Report from Colleen McGurk of the 40+:

The weather might have been cold and rainy but the CPTC Master 40+ women were on fire at the Brooklyn Half as we raced hard and finished strong for a first place finish!

Colleen McGurk and Johhny Zhang

Our first scorer was Colleen McGurk who had this to say:

I am probably the only person who ran who was happy about the forecast. More rain means less pollen and as someone who suffers greatly from allergies this time of year, the weather was absolutely perfect:)

It was great to work the race with Johnny Zhang! The last two miles were pretty tough but just as I was losing it, Alex Bernardi appeared out of nowhere (as she whizzed by) and yelled to keep it strong – just what I needed to keep pace and bring it down a wee bit!

I managed a 15 second PR with a finish time of 1:21:18 and great teamwork and memories in BK!

Our second scorer was newbie Paige Yellen. This was Paige’s second race with CPTC and we are so fortunate to have her on the team! Once again she killed it! Paige finished in a speedy 1:23:29 and shared this:

The rain before the start affected my pre-race routine and therefore, my mentality before and during the race.

I was too a little too complacent with my pace, partly because I was not certain about how much faster a pace I could have maintained, particularly in the back half. And, I just was off my game. Something to work on.

The rain, as a physical component, was not bothersome. Was not a factor.

Overall, the race itself went well because I maintained an even pace most of the time.

Amy Kvilhaug

Photo: Nigel Francis

Our 3rd scorer was CPTC veteran Amy Kvilhaug. Amy has been consumed by softball this season and even with a very stressful softball season and inconsistent training, she still ran a solid time and scored a Masters PR!! Amy is such an inspiration to the team – Welcome back, Amy! We missed you. Here’s how Amy described her first race back:

It felt so good to be back out and racing and seeing everyone! I had an A,B, and C goal going into Brooklyn. Thought my A was a bit of a reach based on my choppy training cycle during softball season, B was certainly attainable and C was there if everything fell apart. It was something I could still hold onto to get me through. I hit my B goal (sub-1:33) with a 1:31:03 and was psyched it was good enough to help the 40+ team win Brooklyn. I went back through my results and it was actually a masters PR for the half and a course PR for me. Colleen and Paige had extraordinary times and inspired the heck out of me to get back to work and keep improving. Something Colleen said on IG about racing the Brooklyn Half really hit home and carried me through some rough patches. The power of the mind is a real thing and I really want to continue to work on that piece. Thanks for the advice and inspiration, captain!

Shout out to Audrey who was pleased with certain aspects of her race and who did very well. It made me happy to chat with her and see her in good spirits. Also kudos to Ani who I thought had a good race as well.  Congrats to the 40+ ladies as well as the entire CPTC team who kicked butt and took names. So many amazing performances.

Always the team player and ever consistent was Captain Ani who finished next is a solid 1:39:34. No matter what the conditions, Ani always has a sense of humor and runs with all her heart. We love you, Ani!

Here’s what Ani had to say:

Holy half shades of Boston!  The conditions for the half was a mini version of the Boston Marathon’s weather, minus the headwind and a subtraction of at least 10 degrees. Still, set the washing machine on a cold rinse and throw in a few thousand runners. And a tiny sock with chipmunks ? on it (me!).  The race itself wasn’t too bad—hardest part of the rain came when the pace should be easy anyway—and conditions were ideal during the meat and dessert part of the race.  I felt slightly undertrained during the second half of the race, and breathing problems after the 10k made it a challenge for me to negative split. The monotonous strip of Ocean Parkway is uninspiring at best, although I was able to find Maria G and Nicole Hopkins!  I was able to rally at the end on the boardwalk. Not the time I wanted, but I finished in one piece. 

Special thanks to Gary Gosselin who found me in the last miles of the race as I was struggling and gave me the strength to push through! 

Next up was Elizabeth Kaicher! This was her first post-baby race and it’s so great to see her out there again. Welcome back, Elizabeth! We missed you!

Christine Peddy was our next finisher and her goal going into this race was to qualify for NY and she nailed it! Congratulations, Christine! Christine shared:

My only goal for Brooklyn was to run a 2019 NYC Marathon qualifier (sub 1:42 for our age group).  I did it!  1:40.

I looked the whole race for Ani… I had to run by myself. It’s too bad as we only finished 20 seconds apart!

I’m looking forward to start training for the Chicago Marathon this summer. That’s my goal running race.

Audrey Kingsley showed up and repped hard in Brooklyn! I spoke to Audrey after the race and she shared how deep she dug on that final stretch of Ocean Parkway. All grit!! Here’s what Audrey has to say:

Not having done the training that I really wanted, once the gun goes off, all of that goes away, and you have to run the race before you. I am happy with the outcome, but mostly happy knowing that I am slowly chipping away at the time. It’s a process. But the support and advice from my fellow teammates, makes it that much easier!!

Onwards to the Queens 10k!