At 3:30 am, I woke up with confidence and felt that I would set a personal record in the half-marathon. I set my last personal best for the 13.1 mile distance on the old NYC Half Marathon course during my preparation for the 2017 Boston Marathon. I achieved the 1:15:39 PR right before the birth of my son. Since my return back to racing post-COVID, my half marathon times have progressively come down at each event.

 

I completed my staple prediction workout the Monday before the event: a four mile dress rehearsal in Prospect Park. I introduced this workout back in 2022, which predicted the exact split I would run for the event two years ago. After the “running rehearsal” I knew I could definitely run between 1:14 to 1:15 on the course. I completed the 4 miles with an average time of 5:39 per mile, which predicted a sub 1:14 finish. So, I tasked myself with running slightly under 5:45 pace, leaving some room at the end to pick the pace up if I felt good.

 

My pre-race dinner consisted of my staple: ugali, chicken and kale—very Kenyan I know! I followed up with overnight oats and espresso in the morning. No sleep till Brooklyn is definitely right, because of the need to arrive super early for the 7 am start. Out the door by 5 am, I jogged the two miles from Fort Greene to bag check on Eastern Pkwy. Instead of jogging and running strides once entering my corral, I relied on my mobility routine with a few hops here and there. I took my final nutrition about 15:00 before enduring the craziness of the start.

 

 

 

I met my friend Evan at the start. We met at a 5k two weeks prior and battled to see who would take third place and podium. He did by one second! We found out that not only did we have similar running goals, but that we would also run the same races this year, including the Berlin Marathon. We both wanted to dip under 1:15 for this event. We lost each other at the beginning, however he would later find me at mile 10. We stood a little bit back from the start line close to the runners pacing a 1:20 finish. When the gun went off I found an opening on the right side of the road when heading down Washington Ave. Perfect for making that first turn!

 

 

 

I felt patient, confident and very in control for edition of the Brooklyn Half from the start to the finish. I would run the first 5k a few seconds ahead of schedule, bringing it down a little before the 10k mark on the rolling hills in the park. Experience paid dividends from six miles to the finish. Once leaving the park I knew that I could make time up during the next few miles. After approaching the 10 mile mark under 57 minutes, I gradually accelerated with the goal of really pushing the pace in the final mile.

 

 

 

 

Once I began to attack the final 5k, Evan showed up. We really pushed the pace! By this time we knew that we would finish below 1:15, but how far could we go? I think once hitting mile 12, we realized that running within the realm of 1:13 seemed possible. The last mile in this race felt like the last mile in the 5k we raced two weeks earlier. As we approached the boardwalk with 200 meters to go, I checked my watch. Cutting it close, we both sprinted as hard as we could, just dipping under 1:14!

 

 

 

My time? 1:13:58. An average pace of 5:39 per mile. The same pace I ran for my dress rehearsal. My experience from 2022 repeated itself!

 

 

 

Much of what I’ve been improving and working on in my running clicked during this race. Mainly, staying in control, adjusting when necessary and staying relaxed when injecting a faster pace.

 

 

 

The road puts everyone in their place. If we remain humble and honest with our current fitness levels, we can really control what is possible. I’m happy with my current fitness level and excited to start my preparation to run the 50th edition of the Berlin Marathon in September.

 

 

 

Stats:

 

1:13:58. 1:13:00 Age Graded. 97th out of 28,402 finishers. My 4th Brooklyn Half and 10th Half Marathon.

 

My Half-Marathon Progression since 2022: 1:19:22・1:17:50・1:17:13・1:16:55・1:13:58.

 

Time to gradually progress to running sub 1:10.