Breaking News: Brooklyn Half Announced

For those of you familiar with the New York running scene, you know that the last couple of months have seen increasing speculation, frustration, and desperation surrounding NYRR's Brooklyn Half-Marathon. For those who don't live in the NYC area or those living under a rock not familiar with the Brooklyn Half or the hullabaloo surrounding it, here's a little background:

NYRR (traditionally) does a half-marathon in each of the 5 boroughs as part of their, you guessed it, 5 Borough Half-Marathon Grand Prix. Manhattan happens in January and never generates much excitement because it's just two frigid laps of Central Park. Queens was cancelled this year (or more accurately, demoted to 10k status) and the Bronx and Staten Island races are a long ways off.

Brooklyn has been by far the most popular of the races, at least as long as I've been in the city. I admit to changing travel plans to fit the race in my schedule. Usually, like other NYRR races, details are announced well in advance and registration opens up several months before. This time around, however, NYRR announced the date back at the beginning of the year but kept all the other details shrouded in mystery, hence the aforementioned wild speculation. It even spawned a tongue-in-cheek website for those who've been pulling their hair out waiting for more info: Is the Brooklyn Half On-Sale?

Well, last night, while I slept, NYRR finally announced that the race will go on sale Monday at noon. They also announced the course which has some changes from previous years in order to accommodate the new 15,000 runner cap (last year the race had just under 6,000 finishers). The other bit of news is the new price. For Road Runners members the price is $45, up from $25 last year and $18 the year before. I still think that's a pretty reasonable price for a half, especially considering the member price for the NYC Half last weekend was a whopping $113. 

I have a feeling people are going to go crazy on Monday but hopefully after everyone has registered folks can calm down and return to running as usual, at least until May 19. Oh, and hopefully I can sign up too!