QDR QUEENS MARATHON 2017

I ran the second annual QDR (Queens Distance Runners) Queens Marathon two days ago.  As usual, that evening I had difficulty lifting the legs and going down stairs was painful.  But here I am, two days later, I can go about 99% normal.  I cannot recall if I "recovered" this quick the last time I ran a marathon.  Maybe my body improved somehow, but I find that hard to believe because I no longer run everyday like I used to.  The only logical conclusion is I didn't push myself hard enough.

The day started early, like 5 A.M.  Packet pickup started at 6:30 A.M. and I was there at that time.  Parking that early in the day was plentiful, mostly under the Van Wyck Expressway.  The shirt-pickup tent just got started, I wanted a Men XL shirt but they didn't have my size so I went back to the car and took a nap, thinking they would sort things out eventually.  They didn't, which is fine by me, I have too many shirts already, I just needed a layer to ward off the cold so I settled for a Women L.  I should have learned the Hollywood Sequel Way, i.e. if something works well just repeat the process.  Having disposable clothes at the NYRR NYC Half exactly a week earlier kept me warm during the long wait in the corral.  I made the mistake thinking Sunday would be just as warm as Saturday and came in shorts and a few thin layers of tech fabrics.  It was cold!  I lucked out and didn't have to deal with rain but IT WAS COLD!

The line for the porta-potty was long as usual.  Luckily, the race took place in a public park, the Flushing Meadows Park, and the public restroom by the subway station was already open, thanks go to some guy who informed the people waiting at the end of the long queue.  I ran there with some other guy and more showed up after us.  Inside the restroom it was so warm I thought about just staying there.

The great thing about races organized/produced by NYCRuns is runners don't have to wait a long time in the corral.  Yes, just one corral.  I simply waited in the back and it wasn't long before the whole thing started.  Here comes four loops of Flushing Meadows Park with many turns!

The race started near the pool, to the east of the Unisphere.  A few turns here and there and runners found themselves heading for the big lake.  A full loop of the lake, with a few spots with rainwater from the previous night blocking the road.  Back to the main part of the park and we made a left to enter the area near Terrace on the Park and Queens Zoo.  One more time back to park center, this time we made more turns here and there and sorta went around the Unisphere then passed by the ramp to the 7 train station.  More turns again and runners pass the back and side of the Aquatic Center, sorta parallel to the Van Wyck Expressway, then turn toward the Pool of Industry, make 300 (?) degrees around the Pool then back to the start.  Loop 1 done!  Of course you can see the course better on the NYCRuns, supposedly the Flushing Meadows Half-Marathon course is the same as this marathon.

With insufficient preparations I had anxiety about the race.  Sure I ran marathons before but I had more preparations then.  I am lucky enough to not have any permanent injuries, so far, and I prefer not to have any after this ill-prepared marathon.  At least for the first loop, what kept me going was the image below.  I came up with a new joke involving the age-old, "Is the glass half-empty or is it half-full?"  For the first time, I ran half-marathon and full-marathon one weekend after the other.  So I came up with the idea of putting both medals in a drinking glass and pose the question, "Is the glass half-marathon or is it full-marathon?"  My jokes are great.  The best.  Period.  (No, just kidding, I'm not that vain.)  Sure I could just use some marathon medal from a few years ago and the joke would still be good, but it's not Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday right?  It's Sunday!  So on I went for the first loop to earn a new, shiny marathon medal.

For the second loop, I decided to use the public restroom near the turn to Pool of Industry.  I think it's Mile 25 but now I don't know for sure now that the event is not listed on the web any more.  There were other restrooms along the way but I think this one was the closest to the course.  For the NYC Half I held out until the very end but it's unavoidable with a marathon.  Some runners aim to P.R. all the markers along a marathon route, me I just run to finish.  No need to hold it until after the second loop, as the restroom may not be that conveniently located along the race course.  As expected, I didn't P.R. with my half-marathon time, it was 2:35+ when I finally finished Loop #2.

Loops #3 and #4 somehow just passed by.  I am sure many runners do this - identify someone running at a pace near you and try to beat them.  For us back-of-the-pack runners, of course we won't win any top prizes but it's a way to keep going.  I found a few and managed to pass them and also stayed ahead, only to lose my "lead" after the restroom breaks.  Or the walk after each loop to wolf down a pack of Gu.  A friend mentioned some weeks back I may get seriously injured if I'm not careful, so I was careful and took one more walk break after Mile 23.  My "lead" totally evaporated then, as all my competitions sailed past me.  In the end, I managed to surpass a few of those people, after Mile 24.  My finish time of 5:42 or so was a personal worst, not counting the 6+ I spent for the NYC Marathons back in 1994 and 1995, without time chip I think the wait on the Verrazano Bridge was not excluded.  I wish I had my Garmin GPS to confirm the time and distance, as Strava app on my phone said I ran 28 miles.  Sure there were a few big puddles that required going to the side and there were so many turns they may add up, but I am not sure if all that extra distance would really make that big of a difference.

I love inaugural races, new things, but I'm also a non-repeating customer.  I actually registered for last year's Queens Marathon but had couldn't run it because high school spring break overlapped it.  I went on a sea cruise instead.  I'm glad I finally made the run, even with the dismal finish time.  Still, I rarely repeat the same marathon, and the many turns just ensure that I won't repeat the Queens Marathon.  Next year, I plan to run the Suffolk County Marathon, which should be its 4th year, I think, or the Rockapulco Marathon, x loops on the Rockaway Boardwalk.  I cannot afford to fly all over to run marathons so I plan to cover all the local ones instead.  Of course, hopefully I'll run those marathon with more preparation.

NYRR NYC HALF-MARATHON 2017

Wishful thinking, it is part of human nature, right?  There I was last night, laying awake wishing I will pull off a miracle and finish the half-marathon in 2:13, which was my best time for a half, back in 2012.  But I no longer run everyday any more.  Back in 2012, fresh off from a job that dragged on for 12 mostly painful years, well, there were some good ones, but near the end it was exhausting, I had much time to prepare for the half-marathon in Staten Island.  Yes, I ran my best 5K back in August last year, by having a good friend pace me and I also used better breathing techniques.  But it was a 5K, or 3.1 miles long, versus a half-marathon, glorious 13.1 miles.  The cheering crowd in Times Square and elsewhere supposedly can give runners a good boost, but it won't make up that much to cover lack of training.  Yet I dreamt a little.  Then I decided I would just be socially unfriendly and not spend time on queue for porta-potty.

