Brooklyn Half Marathon Breakdown

***TMI Warming: read at your own risk***

According to my Garmin, I hit 13.16 at 1:57:09.  That would be (at least) a 10 second PR.

Official time: 1:57:44.  Not a PR.

All in all, it was good race and I am happy.  My strategy going in was to maintain a steady 8:46 pace.  8:46 over 13.1 miles would have given me a 1:55 time exactly.  I was pretty confident about hitting the PR, unless I went out too hard at the beginning.  I've done that for my past few races.  It's one thing to do that in a 5K or a 4 miler - it's another thing to go out too hard in a half marathon.

For the most part, I stayed on pace: 

• Mile 1: 8:51.5
• Mile 2: 8:39
• Mile 3: 8:20.1
• Mile 4: 8:30.7
• Mile 5: 8:47.9
• Mile 6: 8:50.5
• Mile 7: 8:30.8
• Mile 8: 8:44.4
• Mile 9: 8:45.2
• Mile 10: 8:48.9

I wish I could have held back on the faster miles, but I was feeling good.  I was even starting to think that I had sold myself short with my 1:55 goal.

But then something odd happened as I approached the Mile 10 marker.  Very suddenly, I kinda had to pee.  I was annoyed because I still had 3.1 miles to go and stopping just wouldn't have made sense since I was on track to PR.  And then, not even 60 seconds later, it wasn't a problem anymore.  Woah.

I slowed down a bit wondering what to do before I realized that there wasn't much to be done.  Sadly, my mojo was gone after that.  Within a mile, 1:55 had become a lost cause.  At mile 12, I thought I could still eke out a PR, but the course went on for .2 longer than my Garmin said, and that made the difference.

After the race, I didn't say anything about "the incident" to my friends.  (Really, what would I say?)  But, when I got home, I Googled "peeing while running."  Lo and behold, it's a thing.  But, at least according to Internet wisdom, it happens to old, overweight, out of shape women who have given birth.  I'm 34, not overweight, in great shape and I have a dog and a turtle.*  WTF!?  I stopped Googling because it was not making me happy, and decided to ask my sister the Ironman what she thought.  She says it's totally normal.  I do know at lot of women at the gym complain about peeing while doing double-unders.  I guess it's the same kind of thing.

Looking ahead, I'd like to do another half in the fall.  Maybe Newport again.  Or Philly.  Or Staten Island. 

-Gym Belle-

*The turtle technically belongs to my sister, but I have been turtle-sitting for over a year.

Comments

[Alison]

If you choose Newport, you will have cheerleaders!