Brooklyn – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: Brooklyn Half Marathon – 1:26:49

Posted on May 24, 2018 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running Leave a comment

It’s always nice to get out of your own neighborhood to explore. I met my cousins Cat, Gillian and Morgan at Distilled for a pre-dinner drink the night before the Brooklyn Half Marathon. Winter seems to have finally left, so we sat outside and took in the sights and sounds of Tribeca. Off in the distance I see someone familiar… it’s my friend Maria leaving work! She comes up and high fives me and we got to catch up for a hot second.

Our dinner was across the Street at Terre, a chill Italian spot. The food was really top notch! I had the Rigatoni (Danza) e Gamberi (spicy grilled shrimp, garlic and tomato) and I have been dreaming about it ever since. No visit to Tribeca is complete without a drink at Nancy Whiskey Pub so we popped in for one.

RACE DAY

I randomly woke up at 4:45 and since I was planning on waking at 5 I just stayed up. I prepped some Cafe Bustelo in a go cup, geared up and then called my friend Trevor like 2 or 3 times to wake him up. We were traveling to the start together and he warned me that he might sleep through his alarm. I donned my poncho and headed out into the rain. It was 5:20AM.

We opted for a cab as we were running slightly off schedule. We arrived at the entrance to Wave 1 security right around 6. It was steadily raining and 50 degrees, but I felt great. We met two of Trevor’s friends up by our corrals and hung around until it was showtime. I also saw my friend Sebastien who was warming up, so I jumped in and did some easy running. Then, right before we were to enter the corrals I saw Evan and he gave me a bear hug. He said he was shooting for a 1:15. Spoiler alert, he ran a freaking 1:13 which is a monster PR and generally speaking just a great time!

As we waited in the corrals a few of us that ran Boston were chuckling how these conditions pale in comparison. I was thrilled to be running in a warm spring rain! I also remember being very very calm right before the start, while others hopped around shivering. Was this running nirvana? Runirvana?

The gun sounded and we were off to a pretty quick pace immediately, maybe 6:30ish. Half of a mile in a guy next to me says ‘Hey Baker, how are you?’ It was my friend Brad, a CPTC runner who I have done marathon training runs in Central Park with! We started running together chit chatting. A mutual friend and runner he coaches Patrick was up on the left and shouted a hello. He was aiming for a faster time then Brad and I so we let him slip away.

We were pretty soaked by now, but it wasn’t too debilitating. In fact, I felt perfectly cooled as far as my core temperature was concerned.

Brad and I were on the same page with tempo, we were going to hold down a 6:30 pace until we hit Ocean Parkway at mile 7 and then open it up if we felt good. At aid stations we were working together as well with only one of us going in for fuel and passing it off to the other. It’s a great teamwork strategy where you hardly slow down and can keep the focus on the pace. I felt good, but I definitely didn’t feel fast or fluid.

We were still having fun as we entered Prospect Park and our pace was on track. I am happy to report that even on Prospect’s rough hill at mile 5 we held a 6:33 pace, pushing each other up the hill. It was right around here, as we crested that I heard a runner say, “Hey Baker!” It was Trevor!

We rocked a 6:05 on Mile 7 as we were descending out of the park and onto Ocean Parkway. I was also frustrated as my shorts kept falling down due my drawstring not being tight. They were also water logged which wasn’t helping. I made the decision to say goodbye to Brad soon after to tie them as I couldn’t go another 6 miles like that.

I pulled over and tied them super tight, there was no way I was pulling over again. Having lost 10-15 seconds, I took off again and got my pace back up. 2 minutes later my left shoe came untied! So Mile 8 was a 6:51.

Soon I passed Trevor again who seemed quite confused to see me behind him.

Miles 9-11 were pretty uneventful as I tried to maintain my slowing pace. I was now in the 6:40/45 range and my right hamstring was hurting.

A few people we creeping up and passing me, one of which was a female who was crushing it. She put a solid 30 second gap between us at one point and then at Mile 11 I saw her on the sidelines bent over stretching. She looked frustrated. As I came by I said to her, “Come on, let’s go and finish this. You know you got it.” She popped up and started running. “Thanks man!”

All of us were now doing a bit of leapfrogging as we were nearing the end. At Mile 12 I saw my friend D (Delgado) cheering!

Mile 13 I dropped back down to a 6:30 pace and was feeling a bit more peppy. Then, at the turn onto the boardwalk I hear my name, my cousin-in-law Kelly was cheering! “Is Tommy running?!” I yelled (Tommy being my cousin). “Yes!”

I finished with a 1:26:45, not by best and not my worst.

After walking through the finish I beelined it over to baggage. The Brooklyn Half Marathon is notorious for bad bag check retrieval and I was getting cold. It did in fact take a solid 15 minutes for me to get my stuff even though there were maybe 10 people waiting at that point.