It was my first time running the NYRR NYC Half-Marathon.  The high cost, $120+ I think, was a main factor for me to avoid it.  There are so many other races to spend my hard-earned money on.  Sure you don't get to run through Times Square but is that alone worthwhile the big fee?  But last year I was supposed to be a guide for an Achilles runner who decided at the last minute to run with some friend of his, so I ended up at the cheer zone for my track club instead.  It was nice to be out there, seeing all the energy.  I volunteered at a water station for the NYC Half some years ago, but being at the cheer zone was different.  I decided then that I would actually run it.  It helped that I did all five races for the five boroughs of NYC to gain automatic entry into the NYC Half.  I know, the NYC Half is so highly sought after you don't just register for them.  You either earn a guaranteed entry or try your luck with lottery, or some other means.

There was a big snowstorm on the Tuesday before the Sunday race.  Then the weather report said there would be more storm or lousy weather on the weekend.  Ay yay yay, just my luck, another messy run like the Staten Island Half 2016.  Luckily, it turned out there was no precipitation whatsoever.  Just so very cold!  I try to make the races as simple as possible so I went without bag check.  First time ever I had a disposable layer on, both the top and the bottom parts of the body.  I hate the idea of throwing away clothes that are still wearable but I have too many pieces of clothes anyway.  Besides, NYRR does a good job of collecting the throwaway clothes for Good Will.  I placed my pieces neatly on a rail, near other people's stuff, I am sure they will find a new good home.  I just had the scary feeling that I left something valuables in those clothes, but I made sure there was nothing.

I was in Wave 3, Corral D.  At NYRR races, a slowpoke like me is usually in Corral K, but because the NYC Half had three different Waves, it appeared like I moved up several Corrals but I know better.  It was nice to bump into track club members: Jackie, who was a volunteer team leader; and Murray, who was assigned to the same Corral and Wave with me.  Murray planned to run at a certain pace but we started out together and he periodically said we were too fast than his planned pace.  Around Harlem Hill I went ahead with my pace, which was not that much faster, but I wanted to at least beat my 2:30 from last year's Brooklyn Half.  I ran a few more Half-Marys since Brooklyn but I was sort of a pacer so my finish time was 2:45 or 3:00.  I ran slower going uphill then tried to make higher leaps as I came down the hills.  I walked twice to wolf down the Gu's that I brought with me, and maybe again shortly afterward to grab water or Gatorade to wash the stuff down.  I think I stopped one more time at Mile 12 to get another drink, last one for the long stretch home.

I did stick to my plan of not stopping for anything other than walk breaks.  I acknowledged when called but did not stop for photos.  That's the extent of my being unsocial.  It was good to see Jackie again around the 72nd Street Transverse in Central Park as she tried to get out of Central Park to get to the finish line.  I loved how Joe at 42nd Street cupped his hand to better holler at me.  I don't run with headphone and keeps my eyes open so I usually catch everything.  Actually, I probably saw Joe with his cupped hands before I heard him.  Also on 42nd Street I spotted Linda from the back and asked for confirmation while she was re-fueling, nom nom nom.  I knew Joyce would be at Mile 9's fluid station, with the Back On My Feet group.  She perched high on something so it was easy to spot her and we exchanged greetings so it was good.  Another wishful thinking, I thought there might be a chance my club's cheer zone would still be around when I got there.  But it was a cold day and for us Wave 3 people that would mean the cheerleaders have to be there for like three hours.  I had a PPTC hoodie on so occasionally other people would call the club name and I would respond with a fist pump or such.  All the words of encouragement really made a difference, even if it didn't make me finish faster, it sure kept me going.

Strava app messed up and didn't record the tunnel portion of the race.  Instead, it said I went quickly uptown to Chambers Street then zoomed back at the tunnel exit.  It also went bonker in Times Square.  Altogether, per Strava app, I ran over 22 miles at 6 or so minutes per mile.  Of course I didn't.  It still said I did 2:30, but since I stopped Strava after a few steps past the finish line, it turned out I made sub-2:30, or 2:29:43 to be exact.  Sigh, such is the life of a slow runner, had to forgo toilet visits, sacrifice most social interaction, i.e. no stopping for photos, just to squeak by some goal.  Some fast runners would have stomach cramps, wait on long lines for the toilets, then still P.R. by 15 minutes.  But with this sports, it's usually just the runners against their younger self so I'm good.

PROSPECT PARK SESQUICENTENNIAL - ROUTE INSTRUCTION

At 9 A.M. Sunday April 2, I will help lead a run with the Prospect Park Track Club to celebrate The Park's 150-year anniversary.  The route will spell out... drum rolls... "150"!  I already posted what the route looks like but while it is obvious to me how it should be run, it may not be so to others.  Follows is the step-by-step instruction, as shown in the accompany picture:

1. Start near the corner of 10th Street and Seventh Avenue, on the side of the street closer to 11th Street.  Note that we won't start at the corner but rather slightly away from the corner, toward the park.
2. Start the watch/app (which from now on I'll just call "watch"), walk across the street then pause the watch.
3. Run around the corner to 9th Street and Seventh Avenue then un-pause the watch.  Wait a little bit for the straight line from 10th Street to be drawn.
4. Run toward the park then turn right toward 10th Street and make a U-turn to head toward 8th Street.
5. Follow arrow directions, be sure to make the kick-up at the lower left of the "5".  I want to make sure "150" does not look like "ISO", so these little extra lines here and there are actually very important.
6. At the corner of 7th Street and Eighth Avenue, the back corner of New York Methodist Hospital, pause watch again.
7. Run around the block to the corner of 6th Street and Seventh Avenue and un-pause the watch.  You should be at the entrance to Barnes & Noble Bookstore.  Again, linger at the corner a few seconds to make sure the straight line from 7th Street and Eighth Avenue is drawn before continuing on.
8. The rest is straightforward, IMHO.  Run toward 1st Street and Seventh Avenue then loop back toward 2nd Street, run counter-clockwise as shown to make the zero.
9. Stop when you get back to 1st and Seventh.  The run is less than 3 miles, if you want to have more mileage, but without messing up the "0", draw the "0" again but this time at Carroll Street and Prospect Park West instead of turning into Carroll, continue on toward Grand Army Plaza. Of course, if you already stopped your watch when you first got back to 1st and Seventh you can run anywhere without marring your work of art.

