On 17th May, I took part in the 2025 Brooklyn Half Marathon. This was a race I had registered for through Sports Tours International and paid for myself.

Following the 2024 Chicago Marathon, I had picked up an achilles injury, which meant I had not run since 13th October. Having already committed to paying for this weekend, I decided to travel out to NYC and run the shakeout run hosted by Sports Tours on the Saturday to see how the achilles felt before making a decision whether to jump straight into a half-marathon after an 8-month injury layoff. I know, it sounds crazy, and please don’t follow this approach yourself without speaking with your physio first.

I had spoken with my physio beforehand, and whilst not promoting the idea of running, they were ok with doing it and being sensible, throw the ego out of the window and take walking breaks if needed, and any pain, make the sensible decision and stop. I had been building up some kind of aerobic base by cycling a lot during that 8-month period, too, which will help, but no substitute for actual running. My legs and ankles will not be used to the pounding on the pavement.

So I flew from Manchester, UK to NYC on the Friday and travelled straight over to the Expo to collect my race bib. I’ll be honest, even just taking that small step and being back amongst other runners, at a running event, a big city race expo and collecting a race bib! After those 8 months being alone at home, not running and wondering whether I could get back to doing what I enjoy. This felt like a win already, and I loved it.

Maybe going from zero to a big race like the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon wasn’t the best idea. I could have tried a smaller local race to get back into things, but for me, this buzz and excitement of a big city race was just the tonic I needed. All the memories of running the World Marathon Majors, the Ironman World Championships, all those races that I have missed, it all came flooding back and gave me such a lift.

The views of Manhattan from the expo and the setting sun between the skyline just topped this experience off! and this was just the expo! I am that guy who usually hates going to expos.

Saturday morning was the big test, my first run in 216 days. I wore my 2024 Chicago Marathon shirt to give me that motivation and hopefully a little good luck, too.

There were 6 of us in total who joined the Sports Tours rep for a nice, slow-paced jog around Brooklyn Heights. The pace was a lot slower than I probably would have run had I gone out by myself, and that was perfectly fine, exactly what I needed. Remember what the physio said, check the ego and take it steady.

The best part, besides the sights we saw along the way…. The achilles felt fine running at that pace, absolutely no pain whatsoever. At that point, I made up my mind and was going to, at the very least, start the Brooklyn Half tomorrow.

This was what I had been dreaming of for the past 8 months or 217 days. Standing in a start corral with thousands of other runners, that nervous but excited energy, the smell of a nearby porta-potty, ok, maybe not that part so much, but come on, it’s part of that race day vibe.

My plan for this was to run at 8:00/mi pace and see how it felt. The weather was quite warm and very humid, which, coupled with my total lack of any kind of run fitness, meant I was in for a tough slog and keeping on top of hydration was going to be key. I was not focusing on chasing a finish time, more so chasing the finish line, so at every water station, I would walk, grab the cups and make sure I take on enough fluids.

Mile 1 – 7: 7:56, 7:56, 7:38, 7:51, 7:52, 7:51, 7:33

The gun went off, and we filed forward and headed toward the start line. For me, Brooklyn has been a bit of an ill-fated affair. In 2019, I signed up to race until I tore my calf muscle at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca 7 days before, like this year, I had flights and accommodation booked, paid for, and no real cancellation options, so I had travelled out to NYC and stood on the sidelines cheering the runners doing what I really wanted. I was then signed up to run in 2020 and 2021; we all know what happened those years, and then this year has been a nightmare up until this point, too.

This time, I stepped across that start line and began running. I was running a race and finally running the Brooklyn Half Marathon. I couldn’t stop smiling during that first mile, but at the same time, hyper-focused on my right achilles. Did it hurt? What was that? Was that pain?

That first mile was half downhill, the uphill for the second half. This helped me hold back the pace, 8:00/mi was the goal, and I had gone out a little quick so that uphill brought me back close to plan, 4secs under, but that’s fine, I felt ok, I had no pai,n but also had 12 more miles to run, so yeh, this slightly faster pace feels ok… Those famous thoughts that we runners think at the start of a race.

Mile 2 was very much the same, downhill, loop around Grand Army Plaza, then back up the hill we just ran down and again, 4secs faster.

The next two miles were downhill as you run around to the Southern end of Prospect Park (the first 7 miles are more or less all in the park). Mile 3, I let the legs roll on the downhill a little, just getting a feel for how the achilles and ankle were holding up then the back end of mile 4 was slightly uphill again, leading into a flat(ish) section for a quarter mile before the one big hill on this course, which runs from around 4.3 miles – 5.1 miles.

