come into the fold

I've been pretty inconsistent lately and it didn't help that we went on vacation right before the Brooklyn Half Marathon. So my longest run before this race was nine miles. That means that I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked. But I finished in 2:37, which is only about two minutes off my half marathon PR so I guess I'll live.

The race itself was really great. I haven't run this course before. It was two loops of Prospect Park, then over to Coney Island and ending on the boardwalk. The weather was perfect. It was sunny but not overly hot. Since I had prepared so poorly, I told myself that my goals were to finish and to enjoy the day. I did indeed accomplish both of these. But my lack of preparation hurt me. My body was pretty sore afterwards. Because I parked towards the start and this wasn't an out and back course, I had to take the subway and walk a few blocks back to my car. I took it slow but was already sore and for some reason I still can't figure out, I chafed really badly on my back. This has never happened to me before so I can't figure out what was different.

Anyway, the two loops of the park were nice and cool. Because I'm so slow, I got lapped pretty quickly but it doesn't bother me all that much because I really just admire the skill and dedication it must take to be able to run that fast for that far. It's actually kind of nice to even see those athletes during a race since I only really see them milling around before the race or picking up their hardware afterwards.

Once we were out of the park, I know a lot of folks thought Ocean Parkway was pretty boring. And it was fairly monotonous in terms of the view. But it was SUCH a beautiful day, I just settled into running and watching the people sitting on the benches nearby. I did almost take out an Orthodox man and his son. But I blame them for trying to cross in front of me. I'm not so fast that I come out of nowhere! And I hate it when people cross in front of me and don't make a clear effort to try to get out of my way. I'm already running 13 miles! Don't make me run around YOU too! I didn't hit them, just so you know.

When I got close to the boardwalk, I considered pushing to try to beat my PR but then reminded myself that that wasn't a goal for the day, that I hadn't prepared for that, and that it didn't really matter just then. So I kept my normal pace and watched the people watching us run by and admired the view of the beach and the water and ran across the finish line.

After I got home and took a bit of a nap, we went to my brother-in-law's house to spend some time with the in-laws who were in town for a wedding. My sister-in-law has talked about running a marathon before but it never really seemed like a top priority. However, she seems to have decided to join the fold and train for a half marathon with me! We are thinking about doing the Disney Half Marathon in January, which sounds like it will be a LOT of fun! I like the idea of pulling someone else into this crazy world.