Hope you find the instruction useful.  Sign up for the run at 

https://goo.gl/UknXdS

PROSPECT PARK SESQUICENTENNIAL

Prospect Park in Brooklyn opened to the public in 1867.  It is turning 150 years old this year.  The Prospect Park Alliance is hosting many events starting Saturday April 1.  On April 2, my running club, the Prospect Park Track Club, will host a run in cooperation with the Alliance.  I designed a route that spells out "150".  Faster runners will lead the group from the front while slowpokes like me will lead from the back.  The run starts at 9 A.M. and will be slightly less than 3 miles.

PPTC runs normally start from Grand Army Plaza but this run is different and will meet at 10th Street and Seventh Avenue, which is the top of the "1" in "150".  Actually, it will be slightly away from that corner, toward the park.  Usually when runners spell words and numbers they make very blocky and straight characters.  I go through great length to make sure the characters are curvy, that corners are rounded and not at ninety degrees.  It is easy to mistakenly spell "ISO" instead of "150" so I want to avoid that.  More details will be provided on how that's done.

Register at https://goo.gl/UknXdS

For more information about anniversary events hosted by the Prospect Park Alliance, visit

https://www.prospectpark.org/news-events/events/2017/4/2#opening-weekend-2017

CALL FOR BACKUP

We love our iPhones and use them for everything.  We take them everywhere and take photographs of everything, whether they move or not.  Some of us even record movies with our phones.  Unfortunately, shit happens and sometimes the beloved phone is lost and there goes everything with it.

I've tried a few different methods to backup my iPhone and was unhappy with them.  In no particular order, they were Apple iTunes, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Mophie Space Pack.

Apple iTunes costs nothing to use, mostly.  Some people may have only a smartphone as their only communication device, but most people also own a computer.  They would then need to download iTunes, hook the iPhone to the computer and everything just gets backed up to the computer.  Technically speaking I can go back to this method now, since these days I have regular access to my MacBook Pro.  Until a few months ago, my son hogged the computer most of the time and I didn't use it that much.  Logging onto the computer, connect the cable, wait for the backup to occur, etc seems like too much hassle.

Google Drive worked fine for a while but before I know it, 5 GB was almost gone.  The trouble with Google Drive is it holds not just photos you uploaded but also your Gmail stuff etc from other apps in the Google universe.  Sure I can buy more space but I hate the whole idea of renting if I can help it.  Again, I probably should re-visit Google Drive, that is, get the app and set it to sync my phone's content automatically and regularly when WiFi signal is found.  I recently ran some tool on Google Drive to convert photos to other format and free up a ton of space.

I have no space issue with Microsoft OneDrive.  15 GB is plenty for my photos and the few videos I occasionally take.  However, I cannot recommend OneDrive because new users only get 5 GB.  I almost missed the opt-in to retain the 15 GB.  5 GB nowadays is not too much.

Lastly, a big disappointment, is Mophie Space Pack.  A rugged phone case, 32 GB of space to store, and a batter pack, what is there not to love?  The case works great as long as you don't drop the phone face down, which ultimately happened to me.  The battery pack, perhaps like all batteries, dies slowly over time.  To get to the 32 GB of space, you have to go through a free app provided by Mophie.  It wouldn't be so bad if it actually works.  For me, it rarely did.  In the end, perhaps through some Apple updates, whatever I managed to put into the 32 GB somehow just disappeared.  By then I was too tired of the Mophie to bother troubleshooting it.

Finally, I think I have the solution in the Hootoo Flash Drive with Extended Lightning Connector, aka PlugMate.  The particular model I have is the HT-IM003, with 64 GB of space and made of aluminum alloy.  Like the Mophie Space Pack, to get to that big, empty space you need an app, in this case, iPlugmate.  Unlike the Mophie app, iPlugmate actually works, all the time!  Plug it in, iPlugmate asks for permission, and if you already configured the app to automatically backup photos and videos, that's what it will do.  You can also backup the address book.  It would be nice if settings for other apps can also be backed up, but just photos and videos is fine for me for now.  I manually backed up all my music files just now.

For peace of mind, this is all you need to do with the PlugMate.

Select the Setting symbol in the upper right (the gear).

Select Backup

Touch the toggle by Auto Backup to make it green.

That's all there is.  Now at least once a day, connect the Hootoo Plugmate to the iPhone and you'll be rewarded with a message so many photos were backed up.  You would be told if any files failed during backup, it hasn't happened to me yet, but your mileage may vary.

THE UPS AND DOWN OF LIFE

Not long after landing in JFK, my family moved into our own apartment, way up in the Bronx, nearest subway station being the Fordham Road station on the #4 line. My father got a dishwashing job, I think at Club 21, while my eldest sister went to work and also attended school. All my working life I learned a few things on my own but they were just an extra hour here and there after work or on the weekend, never anything formal. It was really difficult to go to work full-time then go to school afterward. Good job there, sis!

Us kids had it somewhat easier just to concentrate on school. Some days after moving to the Bronx, one day my mother, my other sister, and I set out to find the school where we were supposed to register for. It was John Peter Tetard JHS, although I only know that years later when I return to the area after moving to Queens. In the movies, most of the time when someone asks for direction, it works like a charm. Not for the three of us on that day. Perhaps it was because of our broken English, we got pointed that direction then some other way. We went downhill at some point then made a right only to climb up a series of steps, like that shown below. The view in the photo is from just outside the school looking down. For the next few days or weeks that was how we got to school. Go downhill, make a right, then climb up the steps. We were just so unsure of what was where we stuck to that one routine.

At some point we learned we could ride a city bus to school. The school gave us some discount pass but we thought it was completely free. We would just show the pass and went to find a seat. I think because there were not that many immigrants back then, people’s tolerance of our ignorance was higher. We got free rides for a few weeks before one bus driver somehow explained that we had to pay a nickel for the ride. Or maybe it was a quarter. Eventually, we discovered that school was not really that far away. We ended up walking to and from school using the shortest route, which did not involve any hill repeats.

YOU HAVE ARRIVED

Just like that, 37 years went by. It was a cold night in New York City, just like tonight. Maybe colder since my family just came from tropical Singapore. Sure, we had a stop-over in Belgium but we stayed inside the airport the whole time so we didn’t know what the outside temperature was. An uncle on my mother side, a first cousin of hers on her father’s side, was the sponsor. He met us at JFK Airport with winter jackets for all of us. Uncle lived near the intersection of Neptune Avenue and Brighton First Street in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn. We were to stay with him for a short period of time so technically our first home in the U.S. was in Brooklyn. Uncle probably drove us home along the Belt Parkway West but I don’t remember anything from the car ride. Except that I threw up at the end of the trip. Unlike other family members, I don’t easily experience motion sickness, whether on airplane or on boat, but for some reason the car trip from JFK did it.