Next up, Ruby’s for our afterparty.

AFTER THE PARTY IT’S THE AFTERPARTY

Ruby’s was actually moderately full with non-runners as I entered. I luckily found a table and posted up.

Soon after D showed up and gave me a high five and hug. His friend Rashid from Cali was there with his girlfriend so we joined them. Rashid finished in like 1:17 or something sick! We also learned that Rashid and I both ran Paris the same year, him finishing in a 2:50 and me a 2:51! We HAD to have been running next to each other.

Trevor showed up next followed by Bojana, Sweendawg and Brian. Tommy, Kelly and Fiona popped by for a little while too. Big ups to Tommy who rocked a 1:36 which is a solid 3 minute PR! Finally, Maura, Kate and some of the Gotham City Runners showed up to join us.

It was great to see all my people out there. That’s one of the reasons I love the Brooklyn Half Marathon so much… and the afterparty is wild and stinky.

RACE REPORT: 022 Nike Human Race 10K: 43:16

Posted on October 24, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

Sex/ Age	Bib	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile
M31	216	43:15	6:59

The Nike Human Race’s concept is that everyone around the world runs together at the same time. Very conformist, but I like it.

Friday night I spent being a homebody. A few friends called and invited me out- but it sounded potentially dangerous. Dangerous, like, I would oversleep. Instead I decided to make some Shrimp Fra Di Avlo from scratch! My buddy Ahern has cooked it for me a few times and it really has some power in it the next day during a race… therefore it has become my ritual. It turned out really well and I saved enough to make some for Saturday night, as I had another race Sunday.

RACE DAY

The race started at 8AM in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I was to run it with my friend Soo Young, Soo Kueng (they are twins) and 3 of their friends. We had said that if it was raining we would bail.

I woke at 630AM and was pretty excited to maybe sleep in, so I texted Soo Young “It’s raining, guess its off.” She replied with something like “Really, you’re not running? We are leaving soon.” Damn. Last time I didnt run because of weather conditions I never heard the end of it, so I texted back “see you in 30!”

I jumped on the Q which was running very late, so late in fact that the 1 hour ten minutes I gave myself to get to the start would dwindle down to 5 minutes by the time I got to the race.

Sitting on the train headed to BK I could make out lots of other runners because we had to wear the stupid Nike dry fit shirts. (They never make them aerodynamic and it feels like youre running with a sail on). At Canal, this gal got on and sat next to me. She had on ‘the gear’ and I knew she was part of the movement. She kept glancing over at me and I took it to mean maybe she wasnt sure what stop we were to get off at. As Prospect Park approached she looked my way and said “Is this our stop?” “No, one more.” I told her. She smiled and said, “Youre Jeff Baker’s older brother arent you. I grew up in the same town in Virginia as you and went to your High School. My name is Amira.” Holy cow small world! I knew her brother! Gotta love NYC for stuff like that. We chatted and walked to the start, gathering her pal Alan along the way. I bid farewell and made my way to baggage drop.

As I got there I saw that it was mayhem! A school bus with crowds around it, you had to actually enter the bus to drop gear off. Do I wait? Just then the announcer says “2 minutes to the start!” Oh really? I ran (with my backpack) up to the 6 minute miler area and ducked into an area 50 yards back from the start. The gun went off right after and we started the run.

I was trying to break free of the crowds but I was way back in the thick of it all. It wasnt until mile 2 or 3 I was able to get some breathing room and open up.

This was my first ‘crappy’ race in a long time. Here is why… picture this… I have on an oversized red shirt, a backpack full of various items (extra sneakers, extra track pants, extra jacket, extra shirts, iphone, change) in case of rain? I also didn’t have time to change out of my track pants so I was wearing them, and underneath were my running shorts. I was a mess.

To shed some positive light on the situation, it turned out to be a beautiful morning in Prospect Park, the trees changing color… it was the epitomy of Autumn.

Miles 4 and 5 I had my usual “I should just walk the rest of the way” feeling I get during a bad run. I did not, however, succumb to these ideas. I finished the race with a sprint and as I neared the line I heard taunts from the announcer regarding me running with a backpack. Whatever… I love attention, anyway you cut it.

I walked up to the finish to wait for my friends. Soo Young and Saemi were first out of the group. This was Soo Young’s first official race and she did great! The other 3 gals met up with us then we went in search of food! We found a cute diner and had a fun breakfast together, parting ways after.

I attempted to enter the closest subway I could find to make my way back to Manhattan, BUT, all the subways were messed up today. So I had to walk 20 blocks to GAP (Grand Army Plaza)! Thank you iPhone for your guidance; Brooklyn, lets get it together will ya?

RACE REPORT: 008 BK Half Marathon: 1:28:15

Posted on May 30, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG Time	AG %
M31	50	291	276	71	1:28:15	6:44	1:28:15	67.1 %

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.