Race Recap: Battle of Brooklyn 10M

This past weekend I ran the Battle of Brooklyn 10M (I talked about it previously here).  It is run by Jack Rabbit (a local running store here in NYC).

Packet pickup took place on Friday at the Jack Rabbit store in Union Square.  Worked perfectly for me because I needed to pick up some gu's as well so good to kill 2 birds with 1 trip.  I got my awesome swag - a nicely branded water bottle.  Supposedly it's spill proof which makes me excited.

The race was taking place in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and started at 8am.  So it was an early morning for me, needing to leave my apartment around 6:15 am.  I took the subway there and at that time of day, it took just over an hour.  Once we got to the staging here, everything was pretty simple.  They had a small section for baggage and a help table if you had any questions.

Molly was busy getting all the last minute things done, but I was able to say hi briefly.  After that I checked my baggage and got ready for the race.

The entire race was 3 loops of Prospect Park and the field was pretty small.  I have to say, I am really loving small races lately.  I like big ones too, but there is something about small races that just feels nice.

Anyway, after some announcements and the National Anthem, we got started.  It started on a downhill which was nice but did make my first mile a little faster then I wanted.  I was doing this as my long run, so was aiming for a 9:29 pace.  There is a pretty significant (and long) hill in Prospect Park, so that helped control the pace as well.  They had 2 water stations throughout the loop and the spacing worked well (for me at least) with when I needed water.

They also had a surprise for us on the course - the British Army came to visit!  They did announce before the race to keep our eyes out for them, they were armed but not dangerous.  They were holding fort in the middle of the big hill which was a nice break!  The volunteers stationed there had British flags (looked like print outs from the computer not actual flags) pinned to their shirts and water guns.  They kept yelling "God save the King'.  It wasn't a crazy hot day, but the water still was a nice refresher.

I tried to take the race one loop at a time and focus on my paces for that loop.  Overall, my paces were a little faster then I wanted, but I felt strong during the race so I am pleased with my time.  I really enjoyed this race.  I loved the small size and it was a nice change of pace from my regular runs.

Time
Official: 10 miles, 1:34:01, 9:24 pace
Garmin: 10.09 miles, 1:34:01, 9:19 pace

Splits