2012 brooklyn hot chocolate 10k: race photos and results

with great weather we had for the brooklyn hot chocolate 10k this morning, it's hard to believe we're at the end of january! i ran the double loop course of prospect park in shorts - and with two long sleeve shirts, was overdressed! one glitch, with the timing system down, the race became a fun run - which was fine by me. i'm trying hard to shake off the remenants of a chest cold :(

my 47:26, 7:39 pace, was well under my 50 minute target. i was pleasantly surprised because for the first 4 miles i was struggling to maintain a 7:45 pace. i managed to pick up the pace in the last two miles w/a 7:30 and 7:08, respectively. but the highlight of the race was the burnt orange mugs we got instead of tee shirts :D

afterwards, went up to rockefeller park and ran a few more miles with anthony, emmy, and wayne.

brooklyn bridge officially opened 127 years ago today!

the brooklyn bridge officially opened to the public on may 24, 1883 - 13 years after construction had begun. here is a brief description of that day, from wikipedia:

"The opening ceremony was attended by several thousand people and many ships were present in the East Bay for the occasion. President Chester A. Arthur and New York Mayor Franklin Edson crossed the bridge to celebratory cannon fire and were greeted by Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low when they reached the Brooklyn-side tower.
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On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed what was then the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge."

the brooklyn bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world, and has become symbolic of borough of brooklyn. in a coincidence, the brooklyn half marathon was held just this weekend. i, together with thousands of runners, made our way to brooklyn for the race - some of whom may even have taken the brooklyn bridge to get there :D

nike human race 10k, prospect park - dns

faced with another rainy, dreary start to an october weekend, i decided to skip the trip to brooklyn for the nike human race 10k in prospect park. i had looked forward it, especially since it was in prospect park - a place i love to run. but, after i was up at five to help pat get out the door at 5:45 and into the car service for the drive to laguardia for her early morning flight to raleigh, north carolina, i didn't want to deal with my own ugly drive into the city. nor did i want the hassle of finding a place to park on the congested streets of park slope once i arrived.

i rarely blow off races because of the weather, but after the trio of wet 5k races last weekend - especially the muddy kurt steiner xc in van cortlandt park sunday morning - i'm a bit tired of running in wet soggy clothes. that's not to say i won't drag myself outside for a few wet training miles today (since the forecast is for rain all day - and probably well into the night). but at least i don't need to drive to, and park for, that local exercise.

i'm not sure what i'll do with the cherry red dri-fit shirt i picked up yesterday at niketown. it's basically a fresher version of the same cherry red shirt nike gave out for last year's human race 10k held at randall's island. i normally don't wear shirts from races i didn't run (although i haven't even worn the 2008 edition shirt, so it's probably a moot point).

but, in an interesting aside, on the walk down to grand central from niketown, i stopped in at the grand opening of the new asics running store on fifth and 42nd (across from bryant park). thanks to the heads up on the nyrr website, asics offered a free pair of socks to nyrr members. the uphot, i walked out of there with a great pair of asics "kaynano ll" low-cut running socks - gratis!! those i will definitely wear :D

next up - regardless of weather (ha), a pair of great races in fairfield county tomorrow: the great train race in the morning, and the police pumpkin chase in the afternoon.

brooklyn half marathon blues - again?

the brooklyn half marathon is tentatively set for may 30 on the nyrr 2009 schedule. it was almost a case of the brooklyn half marathon blues all over again because i initially thought the date was on memorial day weekend! that would have put it up against the pineland farms 50 miler and/or the b.u.s. pioneer memorial 100m trek! but before the blues kicked in, a heads up from brooklyn running pointed out the date is actually the weekend after memorial day! phew, bullet dodged!

still, the brooklyn half just can't seem to catch a break from the nyrr's. this is the third straight year the race has been pushed back, back, and now even further back, from its traditional march date! last year it was slotted in the for the last week of april - only to be pushed into the first week of may. that last minute change worked for me - and i was able to run it. the year before, 2006, it was held the same weekend as the boston marathon. thanks to modern technology, the automobile, i ran it on saturday, then drove to boston and ran the marathon on monday.

it's gotten a lot tougher lately to line up for my favorite new york road runner race. the last few years, in reverse order: may (09, tentative), may (08), april (07), march (06), march (05), and april (04).... but, if at all possible - it will always be the one nyrr race (except for that holiest of holy races, the nyc marathon itself) that i won't miss!
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hold the presses!! the brooklyn half marathon has mysteriously disappeared from the 2009 calendar (as of 2/6/09). are we getting a third case of the brooklyn half blues?

i'll post an update when the nyrr announce the new date.

battle of brooklyn - august 27, 1776

as a kid growing up in brooklyn, the anniversary of the battle of brooklyn (also known as the battle of long island and, less frequently, the battle of brooklyn heights) is nothing new - so to speak. in fact, commemorating it often leads to one of those counter-intuitive moments that devolves into something like this: "i know this is a significant historical event, but why remind ourselves of military defeat that ushered in such disastrous consequences?" put into modern historical context, it's similar to the british reliving the world war II battle of dunkirk (figuratively and literally)!

that said, one should never shirk from historical observations. a couple of points about the battle of brooklyn deserve mention. the british, in staging their troops on august 22nd, carried out the largest amphibious military operation prior to the 20th century when they successfully landed 34,000 soliders in gravesend bay. five days later, when the combatants finally met, general george washington led, for the first army of the united states (approximately 10,000 men) in a field of battle. outnumbered almost 2 to 1, the outcome wasn't in much doubt. the american troops, after suffering almost 2,600 causalities, retreated to brooklyn heights (literally, to the water's edge).

