Written by The alarm clock buzzed loudly at 4am. I rolled out of bed and headed to my office to check weather.com to see how cold it was, my PC said it was 16 degrees with a wind chill of seven. As I did my morning stretch, I though it should warm up a few degrees in the next four hours. I finished stretching and took Chico for his walk and decided to check the weather again, it dropped to 15 degrees. This was not good.
Dressing for a cold weather run, is pretty basic you have to layer. You want to feel a little cold before the run starts because you will warm up quickly once you get going. In these conditions, I brought the kitchen sink. Two layers of compression gear and two other layers, plus a hat and gloves.
Central Park looked beautiful under a blanket of snow, but it was cold and windy. With the minimal training I’ve done so far this year, I figured this training race would be more of a mental test than a physical one. The next question as part of the test was, “What am I doing here? I could be in a warm bed.” That question was probably asked by many of the 5000 runners who signed up for the Manhattan Half Marathon.
Before races, I usually set a goal time to aim for. My slowest half marathon was my first, the Queens Half in 2008, where I finished in 2:29:08 — I wanted to finish ahead of that. I decided I wanted to finish no slower than 2:15 which meant I would have to run 10:17 splits. Then I thought about trying to run ten-minute splits, which put me at about 2:11.
Esther and I met Linda and Leo at bag check, after a quick hello we slowly took off our coats and dropped off our bags. No one was in a rush to get to the corrals today. The sooner you got there, the more time you spend hopping up and down trying to stay warm. Esther and I held hands on the walk to the corrals, this wasn’t us being affectionate it was to keep the other from slipping and falling on the icy paths in the park. Right before the race started I looked at the CNN Advertisement over Columbus Circle, it said it was 14 degrees.
Once the race started, I quickly adjusted to the brisk temperature. The congestion at the start of the race probably helped, we shared some body heat. In front of me was a beautiful sight, a snow-covered Central Park and the misty breathes of hundreds of runners bathed in golden morning light. It reminded me of the classic NFL Films footage from the Ice Bowl game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys.
Linda and I ran together for about three or four miles weaving in and out of the initial congestion. We ran 9:55, 9:38 and 9:22 splits for the first three miles. That was way too fast. I’ve gone out fast before and was able to hold that pace by running behind another runner. I was wondering if I could hold the pace for the rest of the race. At six miles, I looked at my watch and I was at 58:04, a 9:40 pace. I was wondering how I’d feel going up Puma Hill a second time. I then looked up to check the temperature, still at 14 degrees.
My second trip up Puma was slower than the first but I was still in the goal range. I was slowing down as I headed towards the North end of the park. Suicide Hill was waiting for me. I kept plugging along watching a team of triathletes run training loops, while I was amazed at their conditioning, it did nothing to motivate me. I went out too fast and was fading and cramping a little.
I did some run/walk the next two or three miles, walking the uphills and running the downhills keeping about an 11 minute pace. I did some mental math and figured I can finish at about 2:10 if I was able to hold it together. As I headed to the bottom of the loop I looked up and saw the temperature was still 14 degrees, with less than a mile left I realized it’s not warming up today. I headed for the 72nd Street Transverse and the finish. I ran a 2:10:41, better than I thought I would a week ago, but I knew I still have a few things to work on.
I grabbed a half frozen cup with a Gatorade snow cone in it, the water and Gatorade started freezing up as the race went on. I headed to bag check to change into dry clothes, and started back to the finish line to look for Esther, when I saw her in bag check. She did a 2:30:17, not bad for someone who was debating whether or not to run this one at all. I carried her bag for her noticing the icy patches on the back of her sweatshirt.
Once we found Linda and Leo we left the park looking for somewhere warm. We were happy we ran and even happier, it was over. It’s the start of a new season, let’s hope our next race, the Gridiron Classic, in two weeks, is a little warmer.
After I changed holding my frozen bagel after yesterday's Manhattan Half Marathon.