This morning, I ran in the inaugural Frozen 5K Race at Bond Park in Cary. When I left home, the temperature was 11 degrees, colder than I'd like, but I'd aready registered for it, so I felt like I had to do it!
Bond Park is a pretty plan to run in in Cary. There's a lake, some ball fields, a ropes course, and probably other facilities there. I ran there a couple of times last summer with the North Carolina Roadrunners Club, as part of their summer trail series. The first time I ran there, I took a couple of wrong turns, and they ended up sending the course sweeper out to find me! Needless to say, I was a little concerned about wrong turns this morning, but fortunately, there were volunteers at nearly every place there were options of which way to turn. Thank goodness I guessed right at the spots that weren't manned!
The race was pretty low key, with early registration only, a cap of 185 runners, and no timing chips. In fact, there wasn't even a big clock at the end, just manual timing by someone at the end. Everyone was handed an index card after we crossed the finish line with our place in the race (I got #133), and we had to handwrite our names and bib numbers on the back of our finishing numbers! It felt very low tech and homey, rather refreshing, really.
I officially met Louise there, a lady I've seen at a number of races over recent years. I also met her friend, Jen, and a lady (no name) from Waterville, Maine. Nice to meet new folks and out names with faces.
I wore a long sleeve t-shirt over a short sleeve, and long tights, as well as cotton gloves. It all felt decent once I got moving. Once I started, I was glad I didn't have a hat on. I don't do caps well.
I ended up with a time of 40:34 for the 5K, pretty slow, even for me. I decided to take it easy because of the pre-shin splints (self diagnosed). No long run today, going to take it easy for the rest of the day. A Duke basketball game comes on this afternoon, so there's a good excuse for me to just hang out! :)
6 comments:
*gasp*
You're a Duke fan?
Hmmm.
Hi - I ran in this race, too (finished 124th! - 38:34). I check out your blog every now and again, as I just moved to the area from Florida.
It was really cold today, eh? It was really cool starting out on the frozen grass field and running on the trails through the woods. A lot different than any other race...
...I went home and ran another four miles, I was so excited.
Are you running in the Krispy Kreme Challenge on Feb. 7?
Take care - DAN
Well, Hey Leslie. I'm the Louise you met. I sure enjoyed the race though I was somewhat depleted (had given blood Monday) and ran sort of in spurts. I also had a slow race, but what the heck. I liked the course and yes, it was refreshing to have a casual race. I thought the students who initiated the race and manned it were incredible. Imagine how cold they were! I wore leggings and shorts and later that day the skin on my thighs burned!
I finished as 109.
See you at the next one. (NOT Krispy Kreme! The mere thought of eating all those donuts and running ....)
Teacherwoman: I've been a Duke fan since birth, really, and was a Duke football fan before I became a basketball fan, if you can believe that! Ha! Since I graduated from Duke, and now work there, there's no turning back!
Dan and Louise, thanks for commenting! Being out there with other runners was kind of a bonding experience, with the cold and all.
I thought the high school kids who ran the race did a wonderful job too! They were great sports out in the cold, to be sure, and were nice "crowd support" along the way. Kudos to them!
I won't be at Krispy Kreme either, but have signed up for Run for the Roses the next day, Sunday afternoon. I forgot about a church obligation that morning, so I hope I can still make it to the race. It's a good one.
Yay frozen 5k!
I also ran the race and I got 12th place. It's good that you were able to guess the right turns, there were plenty of people around where I was (including myself) who went fairly far in the wrong direction after the first loop around the ropes course.
I'll be doing the Krispy Kreme Challenge as well.
I encountered something similar actually. I recall originally being told 20:12 after i crossed the line, but then on the results page it clearly says 20:42.
My place was the same was the same though. So I had a number 30 seconds off and you had a number 17 seconds off. Strange, but whatever. I concur that it was much more about getting out and doing it, it was certainly an experience with that weather.
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