Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Six Months to Brooklyn

Some not-so-random thoughts in the wake of the Brooklyn Half being scheduled on May 30. (Let's assume, for now, that that date is locked in place, though this early on, there are certainly no guarantees).

- My first reaction was that it was Memorial Day weekend (an absolute race killer). Instead, it's the weekend after - so basically, the second weekend of "summer."

While temperatures will hopefully be moderate, it means we'll be running into some of the summer Coney Island crowd. (I'm sure the borough isn't going to be too thrilled about the potential traffic issues).

- So, if Coney Island traffic becomes an issue ... does that mean the course changes? (Running four loops in Prospect Park ... blech.)

- Given a preference, would much rather do a summer half marathon down Ocean Parkway rather than the Grand Concourse in the Bronx (something called trees ...)

- Some temperatures (and dates) from past races

2004: April 24, 65 degrees
2005: March 19, 44 degrees
2006: March 18, 33 degrees (windy)
2007: April 18, 41 degrees (windy)
2008: May 3, 48 degrees

- The later date means that Brooklyn can't really be used as a training springboard for a spring marathon (yes, you can find a summer marathon, but ...)

3 comments:

ChickenUnderwear said...

I hope they reverse the course, I would love to finish at the Ocean!

rundangerously said...

memorial day weekend!! that was my first thought. phew, what a relief, when it turned out to be the weekend after!

pp to coney island would be cool too :D

Anonymous said...

Hope they publicize it well. There are always a lot of early birds annoyed to be stuck in traffic as it is, and this date brings the race into beach season!!