The Frostbite 5 Miler is a very well run race hosted by the Ambler running club. Ira Meyers, winner of the 1986 Philadelphia Marathon, is the race director and keeps everyone up to date with info. Supposedly we were going to get some snow and ice last night but luckily everything held off. I slept at my parents house so I wouldn’t have to rush to race. I got there at 8:15 or so and there were already a good number of people. The race started at 9am and was expected to get 1600 runners. I met up with Ck4 and Nikkii and other people looking to recruit runners for the American Odyssey Run come April. We are looking to get 2 teams of 12 runners and are 4 short so if anyone who reads this blog wants to participate in a 200 mile relay run from Gettysburg to DC, let me know. The highlight being you get to spend 24+ hours in a van with me.
Back to the run. The weather was perfect for this run as it is sometimes extremely frigid. I got in behind the first few rows of runners and the race began promptly as scheduled. I had trained entirely indoors this year and this was my first time outside since the fall. Sometimes treadmill training can be deceiving with no hills so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first mile is a gradual decline and I finished the first mile at 5:15. I read last year’s post and was at 5:30 so I knew I was at a pretty good pace. I still felt good and was running mostly with myself and came across the next mile at 10:50. Still feeling good I started running with this bro for the next mile and we were at low 17 for 3 which I knew would make it difficult to break 29 which I would say is my goal. At this point I still had strength in my legs and was expecting to pick up the pace. Wrong. At 23:15 crossing the 4 mark I knew I was toast. To quote Sam, “I started rigging up.” My stomach was hurting even though I still had strength in my legs, I just couldn’t get a kick going. With 400 a female started coming up on me but even a deathly ill TC can outkick a girl and I finished with a 29:15 or so. I was pretty pleased as I didn’t know what to expect. It was 10 seconds off of last year and I assume I’ll lose 10 seconds every year following.
I talked with Ck4 at the finish line for a while and then jumped in my car and headed off. I had to drive through some runners but they made it out alive without getting hurt. I got a vanilla milkshake from McDonalds like last year and headed back to Philly. I arrived back at 10:30 which should make this one of the first posts in any blog out there about this race.
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