Frigid Five Mile Race - Edmond, OK

The Edmond Running Club held their 14th annual Frigid Five mile race yesterday. This is one run that I haven't run and yesterday was no exception. I was part of the volunteer group that put this race on. The run takes place in Mitch Park in Edmond, OK and this year we smashed our previous attendance record (2007) by over 300, with just over 930 participants.

The winner of the race, second time he's won in recent years, Edmond's Jerry Faulkner, is also an Olympic marathon hopeful for the 2012 Olympics to be held in London. We also had Edmond's Mayor O'Neal as the official starter of the race and as a race participant.

Everyone received new Frigid Five long sleeve technical shirts, a "green" reusable goodie bag. The medals for this year were in the form of a snowflake and were a big hit.

What a great way to start Valentine's Day!!!!

December Stuff

Well here it is the new year and December, where did it go....sigh

On December 6 I ran in the St. Jude, Memphis Marathon. I did a 5 hour 55 minute run and was pleased that I finished under 6 hours.

The course is interesting, the weather was cold (ran in a jacket and long pants from start to finish), the aid stations were great (one every mile...yes every mile), spectators were great on the first half of the course a bit more sporadic on the second half but still enthusiastic.

The start was in corrals, and I think I was in corral 12. I was somewhere in-between the 5:00 and 5:15 pace groups. I think we crossed the start line almost 20 minutes after the initial gun was fired.

I managed to stay ahead of the 5:15 pace group until near mile 14. I ran out of energy it seemed around mile 15 and walked a mile. Then I found the positive side of my mind again and decided I couldn't just walk this one in, so I started to run/walk again. I started to pass a number of the folks that had gone by me when I walked the mile.

The last several miles of the course are mostly downhill so that helps with being tired. Overall, it was a great race, not really that difficult if you do some hill training in advance.

Happy New Year to all......hope your holidays were safe and fun.