Brooklyn, Take It Easy

NYC Marathon Course Section: Sunset Park, Miles 4-6

Brooklyn comprises most of the first half of the New York City Marathon. 6 miles of it is spent running up 4th Avenue. This section starts in Bay Ridge then goes through Sunset Park and Park Slope. Sunset Park and nearby Greenwood Cemetery are the two highest points in Brooklyn. Overall it doesn’t feel drastically hilly, but miles 4-6 are the peak of it on 4th Avenue. In general, a good strategy for Brooklyn is to take it easy! It can be hard because it is early in the race and there is a lot of crowd support, but it’s much better to conserve strength in the early stages and save it for later.

Marathoners Rocking New York Song:

Track #4: Brooklyn, Take It Easy

Time: 2:04

Tempo: 180 bpm

Elevation: 2.0

NYC Marathon Course Section: Miles 4-6, Sunset Park, Brooklyn

“Brooklyn, Take it Easy,” is the forth song in Marathoners Rocking New York. Sheena reminds herself to take it easy because the borough gets her so excited. Her running partner throughout her marathon training was a Brooklyn boy and she thinks a lot about him as she runs down 4th avenue. Long runs have the tendency to open up unexpected thoughts and feelings. Your body is active but your mind has the chance to roam. Memories and ideas come up that may never enter your mind otherwise. When running with a partner you may develop a friendship that you wouldn’t experience in other situations. Long runs allow time for conversations to deepen faster than they might have otherwise. Sheena longs for her Brooklyn training partner, knowing he’s somewhere in the pack far up ahead of her.

Download “Brooklyn, Take It Easy” on iTunes

Brooklyn, Take It Easy Lyrics:

VERSE 1

Brooklyn you know how much I love you

Uniting the nations down 4th Avenue

You might seem mean but you mean what you say

No putting on airs down 4th Avenue

CHORUS

Soaking up the streets today

Brooklyn take it easy

This is where the people play

Brooklyn take it easy

VERSE 2

Never above you, never below you

Brooklyn you’ll always be beside me

Never forget your friends and your family

Honoring the love of your country

CHORUS

BRIDGE

Brooklyn we have so much fun

Brooklyn you know that you’re the one

Brooklyn you know how much I love you

VERSE 3

So much can happen and I don’t want to leave you

But I can’t stop now and I can’t slow down,

but soon you know I’ll be back around

CHORUS

Marathoners Rocking New York is the rock’n’roll-fueled journey of a 70’s punk loving young woman named Sheena. She’s on the cusp of turning 30 with nothing to show for it. Her rock star dreams are not coming true. She succeeded at the downtown party lifestyle but not at keeping a band together. After stumbling on the New York City Marathon with friends, Sheena accepts a drunken dare to run it the following year. To her surprise, and everyone else’s she actually does the training (with a little help) and makes it to the start line on time.

Sheena runs the marathon without music, so Marathoners Rocking New York is the guitar-driven soundtrack going on in her mind as she navigates the course. The songs are influenced by the early punk movement in 1970’s New York with bands like the Ramones, Blondie, The Patti Smith Group, and Television. The album is in an excellent tempo for running playlists and a useful tool for marathon training that can be downloaded through iTunes.