We stayed with Uncle perhaps for a week before the refugee agency found us an apartment in the Fordham Road section of the Bronx. Again I have few fragments of memory of the stay. I do recall being introduced to cheese pizza and most likely Sprite or 7-Up. It was sweet, bubbly, and white, that much I’m sure. I also remember being a bad guest by taking too long a bath. It was the first time I bathed in a tub, the tub filled with water and bubbles, and there was my younger cousin’s toy aircraft carrier, perhaps other toys too. So I got carried away. Auntie had to gently knock on the door to tell me to finish up.

We arrived on a Thursday so perhaps on Monday someone, perhaps Uncle and his son, accompanied me to some school perhaps to register. Maybe the plan at the time was for us to stay there a few months so Uncle thought I should be enrolled in school. I took one year of English before leaving Viet Nam but had no actual experience of using the language. Maybe my Uncle walked his son to school and thought it would be nice for me to come along to see the school. I am sure I went to some school shortly after arriving in the U.S. but for what reason I am not sure now.

I vaguely recall my late father saying that he made sure Uncle understood that he would like us to have our own place. That he didn’t want to burden Uncle any more than necessary. Of course it all depended on how quick the refugee agency can find us a place. Perhaps the refugee agency already prepared things ahead, or it was 1980 and apartments were plentiful in the Bronx, we had our own place shortly. Maybe by then the effect of jet lag wore off or I already gotten used to the new environment, I do have more clearer memories of the place. We did stay there for almost half a year. Next time, I’ll try to dig up some memories from that time.

COMING TO AMERICA

Around January 7, 1980, I made the following preparation for my plane trip to America from Singapore:

• made sure I brought along a pair of running shoe, as I love exploring the new area on foot
• Googled local running clubs, maybe I’ll have time to join them for a run
• also Googled local races, also a great way to see the new neighborhood
• charged my cell phone and laptop, brought all chargers and extra batteries

Huh? Yeah, other than the fact that yes around that time I did take a plane trip from Singapore to the U.S., indirectly, none of those so-called preparation happened. Not because the technology etc was not yet available, but because I was a mere teen who literally came to the U.S. with nothing but the clothes on his body. Plus a pair of sneakers unworthy of New York City winter. OK, maybe I did have a few other sets of clothes, perhaps some life essentials like toothbrush, but none of these other creature comfort things.

After a few months spent on different islands in Indonesia, we spent two (?) weeks in Singapore to catch a plane to the U.S. The “home” we stayed at was just a shaded parking spot. Wide open on four sides, perhaps with a tarp and some sheets as “floor”, all our meager possession in one neat pile. By the time we arrived, the nearby buildings were allocated to other refugees so our group had to stay on the outside. I suppose we used the lavatory inside the buildings but I cannot recall how we prepared food. We probably just ate right there in the little spot.

It’s been almost 37 years so I cannot remember much but two events are still clear in my mind. In the first event, I recall going to my father’s workplace, a construction site, the new airport, I think, to let him know we had a visitor. Back in Viet Nam, we had a neighbor who had a relative living in Singapore. Somehow we notified the relative about our arrival in Singapore so she came to visit, with her husband, bringing much needed supplies. I don’t remember if someone asked me to go notify my father but off I went. I think I even ran. It started to rain, not heavily, but just enough to make it uncomfortable, poorer vision and being wet. Somehow I asked a man on motorcycle for help in locating my father and he gave me a ride. I don’t know how I expressed myself, I know I knew some Cantonese back then, but isn’t Mandarin the main language in Singapore? Maybe I was lucky to bump into a Cantonese-speaking person who happened to know my father, because he did bring me to my father. Of course my father was working and couldn’t just leave. I still remember he told me later to be careful not to get my toes caught in the motorcycle’s spokes. Singapore is a warm-climate country and we wore flip-flop everywhere, open toes and all.

The other memory is a just a hand away. While I don’t recall what I did in Singapore for two weeks, I know I played a lot of chess. Chinese chess, that is, with the elephants, the guards, the kings who cannot face each other directly, etc. The chessboard may have been a real one, printed on foldable plastic sheet, or handmade on cardboard. The pieces were somehow bought, usually made out of plastic or wood. (Some other time I’ll tell you about how I participated in making pieces for a set of Chinese chess.) Whatever flimsy cardboard box that came with the chess set usually break down over time so we usually keep the pieces in tin cans, re-purposed after we finished with our rationed food. One day during a game of chess I had my hand on the can, fingers inside the ragged, metal edge, while my opponent had his hand around the can. I think we jokingly fought over the can, for whatever reason, and he yanked it hard. The index finger on my left hand was cut and blood splashed. I bled a lot and I still remember one of the adults say I should eat more vegetable so that my blood wouldn’t flow so easily. Maybe I was bandaged or maybe the blood clotted after a while, but I still have the white scar to look at years later. I also know that my chess opponent was a nice kid, someone I got along well, so it was just a silly accident.

CITYSTRIDES - WHAT MORE CAN A MAP-LOVER ASK FOR?

I love maps.  I sometimes spell words during my runs.  I started to spell the many Brooklyn neighborhoods but life got in the way.  At some point, I thought about how nice it would be to have all my runs/walks on one map.  Turns out there is such a tool and it's called CityStrides.  You connect your CityStrides account to Strava, MapMyRun, and Runkeeper then all your routes are in one map!  So wonderful!  Of course, in my case many of my carefully drawn routes are no longer recognizable because the many lines overlap but it's still a nice way to visualize one's activities.  I love the tool so much I actually update this blog after a multi-month hiatus!!!

MARINE PARK IS ON THE MAP

I have good news and bad news.  Good news is I am still on this ambitious project of "mapping" every Brooklyn neighborhood by running and spelling their names, in that neighborhood.  Or somewhere close.  Just this weekend I finally completed "Marine Park".  The bad news is I took too long to do this Garmin web site finally got rid of Classic view so now any additional maps will look slightly different.  "Marine Park" is one such.  The lines are darker, which is fine, but luckily the underlying map is still the same.  Whew.  All the more reason I should hurry up and finish this before any more changes, whether with Garmin.com or with my own health.  You never know, one day you can be healthy and all, the next day you can no longer run.