on the evening of august 28th and into the early morning hours of the 29th, good fortune - and the british failure to follow through with its military advantage - allowed general washington to get his remaining troops across the east river, under the cover of night (and early morning fog), to the relative safety of manhattan island. that respite from battle was brief. the british quickly followed washington and his troops across the river and pursued them to the northern end of manhattan, where they then crossed the hudson river (near the present day site of the george washington bridge) and escaped the british.

an interesting highlight of general washington conduct - he did not leave brooklyn heights until the very last of his troops was on the water, rowing across to manhattan. he was subsequently praised (by both the americans and british) for his strategic withdrawal against the overwhelming odds!

and, one lost battle aside, if memory serves me correctly - we did eventually win that war ;D

2008 nathans hot-dog eating contest: chestnut retains title in overtime!!

i am in awe of joey chestnut! i'm in awe of takeru kobayashi! these masters of controlled gluttony are amazing eating machines - impossible to believe how much they can consume in one sitting (or standing, in yesterday's case) unless you watch them with your own eyes. last year, watching chestnut win the hot-eating title from six time champion kobayashi (via espn) was jaw-dropping!
i missed yesterday's espn live broadcast of the event. but the outcome of this classic rematch was the only news of the day i was interested in!

in a bizarre twist, the 12 minute time limit was shortened to ten minutes! bizarre because the reason given was the original contest - way back in 1916 - was only ten minutes. this change clearly threw off all the participants. chestnut said he was prepared to eat 70 hot dogs (in the familiar 12 minute format)!

so what better way to kick start a new set of rules than with a tie! chestnut and kobayashi each wolfed down 59 hot dogs in the shortened time frame! now what?

well, thank goodness for tie breakers. a tie, especially in a competition which counts "partial" dogs eaten - the fraction of a hot dog in your mouth, ultimately swallowed, when time runs out - has to be a rare outcome. after all the regulation gluttony, the declared winner of the 2008 contest would be whomever consumed 5 additional(!) hot-dogs the fastest!

and the post regulation speed eater was CHESTNUT!! woo hoo!!

so in honor of his victory, i had 2 hot dogs at last night's 4th of july bbq. consumed at a relative crawl by comparison....

the telectroscope: a "tunnel" from new york to london!

a tunnel from new york to london? would you be interested in a slightly used time machine? the telectroscope may be the hippest bit of performance art to coincide with the brooklyn bridge's 125th anniversary celebration!

here is the official telectroscope site.
here is a background story from the new york times.

yesterday i walked over the brooklyn bridge at lunchtime. then i just couldn't resist continuing the walk down to the fulton landing to see the brand new telectroscope in action.

as much fun as it was to see it up close and personal, i had even more fun last night when i drove my daughter and her friends home from their lacrosse game. with a totally straight face i managed to tell them all about the "amazing tunnel that had just opened from new york to. . . ." and that i had seen this marvel with my very own eyes! of course, they refused to believe a word of what i said - what au courant 13 year would?


a view of the "tunnel" from the brooklyn bridge :D


view with the brooklyn bridge in the background.


new yorkers look in and see london, in real time.

brooklyn bridge photos

banners on the bridge


view from fulton landing, brooklyn


view of manhattan, from brooklyn side


view from manhattan approach


a sweet welcome to brooklyn :D

retrospective: brooklyn bridge centennial 1983

bruce cratsley, brooklyn bridge centennial fireworks, 1983
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while today kicks off the 125th anniversary celebration, i must confess that i vividly remember the 1ooth anniversary celebration in 1983! i was a student at pace university then, and watched the fireworks display from the roof of the downtown campus!

is it really possible that 25 years has flown by that quickly??

andy warhol designed the official poster for the brooklyn bridge centennial

select ny times coverage, may 1983

brooklyn bridge 125th anniversary celebration!

today is the start of the city's weekend long celebration of the brooklyn bridge's 125th birthday. party kicks off tonight with music at the foot of, and fireworks over, the top of the bridge.

while i can't attend any of the major events, i did want to start off my day with a walk over the bridge. but for the second time this week, rain forced me to change my plans. however, the revised timetable, a lunchtime walk, turned into a much better adventure. in addition to the walk over the bridge, i continued on to the fulton ferry landing and caught the telectroscope exhibit. then, while having a slice of pizza, i ran into a good friend of mine!


view on my daily walk to the office from the brooklyn bridge station of the lexington avenue subway line.

may 24th (saturday) is the actual 125th anniversary.

check out the great slide show of the fireworks posted by the ny times!

brooklyn bridge park

wow, after having lived in brooklyn heights for the better part of ten years, and that's not counting the years i spent attending law school in the heights, before we moved north to westchester, i am amazed to see this incredible project finally get off the ground.

for better or worse, construction (or maybe controlled destruction) got underway last week. the ny times ran the story on page one of the metro section on monday. it included a photo of the one lone crane as it undertook the initial demolition under steel grey cloud cover. it also mentioned local opposition to the project - some which is critical of the open space idea of the project (not enough commercial use), while others are critical of the residential condominiums set to anchor the north and south ends of the project.

ny1, the local cable news station, also covered the story, and includes a video clip of the broadcast on its site. the video is worth checking out, if just for the views of the site! even more coverage, and additional photos, can be found at the gothamist site. brooklyn bridge park has it's own, "official" site that provides images of what the completed space will look like when it's eventually opened to the public.

after years and years of talk (and some would add, inaction), i'm excited to see the project finally underway. while there are plenty of aspects to be critical about, in the final analysis i think it's going to become yet one more great reason to walk over the bridge and visit brooklyn!