Brooklyn Half 2015

It's been a few days since the Brooklyn half, and I still have my runner's high! It was such a fun day to spend with my team!

The fun started Thursday when I went to the Brooklyn Half pre-party to pick up my race bib! I got to see my friends volunteering and ran into a few friends also getting bibs that day! Seeing them always makes the next few days before the race exciting! I went with my fiancé and we enjoyed a couple of beers, some tacos from the food trucks, and of course the beautiful view of the city from the Brooklyn Bridge!

Race day comes so quick for Brooklyn, since it's on a Saturday morning! On Friday I had gone to get my bib for the stair climb, and then had tickets to the Mets game at night, so there was hardly any rest for me leading to race day! I was pretty nervous too actually, because I knew I'd be pacing Amy, and I didn't want to fail her!

Before I knew it, it was 3:45am and I was awake and getting ready to head to Brooklyn! It's a long commute and I did not want to take my chances, so I made sure to head there early enough to give myself time to find Amy, use the porta potty, and take pictures of course! :) 

My stomach was giving me issues since I had woke up but I just told myself it was just pre race jitters! The weather was ok at the start, it was cloudy with a chance of rain but the air felt good with a promising run ahead of us! 

There were 5 of us running together at the start! Amy, Cari, Helena, Melissa, and I all started out strong with the crowd! We had planned on running with Heather but with 26,000 runners we never caught up to her, but she had had a great run with her husband! It was super crowded at the beginning but we had a good pace going and we were all smiles! Along the way Melissa paced ahead of us, and then it was us 4 til the end! We were running ahead of pace I was feeling great about it, and then....it rained! It started off slow, but then the sky opened up and it was a crazy downpour!! I love running in the rain when I am prepared to do so, but on Saturday I was in a tank and capris, with no hat to keep the water out of my face, and at times I felt like I was drowning lol! I mean really trying to run, and breathe, and see in crazy rain is hard to do! It slowed us down a bit, but we were still having a blast, and by the time we exited Prospect Park it was finally over!

I was so ready for Ocean Parkway, because it's flat and downhill to Coney Island!! It was so much fun, we were laughing, taking pictures, and our pace was ok till about 10 miles in, then exhaustion started to hit us but we were still all up beat and having a great run! Along the way we made friends with Team RWB, they were so bad ass, doing push ups, burpees, or mountain climbers at every mile marker! I was feeling super proud of my girl Amy because she just kept pushing along with us, and I never heard a complaint from her, she was so awesome! Cari and I kept ahead of Helena and Amy, so they could chase us down, and keep up the pace and it was working! Cari and I had a ton of girl talk along the way, and it was even fun for a few minutes when one of the fellas from Team RWB got a little flirty with me! I was flattered and he was sweet and harmless and gave all of us a good laugh!

Before we knew it we were at mile 12!! I could smell the beach! I love that smell so much, you have no idea! At that point we knew we missed our goal of under 3 hours, but with the rain, came the heat & humidity, and really we still did a pretty amazing job! Our next goal was to beat Amy's PR, and we were so close! That last mile I just kept pushing and I was annoying with my "let's go!"'s and " we got this!" I also almost made Amy cry when I mentioned her BFF sole sista Michelle! She was waiting for us handing out medals at the finish! The last mile was a breeze I was so happy to see our friends cheering on the sidelines, and next thing you know we were passing the infamous Cyclone roller coaster, and feet from the finish!

The beach was there, and all of us were cheering Amy on! When we crossed the finish I was so proud of her I wanted to cry! And then she saw Michelle and they hugged and cried for all of us! While we missed Amy's PR by a few seconds, she did PR the course! We also hope to beat her goal in October at the RnR Brooklyn Half! After the run we went for some grub, and feasted on beer and sliders!

The best part of this years Brooklyn Half was that I was able to run with my friends! It was so much fun, I love when I run with them, it made those 13 miles feel like we breezed right through them! I don't know if I'll do this race again next year, but I'm definetly looking forward to more runs with my running family! 

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!

This past Tuesday was Cinco De Mayo, and I celebrated by going to Hoboken for the Casual Tuesday's fun! The run was hosted by Hoka, and they showed us a great time!

My friend Christina did an awesome job promoting the event, and had a huge turn out so it was a great success! It was a hot, muggy day in the 80s which made it feel like mid summer outside!

Before we started the run, we were all offered the opportunity to try on a pair of Hokas during the run. I've always been interested in the brand because of the padding on the soles of their shoes, and I suffer from plantar fasciitis, so I'm always looking for some relief from that pain! The pair I was given were super comfy, but kinda felt like I was wearing moon shoes, personally I don't think the Hokas are appealing to the eye, but what they lack in design, they make up for with overall comfort.

For this run we headed out toward Weehaken which was new to me, it was a flat run, out and back totaling 4 miles.  I was also flattered when Christina asked if I could be her co-DJ and run with a speaker playing her playlist from SoundCloud. I was initially worried bc I'm not as fast of a runner as majority of the people there, but then Christina introduced me to a runner named Pearl, who was new to distance running, and was worried she'd be at the back of the pack. So I decided I would help pace her, and it worked out fine! We were actually joined in the back by a few of the faster guys on my team who were running leisurely that day, and together we ran and sang, and got a few good laughs from people we passed along the way. 

The two mile mandatory dance break was a huge hit this week, and pretty interesting, but nonetheless a fun mid run break! It got all of us motivated to head back to the running store, and the last two miles felt easier than the first! 

When we returned to the store we were greeted with tacos and margaritas! How awesome is that?!?!? Totally worth the 4 miles trek! As we enjoyed our drinks and tacos there were raffle prizes given out from Hoka, and then Christina broke out a piñata! A boombox piñata! She filled that sucker with candy and goodies us runners really didn't need but, could make an excuse and use as fuel! 

Going to Hoboken is so much fun! There's no pressure to be the best or the faster, the only thing required is doing the best you can to have fun! Christina is so motivating and inspiring it's hard not to feed off her energy when your around her! I'm not too sure when I can make it to Hoboken next because my boss is away for about a month and I have to cover her, and then I go on vacation, but I'm gonna try my best to make it out to Hoboken again.

Hoboken is always a blast, but spending time with my running family is worth the traveling to make some pretty stellar memories! 

Til next time, 

Xoxo 😘