having buses that would transport those racers who, like me, had decided to drive to the finish area, to the start line, by the time Bone and I arrived at Coney Island we were informed that all the buses had left and no others were expected. With Bone's nerves now in overdrive at the prospect of missing the race and his body seemingly going into epileptic seizures in response, it was up to me to calmly assess our available options and ensure our presence in the proper starting corral when the gun went off. To our right off in the distance, I saw a subway platform and quickly found out from a race official that we could catch the F rail-car and be at the start line with even a little time to spare. By the time we finally reached our corral, the national anthem was being sung and that time was definitely very spare indeed as we had little opportunity for stretching or a strategy session (though that wasn't particularly necessary, as our strategy was pretty simple: finish the race). Seconds after the gun went off and Bone and I were separated by the many other eager runners wanting to start, we each began running the 13.1 mile adventure that would take us through New York City's largest borough.
Eventhough there were a few things that I had a problem with during the trek, overall the race was quite enjoyable, the runner-traffic was quite manageable as I was able to hit my stride soon after passing the starting line and the organization was, in typical NYRR fashion, quite well organized. That being said, here were my complaints:
1. With over 12,000 people running the Brooklyn Half-Marathon, I did not actually cross the start line until 11 minutes had elapsed since the lead runners began. In-and-of itself, not a big deal whatsoever. However, because the first 6.5 miles or so were composed of two loops around Prospect Park, as I was reaching my 1.5 mile mark, the leader not only passed me on my right but passed by the race's 6 mile marker which was visible for all of us at the 1.5 mile mark to see. I can't describe to you how discouraging it is to see someone who is 4.5 miles ahead of you and how that sight reinforces just how much further your race is going to be. Nevertheless, I continued on my much slower path and tried to put that sight out of my mind.
2. Because of the incredibly steamy 80 degree weather that we runners faced, it seemed obvious (to me at least) that many more liquids were going to be consumed throughout the course. Unfortunately, the race organizers did not pick up on this obviousness and, consequently, some of the watering stations in the later miles of the race as well as the one immediately after the finish line had run out of cups. If you thought complaint #1 was disheartening, think about being exhausted, in tremendous pain and dehydrated and not being able to get a cup of water at a promised fluid station. It doesn't make for good bedfellows. That's for sure.
3. While running on Coney Island's boardwalk seems like a fun idea, in actuality it isn't that much fun at all. After navigating through 13 arduous miles, it's not the easiest thing running over wooden planks that are uneven and unbalanced as well as being forced to dodge nails that were continually sprouting up from those very same planks.
Despite those three failings, I was able to maintain a steady pace for the first 9 miles and then finished by half-walking/half-running the last 4.1 miles. I would have liked to have run the entire race, but, by the end, I was simply happy to finish. Crossing the finish line in 2:05, I only had to wait 7 minutes for Bone's impressive finish in his first half-marathon. We walked back to the car energized by our accomplishments, weary from our efforts, and excited for our next half-marathon.
As I was leaving the parking lot (which involved much dodging of other runners who were trying to find their autos), I passed two dudes who had their shirts off and who looked like they were trying to hold hands. Passing them, I realized it was actually two of my buddies, BS and Rosie, who had also run the race. After they told me that they had finished in 1:38 and asked me what my finishing time was, I downshifted the gears in my extreme car and sped away before I would have been forced to tell them that I finished almost a half hour after them. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed by their finishing times.
Final Race Statistics:
| Name | Bib | Overall Place | Gender Place | Age Place | Finish Time | Pace/Mile | AG % |
| Mr. Petes | 8876 | 5777 | 3748 | 770 | 2:05:31 | 9:34 | 47.1% |
| Bone | 8843 | 6869 | 4215 | 918 | 2:12:27 | 10:06 | 44.7% |
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