On Sunday I ran my sixth Half Marathon of the last twelve months, the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half. The race took place in central park. It was a slight revision of the typical two loops, with a cut through the park at the end. The course was full of hills and most of the runners I talked to cringed knowing they were going over Cat Hill multiple times. Other than that, expect the typical NYRR’s amenities with adequate amounts of hydration stations and restroom facilities.
Two weeks before the race I was in LuLulemon where I was told of their Strava two-week challenge, that happened to end this Sunday. I needed 80k to complete the challenge, knowing that I had 21 in the bag on the final day. I finished the competition with a strong 84k.
Two days leading up to the race I started to get curious about this Fred Lebow guy. I did what every modern man does when he wants to confirm information. I googled him. His Wiki page noted his importance not only in creating the NYC Marathon, but also being the founder of the New York Road Runners Club. There is also a documentary about his life that is quite interesting even if you’re not a runner. If you haven’t seen this documentary, I highly recommend it.
So here we are on race day and I’m a Fred Lebow genius, thanks to Google and YouTube. I arrive 10 minutes before the gun goes off. I jump in my corral and start stretching. Knowing the course has hills I start off pretty easy. I ran the #FLMH pretty smooth without any hiccups. Although I wish I had gloves…it was cold! I would recommend you incorporate hills/incline in your training prior to this race. The hills will sneak up on you.
Please leave comments below if you ran this race.
It was great meeting you at the #flhm and I look forward to being on the same course many time throughout the year! See you in NYC in march and Brooklyn in may! Great blog
It was really good to meet you two so briefly. We should definitely try to meet at the next races! March/May!
This was my first time running the #FLHM – it was an honor to run for Fred Lebow who helped co-found NYC Marathon. Thankfully I found the New York Road Runner’s 8:46 mile / hour pace runner who was terrific in helping motivate me and others in the group to finish under 1:55:00.
I agree with you Charles, the hills in the Northern section of Central Park separated those who trained for the incline from those who only run on the flats.