The Brooklyn Half Marathon was to take place on a Saturday morning. My ritual, the night prior to any race, is to meet with some friends and have a big meal and a few drinks. I met Ila, Nancy, and Rachel at a bar in Hells Kitchen and we played iphone trivial pursuit, drank beers, ate some food and had a pretty good time. I was home and in bed by 11:30 or so.

Saturday morning I had my Cafe Bustelo and set off on the F Train to hit Prospect Park. It was so thrilling to see the subway packed with runners in their bibs ready to go!

I was late and so when I got tot the front corral it was packed, but thanks to some friendly guys they suggested I just hop over the gates as I had proper bib credentials!

The race began at 8 AM and it was already getting hot. We did 2 1/2 laps around prospect park (which I quite enjoyed as it was ever changing scenery). at mile 7 they threw us out onto Ocean Parkway heading south. It was a straight away of 6 miles into Coney Island. I was doing great running 6:20 miles until that straight away. It was out on the highway and so freakin boring. Miles 10-13 were of course brutal and I was grabbing water at every possible station. It was here, at mile 12, that my old running partner and friend from last summer Robert ran by, yelling “Hey Baker!!! How are you?” I was like “Im dying out here man!” and his reply was “Hang in there, one more to go!” This actually helped fuel me so thanks Robert! Running down the final stretch of the Coney Island boardwalk was memorable and scenic for sure, but I was winded and fighting to keep up my pace. I finished in 1:28:15 which is a personal record, but I had hoped to do better.

After the race I met up with Robert and then what do you know, Antonio (another running partner) rolls up beside us! We all decided to go have a few beers and watch the race finish out on the boardwalk. It was great! We had some laughs about our times and performance, caught up and relaxed in the sun.