With the weather being below freezing. 14 degrees to be exact (Felt like 4F) I made sure to bundle up for this run (clothing details below). This is my first Manhattan Half Marathon. Also this is the first time I’ve done a half so early into the season. Usually I start off the year with a short race, 5 or 4 miler. However with my current IRONMAN Lake Placid training in progress I felt that I needed to test my fitness level. Heading into a half such as this one (Central Park rolling hills) I would have liked to have couple hill workouts done, but wasn’t scheduled into my training.

My race goal was to run a sub 1:40 Half Marathon.

Race started at 8am. The first 7 miles was a breeze. I felt I had enough left in the tank to crank it up a notch in the last half of the race. However at mile 11 to the finish my legs were tired and I just kept a steady pace and turnover to the finish. The lack of hill training was definitely my deficit today.

All in all it was a great race. The volunteers and parks people did a great job with Central Park roads to make the running conditions on the asphalt perfect. There were couple icy spots, but nothing to hinder ones performance.

I did run with my fuel belt, but only used it once or twice. The second time my accelerade drink was all frozen slush. I kept drinking from the aid station instead. I also did not take any powergels. The drawback of the cold which is obvious is that drinking any gels, having to remove your glove is most times not an option you look forward to.

Clothing: I wore two pairs of gloves, a thin layer (Philadelphia Marathon glove) and a bike glove (specialized Radiant, awesome cold weather glove). Top clothing: face mask, under armour hat. Under armour long sleeve for base layer, Philadelphia tech tee, Road Runners cotton long tee. Bottom clothing: knee warmers, under armour tights, thermal pants, shorts. Two layers of socks, cep compression sock and wool sock.

I achieved my race goal of a sub 1:40 Half marathon. Finish time 1:38:10

Garmin Data.