NYRR Gridiron 4 mile 2022

My second race for 2022 came right on the heels of the previous one. This time it was for the NYRR Gridiron 4 mile race. After this one I have a break for a little bit before the next race I’m running.

Yup, there’s snow accumulating on my head

This turned out to be my first race run in the snow. I got pretty lucky with my running wardrobe, but I’ll get to that in a second. Early in the week, I checked the weather to see what kind of running clothes to pack; there was a 17% chance of precipitation. Based on the forecast temperature of 33F (versus last week’s 18-22F), I was just going to wear the Tracksmith Brighton base layer, quarter-zip mid-layer, and tights. But I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to just bring my entire Tracksmith wardrobe. The night before the race I once again checked the weather. There was now a 50% chance of snow or rain. When I woke up, the forecast was now 90% chance. So I went with the same getup I had last week - the Brighton base layer, quarter-zip mid-layer, jacket, and Bislett pants. The jacket and pants are both wind and water resistant so I figured they’d keep me a lot warmer. The Bisless pants proved to be especially great to have because they have stirrups that keep the pants from moving up and, therefore, keep the legs from getting wet when it’s snowing. It was snowing when I left the house, on the train ride up to Central Park and as I warmed up. Luckily, the snow stopped right before race started and didn’t start up again until I was done.

At first thought I was going to be disappointed with my time. Not only was I trying to be cautious because snow (both melted and not) night make the course slippery, but I also got stuck behind a lot of slower folks; hemmed in. So i was stuck at a slower pace for the first 0.24-0.5 mile.

pace, recorded by the Garmin I was wearing

You can see the long ramp up in the beginning to get to my desired pace. The variations are both related to the various hills on the course and to times where I got stuck behind someone again. I think the blip at 16:40 must be a temporary GPS error. If not, it probably reflects one of the times I had make a sharp turn on the course.

Speaking of the course, it was a nice course, taking us near the Museum of Modern Art. It was very pretty and I probably would have enjoyed the snow on the trees and grass more if I hadn’t been keeping my eyes on the road to keep from slipping.

NYRR Gridiron 4M GPS overlay on sat map

Overall the course was not too slick as long as I stayed away from the edges where the water and snow pooled up.

Once again I was happy with my scores and got a much better pace than I thought I would after such a slow start.

NYRR Gridiron 2022 Race Stats

For my first race under precipitation conditions, it went exceedingly well. I had a great time, but I can’t wait until my spring races start up! Here’s my post-race selfie - the slight difference in time/pace is due to the GPS measurements vs the NYRR course measurements:

NYRR Gridiron 4M Post-Race

• Race
• Racing
• Running