Report from Jacy Kruzel and Veronica Jackson of the Open:
Congratulations to all of our speedy Brooklyn Half Marathon racers!
The CPTC Open Women were 28 strong at the largest half marathon in the country on Saturday, and came away with a 4th place finish and countless PRs. The hilly start through Prospect Park, and long stretch down Ocean Parkway can make the final miles lonely and painful, but our women’s team held strong. Our first four runners were within an incredible 19 seconds of each other, coming in 39th through 42nd.
The team was led by a smiling Grace White in 1:23:25, who was coming off a strong Broad Street 10 Miler performance only two weeks earlier, but still managed yet another PR to close out her very successful spring racing season. Caroline Veltri followed closely behind Grace in 1:23:33, smashing her PR by over three minutes, just five weeks after running the Boston Marathon. As anyone who has run Boston knows, the beating your legs take there can lead to a tough few weeks of recovery, making Caroline’s time that much more impressive. Just two seconds behind Caroline was Jordan Snyder with an exciting two minute PR, recording negative 10k splits in route to a 1:23:35. Elleree Erdos crossed the line nine seconds later and seconds just seconds off her PR in 1:23:44, also having competed in Broad Street just two weeks prior. Rounding out the scoring five was Kate Pfeffer in 1:24:53, who trekked down from Connecticut to give the team some needed speed.
Caroline Veltri
Photo: Andy Kiss
Elleree Erdos
Photo: Andy Kiss
Following Kate, and just four weeks after her sub-3 hour London Marathon, was Alysia Dusseau recording negative splits for 1:25:39. Alysia worked with Katherine Carrington through the park, who came in strong at 1:27:18. And topping the impressive PR list was Andrea Burdett, who crossed the line next in 1:31:04 for a three and a half minute PR. Let’s keep this PR streak alive at our next club points race, the Queens 10 on June 17th. And a reminder to everyone to mark your calendars for the Team Championships on August 5th, where we can let our depth shine as 10 runners score!
Alyssia Dusseau
Photo: Andy Kiss
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
~Veronica and Jacy
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Report from Ani Go of the 40+:
What a day at the Brooklyn Half! The 40+ ladies had full representation at the race, including a complete 40+ team and strong support! After a damp wait in the corrals, the journey around Prospect Park and down Ocean Parkway to the Coney Island boardwalk began. Conditions were perfect for the run, as the rain held off until we were all enjoying drinks and (some of us!) hot dogs at Nathan’s!
The scoring team of your little Captain Ani Go, Audrey Kingsley (don’t call it a comeback–she’s been here all this time!), and Julie Tucker, had a good ole time from land to shore. Captain Ani ran modestly, with a better half time than she had in about 5 years. Audrey stepped up to task and was my hero, with a great contribution coming in second to score. Julie T, fresh from the Boston Marathon, ran strong and concluded our scoring team. Way to go ladies!
Meg Blake and Jennifer Ranck also came to rock and roll. In addition, this was Jen‘s first half marathon, along with her battle with various health problems, but read on…!
Jen wins the Rookie award! Here’s her triumphant report:
So glad to be in position to send in a recap – aka running again in the CPTC-NB uniform!
I initially took advantage of my volunteer guaranteed entry (volunteer leader at BKhalf 2016) after extending my longest distance from 10K to 15K and 10M just this past Dec/Jan to simply try the half. I set a modest 1st time goal of sub-2:00:00 (9:09-9:10) pace as even my 15K pace had been faster than my 10M pace. Unfortunately, training was forcefully and unexpectedly derailed late in the training stages by a new battle with early stage colon cancer. With good news after further biopsy and surgery (although not all clear just yet), I was able to return to running and tested endurance with an easy 11.2 mile long run the weekend before (just ran easy until my body said no) and based on that successful long run was fiercely determined to still run the BK half with adjusted goal of run to finish -no timed goal. I am so glad I did!
I was placed in Wave 1 – last corral L – so it was oddly not too crowded most of the way. I ran first 5K just over goal pace (9:14/28:41) but already knew I would need several fluid station and mini-walking breaks (and more than usual in my previous long runs) especially in the 15K-20K parts of the race. I was more than OK with that and took whatever breaks I needed and otherwise ran smartly and consistently I thought and still fought my way to the finish (a mini-kick at the end) and crossed the finish line in 2:12:27. Technically a PR and not far off my original goal which I know now I can easily meet at the next 1/2 (yes will be running more 15K-10M-halfs!). Not bad with loss of most of past 6 weeks to surgery and recovery!
I was so proud to wear the CPTC-NB uniform that day – both during and after the race (the team camaraderie and support was and is amazing!)- and am so happy I ran and conquered this new distance defying both fibromyalgia and cancer!
Go Orange! Onto the Queens 10K!
We had a happy surprise with Andrea Ostrowski representing the entire 50+ team, running her first NYRR half in almost 10 years! I hope you had a Nathan’s hot dog at the finish line, Andrea!
Congrats to our open and masters women’s and men’s teams on their finishes.
Let’s bring it to Queens at the 10k on Saturday, June 17th!
GO ORANGE!
Captain Ani
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Report from …. of the 50+:
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Report of the 60+:
Barbara Byrne, our oldest CPTC woman it the 2017 Brooklyn Half, is certainly one of our club’s finest runners. Her 1:48:29 bested her last year’s time by 37 seconds. It earned her 83.28 % AG, the highest of any CPTC woman in this race. She was 1st in her age group by 11 minutes and was the 16th AG woman overall in a field of 13,968 finishers. The next younger CPTC woman to complete the race was 13 years her junior.
Barbara has run the Brooklyn Half 11 times. Her fastest was in 2002, 1:33:05. Her highest percentage was 83.33% AG in 2012.
Barbara:
The CPTC older ladies obviously had very small representation yesterday, for which I was quite grateful because it meant there was no external pressure on me to make an effort. In fact I had happily decided to take it quite easy and be satisfied with under 2 hours, although prior to this week I had been thinking I would like to finish under 1:50. Dan and I found each other in our corral and planned to start out together and maybe help one another along. This made for a well reasoned first 3 miles (don’t get caught up in the race), but then once into the park my pace gradually picked up and I had fun reviewing my possible finish time as the race progressed. My thanks to Dan; for once finished fairly strongly without suffering the dry heaves or worse.
The weather was a blessing. So thankful the heat wave broke, the rain that threatened at the beginning came to nothing, the sky became overcast and there was a breeze on Ocean Parkway.
I did think of Dave as I went on my way. We should be grateful we are able to be running.
Hank Schiffman