Somewhere in Brooklyn

Less than 24 hours to go for the NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon, yay!  I was actually at the Brooklyn Half in 2010, but only as a passerby.  I just resumed running after years of off-and-on running.  That morning I decided to run along Stillwell Avenue to Coney Island and sheesh, where did all these people come from?  I asked one of the runners who were walking to the subway station and learned it was the Brooklyn Half Marathon.  What a novel idea, half a marathon instead of the whole thing!  I ran the full marathon back in the late 1990s and even ran 2 shorter races and since then I did not keep up with NYRR.  Funny how one moment you don't care about nyrr.org and a short time later you regularly visit it to check out the races, not that the site changes that often.  I am sure I signed up for those 90s marathons with pen and paper, but not sure how I registered for the 2 shorter races. Maybe NYRR used to mail entry forms to its members?  How did we ever live our lives without the Internet?

Bumping into the Brooklyn Half in 2010 gave me an idea.  I was just back into running and did 3K everyday, maybe 9K on the weekends.  I knew I was not ready for the full marathon, but perhaps a Half is achievable.  I signed up for the Queens Half Marathon and managed to finish it under the 3-hour limit.  It was one of the hottest days of the summer and I walked from Mile 10 to Mile 11 or one of those miles at the end.  The important thing is the goal was achieved.  Next I ran the Bronx Half, under better weather and improved my time.  Lastly, one freezing day in January 2011 I ran the Manhattan Half and set my personal best of 2 hours and 23 minutes.  Maybe it is wishful thinking but for the Brooklyn Half I want to outdo myself again.  Conditions are not the same, of course, cold weather vs. hot weather.  I was able to run the entire Manhattan Half without stopping for water.  But we can dream, can we not?