For "Marine Park", I broke one of my rules about running.  I hate driving and when I go for a run, I absolutely don't want to drive somewhere just to run there.  But I have to be realistic now.  While I can certainly drive to Marine Park to do the run, it is just much faster when I drive.  And there is plenty of parking at the park, so I really have no excuse not to.  With this executive decision made, I plan to drive to Prospect Park etc some weekend day, really early in the morning for a better chance of finding a parking spot, and be done with those faraway places.  Let's hope the map will be filled soon!

UNSET IN SUNSET PARK

Continuing my philosophy of "slow progress is better than no progress" today I resumed "writing" Sunset Park.  I thought I only had enough time for two lowercase letters, so "un" it was, i.e. Sunset still needs the uppercase S.  Below is the doctored image with "un" and "set" combined.  There was a second green marker to denote the start of today's walk, but I don't like those things so I left it hidden in the lower layer.  Only a trace of green shows in the combined image.  The area was desolate and it was getting dark, the rain was coming down again, so it was good that I didn't attempt to complete Sunset.  Any day now, any day now.  We seem to go to Costco once a month so if I don't finish this in January, by February it will be done!

SET IN SUNSET PARK

What a great feeling it is once you are resolved to do something and make modifications to your plan to achieve the final outcome.  So I decided I would walk if I have to, instead of running, just to complete my run-mapping of Brooklyn.  Running is more interesting but not always optimal, like after a meal.  Just a few days ago I churned out "Slope", for Park Slope, after a brunch with the track club.  Today I was in the neighborhood of Sunset Park and had a little time for running.  Not enough to do the entire "Sunset Park", or even the word "Sunset", but that is not a problem.  I am already stitching together the map in Photoshop, no harm to do one syllable at a time, like "set" as in "Sunset".  "t" didn't come out a straight as it should but it's beyond my control.  I guess at different time of day the satellite can be uncooperative.  Perhaps when I stitch "set" together with the other syllables it won't look so bad.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - BROOKLYN RUN-MAPPING RETURNS

Happy New Year!  I didn't declare it but deep down I know I want to resume blogging.  There should be only so much Facebooking one can do.  Be more of a content producer, not just a mere Liker and Bait-Clicker.  Without much further ado, here's a topic close to my heart, running and spelling out the neighborhoods of Brooklyn!  I prefer to call it Run-Mapping!

I should have known better but as I was done with the areas close to where I live, things get more challenging.  I have this weird rule about running - no driving to the place to run.  In other words, I should not drive x miles out to some place just to run around.  I guess it has to do with my strong dislike of driving.  If I am to complete this run-mapping of Brooklyn nabes, sooner or later I'll have to drive to where I want to run.  Until such time, I'll make the most of my travel.

Late in December I ran to Marine Park just to spell "Park".  Marine Park is about 5 km from me so spelling the whole "Marine Park" was not possible time-wise.  Lately on these runs I have one or two phone apps to track my "writing".  At one time I even thought if not for this run-map project, I probably can retire my Garmin GPS watch.  The apps work the same way with regards to pause and resume, so I can use them to virtually cut through city blocks to make letters like K and R with their pesky diagonal lines.  When they actually work as they are supposed to, that is.  On the "Park" run, they didn't.  Both Strava and MapMyFitness totally miss the P and then went crazy the rest of the run.  Luckily, I did have the trusty Garmin, even though the lack of a rectangular city grid threw me off my course.  As shown below, "Pa" is a big disappointment, even to a non-perfectionist like me.  The "a" is too far away from its neighbors and "r" looks too much like an "n".  I should have done my usual virtual trespassing in making the diagonal lines in "k".  I use the picture in the map anyway but deep down I know I will re-run that route to make a better word.

Even though I am a member of the Prospect Park Track Club, I don't go to Prospect Park that much.  Living far south almost in Coney Island, it's a bit of a trip for me.  But I do go there from time to time and I should take advantage of those trips to finally add Park Slope and neighbors to my map.

On New Year's Day, I volunteered as a backup time-keeper for the Club's Harry Handicap race, held in Prospect Park.  After the race, I had some food and was in no shape to run so I did the next best thing to spell out "Slope" - I walked.  It was not as interesting as running but for these far-flung places I just have to make the best of my time.  Again, MapMyFitness screwed up but Garmin Forerunner again saved the day.  I gladly used the picture in the big map although there are many more street blocks I need to capture to make the map truly continuous.

Given the annoying changes Garmin make to its web site, I should hurry up and run more neighborhoods sooner before some changes render my techniques useless.  Wish me luck! 

I HATE DRIVING

Recently I found out belatedly that, back in September, there was a Car-Free Day.  Or something to that extent.  Maybe it was Use-The-Car-As-Little-As-Possible Day.  Might as well that I didn't know about it, because with my current job I wouldn't be able to participate anyway.

In all my years of holding a job, I was lucky to be able to do so with taking public transportation, mostly.  Sure, going to Jersey City tacked on at least an additional 25 minutes, or more when the PATH misbehaves, but still I didn't have to watch out for other drivers or look for parking once I got to work.  Nowadays I spent at least 2.5 hours on the road, that's just getting to work and back.  Some days I may have to visit three different client sites, no fun.  Driving itself is tiresome but parking is not much better.  I used to think that only busy areas like Midtown Manhattan, or maybe the entire Manhattan, and some commercial districts, have severe problems with parking.  But no, you can be out in the boondocks of western Long Island and there is still a shortage of parking space.  Over the few months that I've been a car-commuting worker, I came up with a few workarounds to soften the blow.  Mostly with driving, parking not so much.