I slowed my pace back to my planned 8:00/mi on the hill; this was where I started to feel the heat and humidity. The extra effort running up the hill, the high heart rate (lack of running fitness) and the hot, muggy air, I was dripping at this point.

The good news, once you hit the top of this hill, you are done with all major uphills from now until the finish. In the back of my mind, totally not checking the ego at this point, I thought that maybe I could run a negative split and be faster on the second half, using the downhill drag to the boardwalk.

Mile 8 – 13.1: 7:47, 7:47, 7:42, 7:38, 7:46, 7:30, 7:38

At mile 8, you leave Prospect Park and run down Ocean Parkway until the last half a mile. It’s a long, straight, wide stretch of road which gives you plenty of space to run your own pace; it’s downhill all the way, but with that space comes a quieter few miles, fewer spectators around; however, quite a few of the local run crews had pitched up alongside the road and were bringing that Brooklyn energy.

I started to pick up the pace, only by a few seconds per mile, but running quicker and still pain-free. 7:47/mi, 7:47/mi, 7:42/mi. All is going well and holding on nicely, still walking the water stations and taking on fluids and electrolytes.

Up until mile 11, I had been running on adrenaline; really, I had no right to be running a half-marathon after just 3 miles of running in 8 miles. I had kinda coasted through to mile 11 and had not even thought about fatigue or tiredness. This was where the reality bit back; my quads started to feel it, maybe from the downhill running we had been doing, but I tried to push on through it and wanted to keep chipping a few seconds off each mile, so I managed a 7:38/mi for that one.

I slowed in mile 12, but not by too much. I was using other runners just down the road as targets to chase. Unknown to them, they were in a personal race with me. This is something I like to do late on in races, it keeps my mind engaged and focused on something other than the pain in the legs, and it’s a bit of fun and motivating to reel them in and target someone else.

At mile 13, you are in Coney Island, and you can see the Cyclone and other rides. You know you are almost there with the ocean in front of you and the Boardwalk approaching. I wanted to pick up the pace and give it a fast finish, but I had nothing left; it was a case of running at the same speed, but that was totally fine. I was chasing a finish line, not a finish time.

That finish line was insight, and man, it felt good to be running down the boardwalk. The 2019 DNF, the cancellations of 2020 and 2021 and the injury layoff were all in the past. The present was a Brooklyn Half Marathon finisher medal, 100m away.

I did it, I ran the 2025 Brooklyn Half Marathon… finally and in the process, returned to running.

Brief roundup:

On paper, at 1:42.34, this is my slowest half-marathon in 9 years; I have only run slower on 3 occasions. I must have had an absolute shocker to have been so much slower than my last half-marathon at the 2023 Stafford Half Marathon.

A finish time only tells one part of a story. This story isn’t about that finish time, it is about the comeback, my first race since the Chicago Marathon, my first race since injuring my achilles to the point where we thought long-distance running could be in the past or at the very least, surgery would be required to repair the damage. I had spent the winter, not running, not doing the thing I love to do. That had impacted my mental health; I had felt so sad, I won’t say depressed because there are bigger things to worry about in the world right now, but being out injured for so long had got me down.

I am so glad I travelled out here and gave myself the opportunity to do this. Going from 216 days of not running to running a half-marathon isn’t wise, and I will repeat what I said at the beginning: do not try this yourself. I was lucky; I got around and felt fairly good for most of the race. I could have gone off and felt pain in mile 1 and had to walk off course, or I could have been totally blown away by the hills in Prospect Park and had to walk 7 miles to the finish.

My big take away, I love running in Brooklyn!!! I have said this after all four of my New York City Marathons and will say it again now. The crowds and energy in Brooklyn are on another level. The boost it gives us as runners is like no other. I just wish I was coming back in November to run the marathon to get another 13.1 miles of Brooklyn vibes.

Maybe I need to run the Brooklyn Half again next year to give it a fully fit and healthy crack to see what time I could manage. I feel like this could be a fast course with the hills up front and the downhill second half, as long as the weather plays ball. Today was a hot and humid one. I saw quite a lot of people struggling in those last 3 miles. I even saw one runner in handcuffs with a couple of police officers around them, not sure what they had done, but sometimes your head goes when the heat kicks in.

For those interested in what the course profile is like, below is a crop of what my watch tracked. As you can see, the hills are done once you reach 5 and a half miles, and then it is mostly downhill from 6 and a quarter miles to the finish. This also gives a clear view of where I had to slow down at each of the water stations to ensure I was staying hydrated.