This past Saturday I ran my second Brooklyn Half Marathon. This is a popular New York City event with a character of its own. It starts in Prospect Park where runners are subjected to a quite hilly seven-mile double loop of the park, followed by a six-mile flat run along Ocean Parkway to Coney Island where it finishes on the boardwalk.
This year the weather was warm and very humid but not excessively hot. Nevertheless I struggled immensely in the last few miles of the event and was far from satisfied with my final time. I could put that down to my own form not being up to scratch coupled with the stress of waking at 4:00 am with a 3-hour time zone shift (that meant it was 1:00 am to my body) to get the subway to Brooklyn for a 7:00 am start. However, I was surprised to learn at the finish how many other runners were equally dissatisfied with their performances.
Despite those feelings, I was delighted to link up with my old running club (the Reservoir Dogs) and the partying that followed at Coney Island immediately after the race, involving not just my club but apparently most of the 7,000 finishers, made everyone quickly forget their times and feel good. There is something about this event that makes it one not to be missed!
(c) Warwick Ford, 2010