baby born with two heads? must be from Brooklyn.

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Grand Prix Half-Marathon Series: Brooklyn.

so last saturday i ran the second of five nyc half-marathons that will take place in each of the five boroughs this year.  because the race started at 7am (OMG!) and was in brooklyn (OMG AGAIN!), rina and i had to wake up absurdly early.

my alarm went off at 4:45 (but i didnt get out of bed til 5:10), which is considerably late seeing as though we were out the door by 5:30 to pick up two friends of rina's who were also running.  we got in a cab and picked up the guys.  after all of us were in the cab we tell the cab driver that we need to go to prospect park in brooklyn and he literally gave us a face that would basically translate into "are you shitting me?"  i was reminded of the scene in sex and the city when miranda gets in a cab to go to brooklyn and the driver says "brooklyn? i don't go to brooklyn."  her rationale then for why she shouldn't move there was because "even cabs don't go to brooklyn."  lucky for us, this cab took us to brooklyn.

we got to prospect park in record time thanks to our cab driver who was most likely trying to get us into the brooklyn spirit by making us feel as if we were on the cyclone.. OR he just wanted to get in and out of brooklyn as fast as possible.. that could be it too.

so yea, i had enough time to do all the pre-race things: drop off my bag at the UPS truck, take a potty break, warm-up jog, stretch, etc.  at the start line, i ran into vanessa and jackie from TFK.  i was excited to hear that they're running the marathon with TFK again this year because at least i know i'm not the only crazy one. yay for alumni!

we ran the first mile or so together and then we lost track of each other but it was definitely a great way to start the race.  i had a bit of a rough run.. i was anxious to get out of the park because of the hills but once we were out of the park and onto ocean parkway, the course is rather boring and the ground made my knees and ankles hurt pretty badly.

it felt great to actually see the boardwalk because the end felt sooooo close.  running on the boardwalk was weird because it was really uneven with everyone running on it (think trying to jump on a trampoline with a friend.. or a few hundred friends, for that matter).  but yea, either way, finishing on coney island was pretty cool because well, it's coney island.

the downside to finishing on coney island was once the four of us were ready to leave (post walking around and grabbing a post race beer for the men, riding the cyclone), we were on f*ckin coney island.. ugh.

took the Q (23 stops to 42nd.. i counted), and then all the other necessary trains to get home.  finally got homeee a little before 1 where i ate, slept, ate, and slept some more.  literally- i slept straight through til sunday.  ridiculous.

i had been worried about this half because i felt so incredibly crappy during the LI half this year.. i didn't feel great during this run but i most definitely felt a lot better than i had on may 3rd during the LI Half. I cut 9 minutes off my time from the LI Half which, isn't my best, but it isn't my worst either.

this next week before marathon training officially starts, i'm taking a break from any long distance running.  i've got my tuesday yoga class and i bought a 20 class card at a local gym so i figure i'll  just do some short runs, take my yoga class, and perhaps 1 or 2 classes at the gym.  with the intensity of the next 5 months, my body really needs to recover this week and take it easy.

oh and it's christmas timeeeee in the cityyyy.. and by christmas time, i mean fleet week. woohoo!

best. week. ever.