• Don't stick to just one route.  Easy said than done in some scenarios, but always worthwhile to explore.  I used to think the Cross Island Parkway is a great alternative to the Van Wyck Expressway, northbound anyway, because I took the CIP occasionally on weekends.  Now that I need it during rush hours, fuhgeddaboutit!  Even as early as 6 A.M. there would be cars heading to the Bronx via the CIP.  It took me many tries but eventually I found a great local route that mostly runs along the CIP and not have to deal with the lousy traffic.  It may not be faster but it sure is headache-free.
• Let technology work for you.  It can be low-tech like the radio and its traffic report, or high-tech like Google Map and Waze.  I get a great kick out of knowing ahead where the traffic jam ends and re-enter the highway just beyond the jam.  It does not always work, but it's a wonderful feeling when it does.
• Along the same note, use technology to find alternate routes.  The new route does not have to replace the old one completely, just to avoid some sucky section is good enough.  I used to hate the part of the Conduit Avenue North around 135th Avenue or 140th Street where the right lane forces a right turn.  One day I decided to see where the right turn would lead me and lo and behold while you'll be a bit off-target from your destination traffic is much better than going through the busy intersection of the Van Wyck and the Belt.  While some days I don't mind going slowly with traffic while my favorite podcast is on, most of the time I just want to quickly be done with the car trip.  Having the optimal route is the way to get that done soonest.
• I don't know how I used to do it with paper maps but turn-by-turn driving direction is a wonderful thing.  Especially when you go to an unfamiliar destination.  Most of the time the street signs are tiny and useless.  By the time you read what it says, with the jerk behind you honking madly, you already missed the turn and have to somehow loop back.  Note that I didn't say make a U-turn.  I absolutely hate it when drivers make a U-turn on a narrow street.
• Remember I said for parking I found no solace?  It's a matter of luck.  Or if you don't mind making crazy U-turns.  One thing I found out is, if you are like me and not mind walking long distances, sometimes there are residential area near your destination that you can park at.  Of course I've come across some towns that have local regulations forbidding street parking, like between 9 AM and 6 PM, but most of the time free parking can be had a few blocks away.  Again, you can use Google Maps or the like to scope out the area before you get there.  Usually an overhead view of the area is enough for me, but maybe you can go full-blown and use Street Maps and such.

I am no Traffic Sam, as I know just a tiny portion of the big NYC metro, but if any of these tips help someone saves a little time or a few drops of gasoline, then I am happy.

ANIMATED GIF TEST FOR FACEBOOK

WELCOME TO BAY RIDGE ETC

Welcome to Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, the two neighborhoods I recently added to my Brooklyn GPS map.  The map really needs to be expanded to include other neighborhoods but work has kept me busy.  I know, I know, Manhattan Beach still does not have its beach and Bath Beach should be further to the west.  So many nabes, so little time.

I must note that Bay Ridge was somewhat challenging in that its east-west streets are wider than the north-south ones.  I ended up using lots of iTrespassing to make the lowercase letters half-a-block wide.  It was a decision I made while out running.  In the planning stage, I was going to use the entire block's width, thus would not have enough width to spell Ridge, so I started the e in Dyker Heights and it unfortunately overlaps the D in Dyker.  Another word to re-write some day perhaps...

BEAST PACING

I love running and already explored different areas of the sports.  I've run various distances from 5K to full marathon.  I volunteered/worked as course marshal, lead cyclist, water station staff, bag-checker, photographer, etc.  Something new I'm about to get into is pacing, that is, running a race at a specific pace holding a corresponding sign so that other runners of that pace can follow.  Or pass me if they choose to.  My first pacing race will be the Run and Ride Half Marathon at Dorney Park, http://www.runandriderace.com/#!dorneyparkhalf/c24p1 .  The company that coordinate pacers and race organizers is Beast Pacing, http://beastpacing.com .  I love encouraging runners so I really look forward to the race.  I just hope they don't run with headphones so that my words of encouragement won't go to waste.  I myself don't run with headphones whatsoever.  Here's to Beast Pacing!

The images are made from two route arts, from my morning runs yesterday (Saturday Aug 29) and today (Sunday Aug 30), digitally combined.

A BEACH IN BROOKLYN

Having a job is nice but being at work 9 hours a day plus 2+ hours driving back and forth and you then don't have time for fun things, like running and tracing out words that represent the locale.  Even with some new pairs of running shoes to test out I didn't add any new neighborhoods to my GPS Brooklyn map.  I finally got around to putting on a new pair of Kismet Core Pop from Newton Running and made the "Manhttn" map below, for the neighborhood of "Manhattan Beach".  I know, a few vowels are missing but I really did not have much width and height to work with.  Hampton Avenue only runs so far east.  While I can go as far as the gate of Brooklyn Community College, I wouldn't have the necessary two-avenue height to make the t's stand out.  Using artistic license and dropping the a's is the way to go.  Sorry, Manhattan.

For work, I drive by the area everyday, via the Belt Parkway, so one of these days I'll just stop by and spell the shorter version of Beach, namely "Bch".  Yeah, I know the neighborhood border on the west is West End Avenue.  In planning the route, I realized that if I stick to that, the second t would not have room to display its horizontal stroke.  So invade Brighton Beach, at Corbin Place, I did.

BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS

After a two-hour car drive in yucky NYC traffic to go from the Coney Island area to the High Bridge Celebration, I felt pretty lousy.  The festival was good but since I just visited the area a few weeks back for the High Bridge 5K Trail Race, it was not as big a novelty as it could be.  The long car drive didn't help.  I salvaged the day by completing my push to put Brighton Beach, Brooklyn on my map.

It was quite a challenge to add the Beach to the seaside town.  There was not much vertical room to work so I had to use the beach area.  In the beginning, I walked with my running shoes but after a while I decided to blend in by walking barefoot.  As a bonus, I was able to walk right into the lapping waves, aaahhh.  Note that not only I didn't have much vertical space to maneuver in, because of construction, the Boardwalk ends at Coney Island Avenue, where the h is.  I spelled backward from the h and used MapMyRun's on-screen path to make sure I have enough space between the letters. Everything went well until B, which turned out to have too small a belly.  Oh well, it's a busty B, or maybe it's just upside down.

Speaking of Brighton Beach memories, here is what used to be "my" first home in the U.S.  This is the corner of Brighton 1 Street and Neptune Avenue.  Neptune runs left to right whereas Brighton 1 is where the five cars point to.  The road used to be one-way the other way.  My first night in the U.S. was spent in a house that would be where where the white car (fourth in the line) is.  Oh well, the price of commercialism.  Maybe someday when I become rich and famous I can buy the new building to knock it back down and rebuild the old home from a photo my #1 Blog Fan has.

WELCOME TO BRIGHTON BEACH, WELL, ALMOST

The past two days were hot and humid.  I didn't get up early enough to beat the heat, i.e. run at 5 AM or so.  Today I made up by running "Brighton", as in Brighton Beach.  I didn't like the fact that the area is small, with few large rectangular blocks to work with.  I thought of skipping it but then Eugene Morris Jerome may be upset.  My first night in the U.S. some 30+ years ago, I did sleep in a house in the area.  It belonged to an uncle but he has moved away since then.  The new owner knocked down the house, along with a few adjacent ones, and a big building is being constructed on the lot.

I knew that the area has these mouthful Brighton 1 Street and 2 Street etc but did not know about all the alleys that in other parts of town would just remain nameless.  There were Brighton 5 Walk, Brighton 5 Court, Brighton 1 Path, etc.  Most of these so-called streets are narrow and are mere empty space between two houses.  It is nice to have them nonetheless although I would not use them late at night.

