What does halfway there mean? An update on my running journey.
When I ran my first half marathon in January, I missed my time goal by only a few seconds. That was no problem, especially since I think it’s good to set goals that lie just on the cusp of achievable or not. The concerning part of that race was the fact that I crossed the finish line barely able to go any farther. It was a tough run, on a difficult course, under the tiring circumstances of just having returned from Antarctica two days earlier. Overall, I was proud of what I accomplished, but I left the race feeling like I was nowhere close to the 26.2 miles I’ll need to run at the marathon in November. Even though I had made it half the distance, I didn’t feel like I was halfway towards my goal.
That race on January 26 was a defining moment in my path towards the 2025 NYC Marathon. I was humbled by the experience, and doubt crept in. I never expected it will be easy to run the marathon, but until that day, I was riding the momentum of one success after another in this running journey to a place of what may have been unwarranted confidence. That race brought back the feeling of pain I used to get from even shorter runs, and it made me realize there’s so much more I need to do to be ready for November. As a result, I dedicated myself to training harder and running more as I approached the next milestone in my marathon journey – the 2025 Brooklyn Half Marathon.
The race was Saturday May 17, but there’s so much more to the story than just race day. It’s a story of how I am learning this all as I make my way towards my first ever marathon.
Training
As I mentioned, I’ve been training harder. My priority has been to log more miles. Sometimes by running more often and other times by running longer distances. In 2024, as I discovered that I could make the 2025 marathon a goal, I ran a total of 39 times throughout the year for a total distance of 143 miles. This year – after just five months – I’ve run 38 times for 178 miles.
Another objective is not to sacrifice strength training. Admittedly, I haven’t lived up to this as much as I should. I have sometimes sacrificed that extra day in the gym for fun stuff like climbing or golfing. But those sacrifices can also have consequences . . .
Injury
For the past ten years, I’ve been working on achieving a body that could run without pain, but achieving one that can run 26.2 miles is a different beast. Which brings me to what happened just three weeks before the Brooklyn Half . . .
On April 26, while in Florida to take my dad to his first Pearl Jam show, I went for a short run the morning of the concert. It didn’t have to be a long one since I knew I’d spend that night jumping up and down to the soundtrack of my life for my dad to finally see. Nothing noteworthy happened during the run, but my knee was sore afterwards. Not the biggest deal, I thought. That is, until I took that first jump when the band picked up the pace with Given to Fly and said, “Oh shit!” I couldn’t jump, and I was in way more pain than I had realized. Dad didn’t know any better as I raised my arms, sang with the crowd, and bobbed up and down, but I knew something was wrong, and it scared me.
Sure, I had the half marathon coming up just three weeks later, but that wasn’t my biggest concern. I could skip that race just fine, and I’d only be sad to be missing out on the experience. What really hit me was how fragile this goal of the marathon is. It’s lying on a razors edge balancing training, health, and luck. Anything can happen between now and November even if I train perfectly. After this injury hit me, doubts crept in about whether I will ever run the marathon.
Treatment
For the next few days after hurting my knee, the pain would not subside, and I knew that the Brooklyn Half Marathon was in jeopardy. That was ok. I’d do whatever I needed to do for the NYC Marathon, including skipping this race – or walking off it in the middle – if I had to. But I still wanted to run it, and most of all, I needed to heal.
I went for acupuncture, hyperbaric oxygen, ice baths, and applied the best CBD balm throughout the day. These remedies have worked miracles for me before, and this time turned out to be no different. I felt remarkable improvement after the first acupuncture session, and after the next one a week later, I was optimistic again – not just about the NY Marathon but about running the Brooklyn Half. So, the day after that second acupuncture session, I ran again. For the next two weeks, I kept my runs shorter and slower, just hoping to get through each one pain free. And I did. Just two days before the race I knew that I felt better than I did before I had even realized I was injured.
