Race Review: 2013 NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon

The Brooklyn Half is one of my two favorite races of the year, it runs through what is disputably the hippest of the five boroughs in NYC and seems to be one of the more sought after races for New York Road Runner members.

Last year the event sold out in 10 hours; this year it sold out in six. That said, the NYRR worked with BK officials and negotiated a second wave, which meant a field of a little more than 20,000 runners, up from 14,971 the year before. This offered the organization the ability to reopen registration a few weeks before the race which was a good thing for my wife, as she decided after rocking the Flying Pig 13.1 that she wanted do the BK13.1.

Pre-Party (Expo)

On Wednesday we set out for the BK Pre-Party (as the NYRR deemed the Expo) to pick up our numbers and race shirts. If the NYRR was looking to capture the vibe of the borough with the Pre-Party, they nailed it. The event was held in Brooklyn’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood at the Old Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park. If any hood signifies the cultural shift in the BK over the last 15 years, it’s DUMBO (almost as much as Williamsburg). Once mostly industrial, it’s now full of art studios, cafes, wine bars and a mix of restored brownstones and new high rises.

We picked up our gear, enjoyed some of the live music, soaked up the atmosphere and decided to take the East River Ferry back to Manhattan rather than the subway. The advantage here are the stunning views of lower Manhattan and the option to eat dinner in Chinatown which is always a treat.

Race Day

The upside of this race is also one of the few the downsides of this race. It’s through Brooklyn, which means on race day the alarm went off at 3:30AM. Why so early? We had to leave the house at 4:30 to meet The Congregation at the subway so we could make it there in time to check a bag and relax in the corral for a bit before the start. And we weren’t alone. In fact, most of the entire train from East 86th Street to the Clark Street station were runners. The few that weren’t were a bit surprised that their regular early morning commute was so crowded.

Security

Once there, I set out to check my bag (containing dry shirts for everyone, my phone and a post-race snack) while my wife and Bobby headed to the corral. Tighter security due to the Boston bombing was evident everywhere. After snaking through a few different lines getting to the baggage drop, I laid my parcel on a table for inspection before walking over to my designated truck and handing it over. While a bit of a pain in the butt, it’s clear that the face of the large urban races has changed forever due to the Boston event. We’ll deal with it, I mean, we do run upwards of 26.2 miles for fun, what’s a few extra minutes in line?.

I made it to the corral and was once again very pleased that the NYRR has taken note and offered runners exactly what they need while waiting for a race to start – namely Porta-Potties. And Porta-Potties in abundance!

The Race
After we get final race instructions, the gun (or horn) went off 7AM sharp. It took us a full 10 minutes to get to and cross the starting line. We were at the front of the 7th (of 10) corrals in the first wave, I can only imagine how crowded it was behind us. This would be the theme (and my only other complaint about the race) until we got through Prospect Park and onto Ocean Parkway (where the roads became wider and runners were able to spread out a little more).

Our race plan was for Bobby to pace my wife while I ran my own. I assumed we would run together for the first few miles but as soon as we crossed the start, I lost them. It was just REALLY crowded.

I wound up running the first seven miles a little faster than I wanted. There was a lot of bobbing and weaving, finding open pockets and skipping water stations in order to get through the crowd. I paid for the lack of water in the second half of my race. The day was overcast and pretty humid, so by the time I hit the water station just before mile seven I was a little dehydrated – not good and meant that I would have to hit most of them for the rest of the race (which slowed me down).

My mantra from mile eight to 13.1 was “head in the game.” Without music to distract me, I repeated these four words over and over for about 50 minutes.

When I finally got to Surf Avenue in Coney Island, rounded the Cyclone and made my way to the Boardwalk and the finish line, I was cooked, but happy. This finish was, according to Strava, my third best 13.1 (and second best BK race) and when I finally caught up with Bobby and my wife, I learned that she took more than five minutes off her Flying Pig 13.1 (again, from two weeks prior).

I love this race and despite the crowds will continue to run it every year as long as I get in!

My BK13.1 photo essay can be found here.

Wondering what it looked like from a runner’s perspective? I cobbled a video together using my GoPro.