T-intersection of Brighton 1 Path, which continues to the right of the tree, and Brighton 1 Walk, which runs from the foreground of the photo to the background.

Brighton 5 Court, which simply connects Brighton 5 Street to Brighton 6 Street.  It is relatively wide compared to other  named alleys in the area.  I recall one really narrow alley with overgrown weed and three or four guys sitting in the middle of the road.  Mugger paradise!

WELCOME TO SHEEPSHEAD BAY!

My Brooklyn map-building continues to crawl forward, slowly.  The latest three runs put Sheepshead Bay on the map, so to speak.

To round out the coastal towns, next I will have to do Brighton Beach, which is immediately to the east of Coney Island, and Manhattan Beach, right below Sheepshead.   Both are tiny towns compared to Sheepshead Bay, with insufficient room to spell out the whole words.  I'll have to compromise somehow.

WELCOME TO CONEY ISLAND!

Welcome to Coney Island!  Some time ago I ran the route for "Coney" but never got around to adding "Island", until this week.  It is a good thing that I took advantage of the open space in Leon Kaiser Park to make most of "Coney" because the island (which is not really an island any more) is not "tall" enough to give me much room to work with.  I thought of using the space between the Boardwalk and the beach but running on sand is no fun.  I studied what was available and what I did with "Coney" and concluded that I could do it with Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk.  Because of constructions, some streets no longer led to the Boardwalk but good thing I have that one trick in my bag.  I just had to run back and forth over some streets, but technically I can cut through walls and other objects.  For the I, I could have jumped off the Boardwalk and land on the sand below but to be safe I used my technique.

Onward to Sheepshead Bay!

WELCOME TO GRAVESEND AND BENSONHURST

Welcome to Gravesend and Bensonhurst!  It took a few runs to have it done correctly but it is worthwhile.  The second e in "send" is not perfect, but that will do.  "Bensonhurst" was created from scratch, now a few blocks north of Bath Beach border.  I probably will re-do Bath Beach to move it westward toward 14th Avenue and away from Gravesend.

The next neighborhoods I'll put on the map, so to speak, will probably be those to the east and south of Gravesend, just to round things out.  Such as Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay.  Afterward I'll march northward to connect to Prospect Park, since I have many friends living up there, they may appreciate it.

WELCOME TO BROOKLYN

So I did not win the Newton Running route art contest.  Did not even get to be one of the three finalists having a shot at winning shoes for life plus a GPS watch.  After a short time feeling unhappy about it, I decided to start a new, very ambitious project: create a map of all the Brooklyn neighborhoods through run art.  It is ambitious indeed as I don't know all the neighborhoods.  Sure I can start with my own area and adjacent ones, but the thought of driving elsewhere just to run a route sure is not appealing to me.  The thing is once I am done, whenever that is, I'll know a lot more about Brooklyn.

I belong to a NextDoor.com neighborhood made for Bath Beach residents so the first nabe I ran was Bath Beach.  I made two separate runs and stitched the two pieces together.  I am not that happy with the B in Bath and may re-run the route one of these days.  Next I thought I would cover my own turf and ran "Grave"  for Gravesend.  I did feel something odd when I started to create the V, sure enough once I got back I discovered that the "r" and the "a" are stuck together.  It was good that I decided early on to make Gravesend in two separate runs.  No point of putting a lot of time into a run only to find out that it's no good.  These days I run in the evening any way and dinner seems to come too soon each time, that is I have time constraint.

Today I was supposed to re-run Grave but I happened to be near Bensonhurst so I made "Benson".  While "Benson" itself came out perfect, I made it too close to the border of Bath Beach and Bensonhurst such that when stitched Bensonhurst to the bigger map, the letters overlaps, rats!

Here is the work-in-progress map, warts and all.  Slowly and surely I will have the entire Brooklyn represented as route arts.

SCENES FROM A RUN: GREAT KILLS PARK

My son goes to school in Staten Island and this weekend he needed to meet a classmate for some project.  The bus does not run reliably on the weekend so I drove him to Staten Island.  The kids stay at a public library and I had some down time.  Years ago I would spend that time in the car watching movie on a portable DVD player or maybe listen to audiobooks etc.  Now that I'm more health-minded, the night before I checked out nearby area for a running route.  Once before I noticed some National Park not too far from the school and the library.  Great Kills Park it is called.  It has a beach, too and features a narrow strip of land sticking out into the Atlantic.  That was my destination after dropping off the boys at the public library.

I don't hate driving per se, it's the parking part that I hate.  Luckily, this is Staten Island, the one borough of New York City that not that many New Yorkers visit.  I drove into the park and even near the main entrance near Hylan Boulevard there were some parking spots.  I kept driving further, I wanted to go as far as I could by car then explore the rest of the park on foot.  Parking Lot G was the furthest I could go.  Beyond that you would need a permit of some sort.  There was plenty of parking spots and there was no booth to collect tolls so I supposed it's free parking.  Kinda sad how I thought that way, elsewhere in New York City it costs a fortune to leave your car in a safe place, to avoid getting ticketed.  

I already had running clothes on the inside, so just removing the outer layer, a few minutes of stretching and off I went.  To be safe, I started with the multi-use path, there were already a few walkers and runners.  Not too long afterward the road ended and I took the sandy path on the left to go toward the beach.  On the beach I turned northwest to get to Crooke's Point.  The run became more of a walk, I rescued two overturned horseshoe crabs and watched them slowly re-entering the sea without saying thank-you.  There were a few fishermen out on the beach, some with kids.  The waves lapped at the sand but there was always enough room to go along.  After Crooke's Point, there was a rocky wall and a road paved with gravels.  I resumed running but took time out to snap photos of some sleeping ducks.  What a life, just lounging around with beaks in their back.  At the end of the gravel path, I was back at Parking Lot G.

I already covered about 5 km so I figured it would run 5 more km for an even 10.  As I ran toward park entrance, a raccoon calmly crossed the road to get into the bush.  The park has some some wild sections closed off to visitors, either by fence or bush, the 'coons are very much at home.  At the 6 km mark, I planned to run for another 2 km then U-turn to reach the 10 km.  However, at Parking Lot F, I decided to go along the nice waterfront and unknowingly curved away from the park entrance.  I kept following the road and eventually found myself back on Hylan Boulevard.  Sure I could still U-turn but there was no fun in that.  I had a good idea where the park entrance was and found my way there and eventually got back to Parking Lot G.  The distance came out 12 km, a hot and humid km's more than planned.

