Apologizes for posting about a race two months late. After my heart attack gas scare I wasn’t sure how I would race the Brooklyn Half. Turns out pretty well.
I couldn’t sleep well the night before. The race was on my mind. I was hoping for something that would confirm or deny that I should enter the NYC Marathon this year. Something that either would help me believe that I wasn’t done with running/racing or was. Perhaps even a moment of clarity in what should be my focus right now or some truth, imagined or otherwise, about life.
I think I got some of that.
Having given up on sleep. I arrived early that morning. The sun was thinking of beginning to rise but remained elusively in the distance. The race corrals were a tantalizing close at a mile from my house. Far enough to consider an uber but close enough to bike or walk. I went with both biking and waling.
I borrowed a Citibank to make the climb from my apartment in Gowanus to Grand Army Plaza. From Grand Army Plaza I walked to the corrals. The sun rose as I reached Grand Army Plaza. For the first time in what seemed like weeks it was going to be a perfect weather day.
The month leading up to the Brooklyn half had been one of the rainiest months in recent memories. It rain on the weekdays. It rained on the weekend. It rained during work. It rained after work. It mostly rained when one wanted to run. Which made running an act of defiance. Defiance against the weather.
After getting through security and settling myself in my corral. I began to really enjoy the morning. 5:30 AM did not seem too early. It did not seem to harsh. Instead it seemed like a time for rising. A time to take control of life and all its difficulties.
As the corals filled out. It became crowded. Runners struggled to get to the bathroom as they always have but I had already found part of the clarity that I was hoping to get out of this race. I had re-learned something simple that I had forgotten. I can get up very early and start my day with a run.
When the race started I brought back another truth that had gotten me through the 2017 NYC Marathon. Heartrate monitors can tell you how close you are to the edge during a race. This probably deserves a full article but the gist is this:
- I can hold a heart rate below 162 beats per minute for a very long time.
- I can hold 162-170 for 40-60mins
- I can hold 170-178 for under 25 mins.
In this race I really watched my heart-rate…. and for the full race it averaged 163 beats per minute:
The last mile I really red lined with a heart-rate in the 170s. I ran about 10 miles of the race in and out of the 160s. With all of this heart-rate watching I wasn’t watching my splits… which are a bit all over the place:
I wasn’t really watching my splits though… And I had no goals going in terms of time. I did do my best and ran a time that I think proves I can still run and have found a bit of maturity in knowing how I can push my body.
All in all, I was completely satisfied with the Brooklyn Half. I put myself out there. Re-Learned a few things about myself. And found I still had enough left to want to race this year. I left the race feeling pumped up for the rest of my running year.