This is the 18th year the Frostbite 5 Miler has been held and it runs like a well oiled machine. The Race is run flawlessly (well the National Anthem mics were a bit shaky) and this year’s weather was perfect. The race starts exactly at 9am with minimal pre-race speech, and this is what runners hope for. The attention to the race itself, and not the amenities, is one of the core reasons why this race draws so many fast runners from the area. Special thanks to my mom for the cool featured image above.

This is my blog so you are going to have to suffer through my race story. I woke up at 6am and ate 2 sunny side up eggs and had a coffee. The coffee, although not the best hydrating drink, is used to make me poop. Every runner who’s raced should know that you want as little waste in your system as possible.

I got to the race and parking was well organized by volunteers and I had no trouble. I got my race bib which was a seamless process and ran 800 meters on the track. I stretched by the starting line and met my mom so she could hold on to my clothes. I was good to go.

The day was beautiful and you can’t ask for better conditions. The race went off and I started within myself which was the way to go because I wasn’t staying with the lead pack one way or another. I apologize for not getting any of my mile splits as this was the one detail I missed for better accuracy on the race description.

I settled in to a nice pace where I was behind the main pack and stayed with some stragglers. I wasn’t getting passed and at mile 2 there is a nice sized uphill that was wearing me down. Fortunately I trained on some hill workouts on the treadmill and even though I was huffing and puffing as I got to the top, I recovered quickly on the downhill. I had a runner or 2 pass me but it was wasn’t overwhelming so I knew I was in a good spot.

At mile 3, I was wondering to myself how much longer could I hold the pace as my legs were feeling the lactic acid. Once you slow down and start getting passed, you’re toast. When I made the turn to the street around mile 4, I knew I was going to make it even though I had no watch and no clue what my time was. My biggest fear came when there was a girl who was on my tail.

I didn’t know if I was going to finish at 28, or 29 minutes so a girl being near me was trouble. When I made the 2nd to last right hand turn, I could hear some people saying, “there’s the #1 girl.” Great. I had a little bit of speed left in my legs and knew I could kick it in if I had to so unless she had a Usain Bolt kick, I was going to be fine. I made my final surge and gave a fist pump because I saw the time and it was 28 minutes low. The exact time was 28:07, 24th place, and about a 30 second PR over last year.

At 33, I’m pretty happy I can still improve year over year. I attribute it to a healthier lifestyle and working harder on the treadmill in the winter. All in all, I was pleased with the outcome and want to thank the entire Ambler Area Running Club for their hard work hosting such an anticipated, long established, race.

Results link here.