Brooklyn Half-Marathon 2006 or: life in 13.1 miles.

I love the Brooklyn Half-Marathon... it's like a family history.

1. It starts at the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island: my great-grandfather helped build it.
2. It continues past Nathan's, where my maternal grandmother ate many a hot dog.
3. It travels up Ocean Parkway, on which my paternal grandmother lived the entire time I knew her.
4. It ends in Prospect Park, where Maggie, Carter and I... and eventually my oldest sun, used to go every Saturday and Sunday morning, so Carter could play with his doggie friends.

When I passed my grandmother's building, I stopped and said a little prayer. I'm not sure why, but it felt good. I must have looked a little strange, but whatever: that's becoming increasing par for the course.

I don't know my official time yet: my clock time was 1:50, which is fine with me. It took a few minutes to actually start running, though... big crowd... so my net time is going to be a little shorter. It was a cold one: the water cups folks hand out during the race actually froze. Wild.

No matter what, it felt good to be 37 years old, 2.5 years sober (today) and running a crazy-ass race in Brooklyn, NY.

Love to all. Even you, the guy in the red Corvette on the Deegan Expressway.