Preparing for Race Day
My prep for this race day was a stark contrast to the half I ran in January. Two days before that race I was flying back from Antartica, and the day before, I was catching up on sleep and ice baths. With this race, I planned out my runs, including a shakedown run the day before the half. A note here is that I never knew before that you are supposed to do a light 10- to 20-minute run the day before a long race. But I not only spent the lead up to this race researching everything, I also asked my running mentors all about their processes.
Thanks to my research, I properly monitored my hydration, altered my diet and carb intake appropriately, and came prepared with the supplements I needed for race day. I was ready!
Goals
While I often say that goals are dangerous, they can also be super motivating. I most definitely had mine for this race ranging from the most attainable to least attainable.
Have fun
Finish
Set a PR (previously 2:27:27)
All of these were very attainable assuming I stayed injury free during the race. I knew I was in better shape than when I ran the half in January, and this was an easier course.
I decided to set one more target. Lately, I’ve found myself reaching most of the goals I set, so I wanted to reach for something that I thought was unlikely. I knew a sub-2:20:00 race was that number. That’s about 25 seconds per mile faster than the race in January that took everything I had. The race where I did not reach the goal I set.
Race Day
I’m admittedly an early riser as I typically wake up between 4 and 5 AM. For race day, I planned to wake up at 3 AM to start my day and head to Brooklyn by 5:30. So, I was asleep by 7:45 PM on the eve of the race and ultimately woke up without my alarm at 2:45 AM in the green on my WHOOP and feeling rested and ready for my first of two double espressos and a well-planned breakfast.
Race day was hot and muggy, and runners were cautioned to slow down and prepare for the warm day. My one piece of advice here is that preparing for the warm day cannot start that morning. To be properly hydrated, it must start days before. I learned this the hard way years ago, when I famously told my friend during a hot day on the golf course that “I’m great in the heat” before walking off the course mid-round severely dehydrated and on the verge of a heat stroke. That did not repeat itself here.
The entire experience of race day was thrilling. A crowded subway ride at 5:40 AM from where the Q train starts in my neighborhood made me realize this race was a big thing. And the crowd of runners when I arrived was unlike anything I had been part of before. Much different than the race I ran on a 20-degree day in January. 4,849 people finished that half marathon. Over 28,000 ran this race!
I planned to start easy and then work towards a faster pace as I figured out what my body could handle. But the excitement pumped more adrenaline into me than I anticipated. I quickly found that I was running faster than I intended and worried that I wouldn’t keep it up. I expected my body would let me know I made a mistake somewhere between mile 8 and 10, but that never happened. Not even at miles 11, 12, or 13. My pace was practically the same during every split until the finish. As we approached Coney Island, (1) I was having the time of my life; (2) I was about to finish; (3) I could have walked my way to a PR, and (4) I could jog my way to my most ambitious goal of breaking 2:20:00. I crossed the finish line with a personally shocking time of 2:18:46, finishing 18,888 of 28,420.
Sadly, we all wish there was one more finisher. My deepest condolences go out to the family of 31-year old, Charles Rogers, a former college football player at the University of Minnesota, who tragically lost his lifeduring his first time running this race.
Recovery
When the race ended, I won’t say I felt no pain at all, but for having just run a half marathon, I felt amazing. I had anticipated needing all my best recovery tools that afternoon, so after I put on my air compression boots at home for 40 minutes, I went to Remedy Place SOHO for the works. After starting with red light therapy, I tried their new hyperbaric oxygen chamber (different from the one I usually use at the Flatiron location), and then did my old faithful – contrast therapy.
The Journey
The biggest takeaway is that I’ve come a long way since my first, and only other, half marathon. I’ve improved physically and in my methods of preparation. I listened to my body at the first sign of injury and gave it the right treatment, coming out of it stronger than before in less than three weeks. I set goals I could reach, and I crushed them. And I set one that I didn’t expect to reach – beating that one comfortably too. Still, I know I have a long way to go before I’m ready to run the full marathon in November. More training, strengthening, studying, and preparation. But most specifically, I have another 13.1 miles to go. Yet unlike my last half when I felt no where close to that goal, I now feel like I can say, “I’m halfway there!”
Aaron