Manhattan Half Marathon

Just got this picture e-mailed to me by the race photographer.

In the annals of athletic follies, I think me trying to run the Manhattan half marathon in a flimsy pair of shorts (some 2-year old, 10-dollar Modells joints) and no gloves in something like 20-degree weather has gotta be up (or down) there. I ran the worst time ever for a half of the five I've done so far. I walked chunks of it and got passed by all forms of human life. It was so cold my hands and belly became so numb it felt like local anesthetic. I pinched a chunk of my gut hard just because it felt so absurd. It was like holding really cold soft clay. I stopped a couple of times in a porto-potty for like 10 minutes just to try and get some feeling in my extremities. Some 8,000 people entered this race and I think I noticed one person not wearing gloves, me. But, I finished, so I guess I'm happy with that. And I think I had enough of a final kick to pass a couple of old ladies at the end.