When scheduling races this year, I initially didn’t plan on running the Brooklyn Half. Sure, the start line is close to my house. Prospect Park is also my primary training ground. My focus, though, is racing a fast 5k before focusing on the marathon next year. I initially achieved my New York City Marathon time qualifier by running the very chilly Fred Lebow Half in January. To my surprise, I also achieved a guaranteed entry to run Brooklyn with my result. This run would also serve a purpose of hyping up Coney Island’s local hospital rebranding. I put their logo on my singlet.

In retrospect, I’m happy with deciding to include the race in my calendar. Redemption, perhaps since my 2019 experience running it wasn’t as great—an off-year for me. But also, it foreshadows what I might achieve next year in the marathon.

For my shakeout the day before, I woke up super early to run since this race starts at 7 am. I thought waking up early would prep my body to run early. To my surprise, it worked! I woke up right before 4 am to eat and take care of business. I arrived in plenty of time to check a bag and warmup properly.

The forecast wasn’t ideal, but honestly, I run much better in the heat than I do in the cold. Granted, runners in wave 1 had a better deal, as the sun didn’t break out until after 8:30. The main task dealt with managing the course and the weather conditions well. That’s why I started in the back of the 6:06 pace group (1:20 finish). See, the race is big enough that knowingly, I could latch onto different groups to negative split the course. At the start, I found my rhythm and slowly started to increase the pace.

I knew when I wanted to cross for the 3rd, 5th and 10th mile. I solely used my Garmin watch with the auto lap feature turned off to not rely on the time shown on the course. I didn’t want to push the pace too hard until after 10k once leaving Prospect Park. I would occasionally dump water on my head at the water stations and slow just enough to take Gatorade. Slowing down to take fluids is something I recommend. Time really isn’t lost in doing so. It helps with not slowing down during the later stages of the race.

I ran my fastest down Ocean Parkway. The open road made it easy to straight shot through running 5:50 miles. Moreover, my form felt controlled throughout the whole race. The two years that I spent studying biomechanics helped, as I could give myself subtle cues throughout the race to run strong. I loved that I could see my family and high five my son at mile 12 while not breaking form. I had enough in the tank to finish and sprint the last 200 meters to the finish.

I didn’t specifically train for this race. At the start of the week, I ran 4 miles at 5:57 pace. This is what I ended up averaging for the whole 13.1 miles to finish in 1:17:50.

As far as running is concerned, a key ingredient lies in running with rhythm. Listen to how the foot strikes the ground and compare it to other runners in a group. Is it loud or soft? Fast or slow? Control the breathing through the diaphragm. Listen around, as any good musician in an ensemble does. Become aware of the environment and run appropriately.

I’m happy with my performance. Now, time to focus on the 5k.