I was there!

Lucky duckies.

These two horseshoe crabs became some seagulls' dinner.

Whatever species these flowers are, I stopped and smelled them.

LONG ISLAND MARATHON 2015

While I would love to run a marathon in every U.S. state, I don't have the money for the plane tickets and hotel stays.  Luckily I live in New York City and there are a few marathons in the city and nearby.  Yesterday I was able to take the Long Island Marathon off my wish-list.

Back on the last day of the year 2014, before registration price go up, I signed up for the race, for $65.35.  It's relatively inexpensive compared to other big-name marathons.  The one hassle is that packet pickup had to be done on the Friday or Saturday before race day, out in Nassau County.  I have a car so it was not too bad, even though I did have trouble finding the place, Mitchel Athletic Field.  It was not listed in iOS Google Maps as such, I happened to find it by taking some guesses.  The place can be reached by LIRR but it probably would take some extra time.  I encountered two small issues at packet pickup.  Once you are past security check, on the right there were two separate lanes, one for Walk-In Registration, and the other, by process of elimination, Packet Pickup.  If you are not careful, you may miss the two lanes altogether and end up in the expo area.  I think it would be nice if there was a staff right at the entrance directing traffic.  Packets are sorted by bib numbers, which was sent out late in the week of the marathon, if you don't have it there are computers for you to use to look things up.  Again, I think it would be nicer if there was a staff by the machine to tell people what to do.  I was going to use the machine, just because I didn't know what they were for, but then I realized they were for looking up bib numbers, so I skipped the line and went to get my bib.

The expo was conveniently located right outside packet pickup.  I was tempted to sign up with the inaugural Suffolk Marathon to take advantage of the current price but I held back.  Let's finish the Long Island Marathon first.  I was good at not buying or even asking for free stuff as I strolled through the expo.  After a while there are just so many running accessories I can use.  I could have picked up some Gu gel or equivalent but a few days earlier I already got a box from the local Jack Rabbit Sports.  Almost by the exit of the expo area that runners get their bling bag.  While the bag content was nice, again no one was on the floor directing traffic.  I could have easily walked out of the expo without picking up my bag, which includes a medium towel, race shirt (black, not a good choice for the sun), lanyard, and some promotional literature.  I think bling bag's table should be immediately near the bib table.

On race day, I got to the parking lot near the Ice Rink of Eisenhower Park early.  The walk to the start area was a little over a mile.  I got there just in time to meet a few members from Prospect Park Track Club.  After a short wait, we went to our separate pace groups.  I had to step aside from the start line to have my Garmin GPS pick up satellite signal.  At least I remembered to charge it the night before and brought it with me.  At a previous race, I was so out of organized racing that I totally forgot about my Garmin.  For all its old technologies, my Garmin is still the best I have for recording time for a marathon.  No way the iPhone battery would last long enough.

For once, I didn't think to myself, "Why am I running this?" or something along that line.  Even though I knew I didn't train enough for it, I just ran at my best, one mile at a time.  I started slow, there were many half-marathoners, in the thousands, running along with the 600+ full-marathoners, so I was ready to wait for the split where the Half runners leave me.  I skipped the first few water stations but had my first Gu gel with water etc one hour in.  I had a long-sleeve tech shirt on the inside, with my track club singlet on the outside, but soon enough it got pretty hot.  To avoid losing time to wardrobe change, I waited until the HM split before removing the inner layer and ran with just the singlet.  By the half-way point, 13.1 mile, I was exactly 2:30 on the race clock.  Considering I crossed the start mat 2 minutes after gun time, I couldn't help wishfully thinking that I would have the race done under 5 hours.

Some time ago someone told me that the worst stretch of the Long Island Marathon is the highway portion.  They meant the Wantagh Parkway.  Once the half-marathoners went their separate way, there were just a handful of marathoners on the long stretch down the Parkway.  I studied the course map briefly before the race and knew that at some point there would be a U-turn on the Wantagh for the marathoners to head back to Eisenhower Park.  It shouldn't matter which mile mark that is but I asked an official-looking guy anyway.  He said Mile 14 or 15, but it turned out to more like Mile 16.5.  Whatever, it was still x miles to go no matter where the turnaround is.  It just felt better that a milestone is reached.

Things got really lonely on the highway so I struck conversation with other runners as I tried to pass them.  Or crack jokes with the volunteers at water stations, as well as thanking them.  After the U-turn, the sun really beat down on the runners and there was no shade to run in.  There was a breeze here and there but it was mostly sun.  I continued to follow my one-Gu-every-hour schedule, walked briefly through water stations, at which I usually took a cup of water and one of Gatorade.  Luckily, other than a brief time when I felt some pain in the knees, there was no major ache anywhere.  I just had to keep pressing on and I did.  When I ran, I really ran, for at least a mile or more.  Shortly after exiting the Wantagh, around Mile 23, I passed all runners within my myopic sight and made the wrong turn at Carman Avenue.  I didn't know that I was supposed to turn left and instead turned right.  The road on the right was half closed off with traffic cones so I figured that was where I should run, i.e. the other side was where normal traffic would be, road not closed.  The policewoman in the cruiser at the junction came out to holler at me and the few runners who followed me and we had to make a U-turn to get back on track.  It was nice to see that I was cruising at a good speed and was able to pass the same Asian couple I just passed earlier after getting off the highway.

At one intersection on Carman Avenue, cross traffic resumed but thanks to the policemen there, I was able to cross the intersection without slowing at all.  A little further on, before Mile 24, club member Nick spotted me and graciously ran with me.  He gave all kinds of compliments that helped boost my morale a lot.  I fear making another wrong turn during the last 2 miles but Nick knew the way and kept me on track.  Mile 25 was where runners turn off Carman Avenue to meander through the golf course.  Normally by this time I would half-run and half-walk, only to sprint when the finish line was in sight.  With Nick and his words of encouragement by my side, I was able to run all the way after Mile 24.  The golf course, pass a few slower runners, around some building, then the finish chute, then the finish line, it was incredible!  I remembered to take off my cap for the photographers as I ran over the finish mat.  5:09:37 was my time, which is better than last year's 5:13:xx and Yonker's 5:10:xx in 2012.  I have 5:08:xx for the inaugural Brooklyn Marathon, but since I ran it without a GPS watch and the course consisted of a few loops of Prospect Park I cannot help wondering if maybe I missed a loop.  I guess I just have to beat 5:08:xx some day then it won't matter any more.