Brooklyn half

So 1:41:15 in the Brooklyn half-marathon this morning… good for a 7:43 pace, and 606 out of 3325 finishers (520 out of 1951 men).

I was pretty alarmed when I ran the first mile and the split was 6:50 – but afterwards people were saying the first mile’s measurement was off. For the first four I was 30:01, a 7:30 pace, so I feel I ran a fairly good race. Had hoped to crack 1:40, but damn those hills at the end…

In the same race last year I ran a 1:47, and did a 1:54 in ’03, so I really have to take it. But in 2001 I ran it in 1:37:56. I was in so much better shape then — gotta take the training up a notch if I’m going to get back to that!

Last year I also almost missed the start — 8 a.m. at Coney Island — so this time I was up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:15. Afterward took a nap, then spent the day watching the NCAA basketball and, later, the Morales/Pacquiao fight at a friend’s place. What a bout!

UPDATE: I was curious who else blogged about the Brooklyn half so I did a little searching with Technorati.

This was “Smartmom”‘s first half-marathon and she filed a
detailed, enthusiastic report:

A pitch perfect day for a run, the sky was blue, the air was crisp and the ocean was right beside them as the race began. The amusement park was desolate and boarded over as they ran past Astroland, the Wonder Wheel, Keyspan Stadium, and the newly repainted Steeple Chase with it’s red, yellow and green scaffolding.

Rich at Championable, whose great-grandfather helped build Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel, set a PR by running an 8:12 pace.

“Brooklyn”, a 33-year-old runner with Cystic Fibrosis, ran it in 2 1/2 hours. “Unlike any of my other runs, this one was a steady and predictable run — steady rate of rising stress, that is.”

American Bystander came down with a case of the runs while running. “Imagine me running three miles on the Coney Island Boardwalk, then six miles up Ocean Parkway… [and] finally up Park Circle and into Prospect Park, all the while looking for a porta-potty.” Ugh.

Mike says he “faked” the race, running it on four hours of sleep a week after eating nothing but junk food. But he did it in 1:32:24 … maybe I should try that as a training regimen.

Uptown Girl ran it in 1:55:02 and had enough energy to sprint the last 400m. “It amazes me in how just a few short months I’ve gained that much,” she writes.

“Beast” didn’t run the race, but he was in Prospect Park doing a monster six-hour triathlon workout he began at 3:56 a.m. A “beastlike” workout, indeed.

I expect Blogger co-founder Megnut will eventually post how she did, too. [3/21: It’s here : “Who would have thought 13.1 miles could be sooooo looooong?” G’luck in Paris, Meg.]

Chelle was the fastest blogger — 1:31:24 — faster than she predicted, but she’s still not satisfied.

So nine blog-posts (that I know of) out of 3,325 runners — that’s 0.27% . Wonder how many will be blogging about their races in three or five years…

UPDATE 2: Lisa ran it in 2:31 and has some cool race photos. “i can’t believe it,” she wrote. “i was in so much pain while trying to run for 30 minutes less than 48 hours ago, and here i am, approaching the finish line at the brooklyn half-marathon. ”

AzianBrewer ran it and says he is now “totally hooked.”

“Attorneys Suck” also ran it, although all he has to say on the subject is that he “kicked ass.”