Frosty 25k Recap


Note to self, please cut down on the sweets during the Holiday season. Of course, maybe running a Trail Marathon had something to do with it as well but today, I just didn’t have much under the
hood for the Frosty 25k.


I do want to give a shout out to Danny K. He was down from WV doing another race in the Carolinas. Mark and Alana, she was doing a steady state run this morning. I’ll share more about this later. Carolyn and her husband were knocking out some miles around Salem Lake. There were a few others that I know from FaceBook, but I didn’t see them in person.  Chad and Danielle, not sure about Danielle but Chad was rocking the race course. He was in 2nd during the first lap and had cleared through the out and back section on the second lap before I entered it.

To the race, right from the start, my breathing was labored. I didn’t feel smooth and relax. I felt like I was forcing each stride to happen.

Mark had mention that Alana was doing a steady state run between 6:20 and 6:30. I told him that I was hoping run 6:30 but it was all depending on which of my legs that showed up. (Yep, the old and tired ones – anway).

Ok, side topic, with the demise of my 310 XT, I switched to the Garmin 620. Having only run with it a couple of times, I am still figuring it out. Today was one of those days where I learned something new.  Without going into all of the boring details, I somehow changed it into lock mode and didn’t realize it. When they said "go", I clicked the start button but nothing happen. I clicked it again and still nothing. I tried changing the display, and it said "locked". Crap, I didn’t know how to unlock, and I am running a race so I didn’t really have time stop and fix it.

So, I just forgot about it and ran. Does it really matter that I know what pace that I am running or how far. Well, today, apparently, it didn’t.

Back to the race, Alana jumped out to 30 to 40 meter lead on me. Much it owed to me attempting to start my Garmin.

Slowly over the next couple of miles, I whittled down her lead until I caught her about 3 miles into the race.

We ran together for a while and she let me pull in front for a few miles on the sunny side of the lake. But youth and talent have their advantages. She went back by me while we were pulling up the long hill by the boat landing. By the time we went through the start/finish for the first loop, she pulled out again to 30 to 40 meters on me.

My first loop split was 49:42. By my calculations, I had to run the equivalent to break 1:40 and stay close to my desired 6:30 pace. I wasn't having the postive feelings, and running faster the second half wasn't likely. 

Over the next 7 and ½ miles she extended her lead out to a couple hundred meters, but I never truly lost sight of her. She was wearing a blaze orange shirt so it tended to a beacon in the grays and browns of the winter colors along the trail.

I did notice at the start there was one guy wearing a jersey which had the computer generated print for camouflage on the back. Having never seen him during the race, I don’t know how effective it was.

So pretty much after settling in on the first loop, I was passed by one runner and passed one runner so my position was pretty much status quo.   

I finished up in 1:41:28. Yes, it was slower than I wanted. I don’t know where I finished overall. They have not posted the results.

I do want to mention a couple of things. One they didn’t have anyone passing out finisher medals when I completed the race. This seemed rather odd. Although, I was able to go up later and ask for one.

Then, there seem to be a total mix up with the age group awards. Their website says that they were giving them out. Yet, when I questioned one of their race resources about it, she said she didn’t know when the awards were going to be given out i.e. what time and they were only doing overall awards. Apparently, there was some disconnect here. I didn’t even wait around to find out.

Having run both the Frosty 25k a couple of times and the 30k in the fall, I am big fan of TCTC runs there. Here’s hoping they get their act together before September.

 

 

The Cool Down Runner.

 

  

 

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