The first time I ran in snow was in Bend couple months ago, but I've never run in *this* much snow *and* while it's actively snowing throughout the run.

When I got out of the 59th St - Columbus circle station, I was horrified at what I saw: cabs in the roundabout where skidding. But when I entered Central Park I was mesmerized by how beautiful it looked in the snow. Like a fairytale.

Despite the snow, quite a few folks showed up to run. Walking to baggage check-in, I almost slipped a few times -- and that was my biggest worry about running. As it turned out though, that somehow never became an issue while running: I didn't slip once; and I didn't see anyone else slip or fall either.

Since I've been having such terrible luck with keeping my fingers warm, I used two pairs of gloves: a pair of Asics and a pair of Seirus (thicker) on top. The first three miles were painful. I felt like my index fingers on both hands would break any moment. So I decided that I'd take a restroom break to inspect the state of fingers and warm up a little. But sometime on mile 4 I could feel my fingers again, and they actually started to feel alive again. Maybe circulation caught up or something? The next few miles went by well.

At around mile 6 or so I felt like I needed a gel, but eating a gel in these conditions is not exactly easy, so I went to the restroom and took my gloves off so I could open the gel. I ate the semi-solid gel, drank some water, and kept running. The second loop was kinda hard, because by this time, more snow had accumulated, and that slows you down! It felt like my legs were moving forward, and meeting with resistance every step of the way. I felt how much difference the snow made when I ran through a short patch that was cleared up. The other reason this loop was hard was because I was barely able to see: my eyebrows were now covered in snow, my eyelashes seemed to have some snow on them.

Trudged along and finished in decent time. A PR for me. Warmed up at the café there and then headed back home and ate some pancakes at Dizzy's. Showered and then headed to Coffee Common and hung out with coffee nerds rest of the day/evening.

I feel like I did a few things right about running in these conditions: I carried a down jacket with me, and shell pants -- to change into post-race. Frumpy as hell, but hella useful. I had also carried a woolen tee to change into and another woolen beanie (these get really wet during the run, so very important).

Splits: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/143540164

How the hell do I run tomorrow?!