Sometimes, it just comes naturally. You just zone out, become a machine, and just find your pace. The Brooklyn half-marathon was like that Saturday for Uptown Girl:
When I hit straightaways, if all is well, I can just hit that “cruise control.” It’s almost to the effect of feeling effortless. A much different feeling than that of the terrible 5k experience. … The miles just peeled off and it was around mile 5 or 6 when I thought…”hmm I don’t feel bad and wow have I really run 6 already?” I just hit that runner’s zone and had no thoughts…just run baby run!
You only get that feeling after a lot of training — I think it’s why a lot of people try running and then give it up. But it happens, it’s great.
Beast used a different tactic to stay focused:
At the 6 mile mark we would specifically pick off runners. One of us would point out someone ahead of us and we increased our pace until we passed the person. It was a lot of pink jacket with the cute ass or funny looking guy running shirtless. The process served to keep the run interesting.
He ran six miles to get to the starting line and finished in 1:49:21.
Erica Coffin threw her hands in the air and yelled “for freeeench tooooassst!!!” when she crossed the finish line in 2:12:04. She was heading to breakfast later.
Lana kept repeating “V for Victory” to get through it in 2:28. “Every good job, every word of encouragement, worked like 10 power bar gels,” she writes, “making us smile, run faster, and forget about body discomforts.”
Rich at Championable said it was so cold the water in the cups froze, but “it felt good to be 37 years old, 2.5 years sober (today) and running a crazy-ass race in Brooklyn, NY.”
A mile into the race, Vinod wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it, but “eventually warmed up” and finished in 1:59:52.
“Morrissey” ran a 1:35:59 (7:19 pace). “As my role model Dean Karnazes always said ‘Run with your heart'”, he writes. “That’s basically what I did.”
Flygirl toughed it out, too:
Honestly…a DNF was actually on the mind, was thinking of just calling it quits after 9 or 10 but…got a little too much pride for something like that to happen.
She finished in 1:55:24, which is personal worst but she’s planning to do much better in Queens.
SPG also gutted through it …
The thing is, I realized, trotting along…I can’t so much put any weight on my left leg because (despite popping Tylenol pre-race) it really hurts. A lot. When it hits the ground. And I have 11 miles to go.
But SPG is “stubborn and dumb and wasn’t ready to accept that” and finished in 12-minute miles, concluding, “Bring on NYC in November!”
Josh Morphew started off with Kate Sun, who quickly pulled away.
A couple of times I toyed with the idea of catching her but figured I’d play it conservative – we were after all only 5 kilometers into the race. All the time in the world to hang back and when the time is right close the gap…“Surprise! How you doing?”
It didn’t quite work out that way, alas, but he still PR-ed with a 1:36:59. Kate ran a 7:18 pace and has challenged Josh at the Scotland Run.
Chelle ran a 1:31:49 and then ran another 14 miles the next day. “I call it staying on task,” she writes. I’ll say.
“Runner” says at mile 12 she found herself a minute behind her goal of finishing in under a 10-minute pace. So she “pushed myself, ignored my hip and my aching feet, knees and hips, and ran as hard as I could. And I DID IT!! … I’m very tired and extremely sore now, but it’s worth it!”
JC gives an update on the Front Runners and says, “FRNY seriously rocked the house.”
A Japanese runner in Forest Hills was also among the racers … he has the first part of a blog-entry posted.
Thank you for mentioning my post. Now, the 2nd (final) part is posted too! by FH
This sorta makes me wish I had a running blog, too. My re-cap of the Half, were I to write one, would focus on how unbelievably cold it was pre-race, and my (ultimately successful) struggle to find shelter on Coney Island at a convenience store until the race time was close at hand…
Thanks for mentioning my post! That’s awesome!