When some would-be competitors woke up this morning to discover the New York Road Runners were nixing the timing mats at the Manhattan Half in the face of heavy snowfall and rebranding the race an unscored [too long to actually be fun] “fun run” instead, they understandably let their racing tights off the hook and enjoyed a surprise Saturday morning of sleep.
Tempted to do the same but determined not to let my carb loading go to waste/my waist, I resolved to run the untimed course anyways, so I layered up, hailed a cab and made my way to the starting line.
I wasn’t alone.
I’m not great at estimating crowd size, but somewhere between 12 and 12,000 other city runners manned up as well, and while the wait for the starting gun was downright agonizing, something about hopping around in Spandex in the middle of a Nor’easter with an undeterminable number of equally underdressed strangers makes one feel – how do you say? – supremely badass.
I knew going into this morning’s race I wasn’t going to be breaking my 1:59.34 PR logged at the Baltimore Half because – despite having spent four years of my pre-adult life on the Maine coast – I’m about as graceful in the snow as a penguin. (We’re talking slow, plodding penguins like this one, not the speed-demon penguins from this throwback retro toy that I always coveted.)
So instead, I opted to use the lack of recorded race times as a chance to try out some new things this morning, from shooting down a PowerBar gel at Mile 9 (meh) to stopping to pee mid-course (amazing). Were it a timed race, I would never have risked trying something untested, but today’s non-competitive classification took the pressure off. (It also took a toenail off, but I’m going to try to keep the gross-factor in this post to a minimum.)
Am I disappointed not get the chance to set a new record for myself this morning? Maybe a little. But my non-broken ankles are thanking me for taking it easy in the snow, much like my non-frozen boyfriend should be thanking me for letting him skip out on spectating today. I think chocolates are in order (ankles, I’m talking to you.)
How did your weekend workout plans weather the storm?
Riled Up Runner 
Half Marathon in the snow when the race is basically canceled, now that’s badass! Go you!
Love that you still ran it, snow and all. I lived in Michigan until a few months ago so I know running in snow is NOT easy! And it totally feels badass…
Thank you! I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty proud, especially after seeing NYRR’s official photos, which look like they could have been taken in either Michigan or the North Pole: http://nyrr.org/resources/photos/2012/manhattan_half/gallery.asp#4
And I know I’ll look back on today with fond memories in August when it’s 104 degrees out and I have a 20-miler on the schedule!
I’m really glad that there is literally NO chance a race here would EVER get cancelled because of snow. 🙂 Great job!
Callie, just rub it in, why don’t you? 🙂
I think it’s great that you went out to run the “race” anyway! Way to go. Looks like fun, too!
“Fun” is a relative term…
Thanks for the positive feedback. And good luck with your 30 day challenge!
wowza – saw your link on WannaBeAthlete . . . um I know I would have ditched out, you are major dedicated, way to go!!
running a Half in a snowstorm, that is Diesel. Respect.
Thanks, Zach! Get a babysitter, grab your gorgeous wife and come join me for a race sometime!
Also, who says diesel?
That could happen. We usually hit NYC at least once a year and always run Central Park a few times while there. The only race on the schedule so far is the Warrior Dash in PA. It’s a little campy but it’s a hell of a lot of fun and everybody we know runs it. Check it out.
And I say Diesel. C’mon editor girl, surely I would have thought you’d be well versed on a synonym of “supremely badass”.