Just after completing the Brooklyn Marathon. They also gave me a nice hat, besides a Brooklyn Marathon running shirt, which I didn’t wear.
First of all, congratulations to all finishers of the Brooklyn Marathon! it was great running with all you energetic and wonderful people. And Thanks to NYCRUNS for organizing a great race experience.
Earlier today, I completed the Brooklyn Marathon in Prospect Park while juggling. The Brooklyn Marathon is a very young marathon compared to the Yonkers Marathon(also organized by NYCRUNS) I did back in september. I often call it a “baby” marathon because it is only 3 years old, unlike the 106 year old Yonkers Marathon. This in no way means it is an “easy” marathon, though it is a lot less hilly than the Yonkers Marathon.
Now for the results: I was a tiny bit slower than last time, finishing at 3:52:33, compared to 3:51:43, which is how I did at the Yonkers Marathon, an almost trivial difference. At least I managed to finish in under 4 hours again. There were 400 finishers in the race, and my overall place was 122. I think that may be kind of impressive.
At least I improved when it came to juggling, dropping only twice during the entire marathon, compared to 4 times in the Yonkers Marathon. I probably would have done better if it hadn’t rained on and off for nearly 30 minutes, leaving me all wet and making it slippery in some spots. It was also a little warm for this time of year(nearly 60 F or 15.5 C toward the end of the race) and uncomfortably humid, though when the race started at 8:30, it was a little chilly.
I think the tedium of doing several laps on the same path in Prospect Park going around and around and around got to me mentally(I did this entire path once earlier this year). This was the biggest problem with the race, from my perspective. I prefer a race that isn’t repetitious and takes me places. Fortunately, NYCRUNS has some ambitious plans to bring the Brooklyn Marathon out onto the streets of Brooklyn. I even feel like they stole my idea – I kept thinking to myself: “Wouldn’t it be great if this race ended in Cony Island?”. And the organizer at the beginning of the race said exactly that! So this is a potentially great marathon in embryo form, just as the big New York City Marathon was once an embryo that used to be completely run within Central Park back in the 70s.
I also felt a borderline nausea during some parts of the run, especially when I tried running faster. I wonder if this would have been less of a problem if I had been consuming the probiotic blueberry or cherry kefir before the run, which is what I did last time. Unfortunately, due to time constraints I wasn’t able to make any this time, though did have some store bought kimchi.
Another issue was that the marathon route wasn’t closed to non-marathon runners. I couldn’t get over how many people were walking or running on the path, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a marathon was going on and they were in the middle of it. This must have slowed down a lot of the runners.
On the bright side, the crowd support was amazing. There were so many people cheering for us, and I gotta admit, especially me. This feels so weird to me. I can’t count how many times I heard people say “Go vegan joggler!”, because of the vegan T-shirt I had on. I think at least a few of the people watching the marathon were vegan(which may have explained their excitement), and I am aware of a few other vegan runners who I met. Yes I know I get a lot of attention, but you all inspire me too; I don’t think I would be doing this at all if it wasn’t for vegan runners setting an example for me to follow and to feel camaraderie with. Not to mention that part of the reason I do this is to dispel myths about veganism.
After I crossed the finish line, some other runners thanked me for making the race more “entertaining” for them. This is why I do what I do – it makes racing more fun for me and everyone else. I’m glad I could entertain you, and maybe inspire you to run a little faster – after all, who wants to come home from a race and say they got beaten by a vegan joggler? This is also the first long run in which I’ve worn the new ASICS sneakers I got about a week before the race. It felt terrific running in them, they are definitely a little roomier width wise compared to my previous pair.
All in all, a great race experience in spite of its flaws. I also wish I had gotten more sleep the night before. I got around 5 hours which is usually inadequate for me. This also may have slowed me down a little bit.
I drank a lot of tart cherry juice during the ride home, and ate some Cliff Bars. It’s difficult to have a full meal after very long runs. I drank a lot of tart cherry juice because it may help speed recovery. I feel sore now, but I did go for a walk after I got home. Hopefully the soreness will be gone within a few days.
I look forward to doing many more marathons and races. I wish all my followers much success with your races and your fitness routine. I hope anyone reading this who ran the Brooklyn Marathon had as good of a time as I did. And if you happen to be planning a trip to New York City, be sure to visit Prospect Park, it’s a lovely little green space that has a lot to offer.
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