My Quest to 50
9 Down 41 to Go!
Brooklyn Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
May 17, 2014
This weekend I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon, this was my
15th Half Marathon and I ran a personal best which I am still in
shock. With my knee hurting the last few months and not as much training didn’t
think I would shave off 3 minutes and 14 seconds off of last year’s time. My time was 1 hour and 49 minutes and 10
seconds, although for some may not seem that fast it was for me and I’m so
happy and feel amazed. At times I still shock myself on what my body and my
mind can do. A lot of times it’s how bad you want it and when I started the
race didn’t think I would beat my own personal best but I did.
The race was an early start at 7am; it was a bit chilly and
was shivering the first mile or so. I did start out fast which they say not to
when racing, you need to pace yourself but I kept going and felt good. I thought
of pacing myself once I got into Prospect Park around mile 4 but again I still
felt good so kept going. By the time I hit Ocean Parkway around mile 7 I was at
58minutes which that’s the time I need to be at to beat my time. The course on
ocean parkway can get a bit boring it’s just a straight road that leads to
Coney Island. By mile 11 I was hitting my wall; the bottom of my foot was
bothering felt a blister coming on and I was just wanted it to be over with.
Mile 12 you can see Coney Island at a distance which is where the race finishes
so kept pushing for it. Running onto the boardwalk was not that great, it was a
small ramp and we had to squeeze in and run up to get on the boardwalk. By time
I got on the boardwalk I see the finish line but couldn’t really pick up the
pace because there was sand on the boardwalk and it felt slippery to me so I just
ran to finish line put my hands up that I was done. I looked at my watch and it
said 1:49 but I wasn’t sure how accurate it was being that I started my watch
early so waited for the results and I saw that I beat my time and I was so
happy and proud. I don’t know how I did it because I didn’t follow any training
plan, when my knee hurt I didn’t run and at times I ran once or twice a week.
My next new challenge for June is the Spartan race, I’ve
done a mud run but nothing as challenging as Spartan. I am doing the sprint
which is a 5K in Tuxedo, NY and then Rugged Maniac also in June. I will then be working towards my 10th
state with a half marathon in Denver in July which I’m super excited about.
P.S. KT Tape is the awesome, I used it to wrap my knee and my knee felt great throughout the race.
Until next time Happy Running!
