Race Report: Frozen Feat 10k 2020

This was my fourth consecutive year running the Frozen Feat 5k/10k, which is easily the best winter race in our area. My relationship with winter has its ups and downs. I like when it first begins, the holidays are exciting, but by February I need some sort of motivation to go out in the cold. I'm done!

Turns out, a frozen race with fellow all-weather runners is a great motivator.

What was new this year? My husband and I ran as a "Lovebirds" team for the 10k and signing up was actually his idea. I could hardly believe it myself! We haven't ran a race together, just the two of us, since I was pregnant with our first baby!

We signed up at the end of December and both of us did a decent amount of training for a month or so. I was entertaining the idea of running a couple Spring half marathons at the time and my hubs was wanting to run well in the 10k. In the weeks leading up to the race, we definitely didn't get much running done between sick bugs and then Leo traveling for work. I have felt like napping more than running and some days that's exactly what I did!

Regardless, we made it to race day uninjured, my brother-in-law and his girlfriend babysat the kids, and we looked forward to an overall nice race day.

When we got to town, we went straight to the parking garage right across the street from the race. Finding a spot wasn't a trouble at all. We made our way into the local highschool where the race is held, picked up packets, stretched and wandered around. Being somewhere without the kids is a rarity so it was nice just to visit!

The race had a great turn out and we are able to wait for the start time inside the school (which is especially helpful in extra cold years). The day had a nice turnout and I was thankful to catch up with a highschool classmate of mine while we waited.

9:20 meant time to lineup for the National Anthem and not too long after, we were off and running into the fiesty 16-20 mph headwind from the north!



The pack started off fast and that headwind felt discouraging. A few ponderings as I ran: Thank God this wasn't the weather for the Grand Forks Marathon last September! ... If an 8-minute mile feels hard now, I wonder what's to come... I can't remember what it feels like to run on plain pavement... Last time I ran here, I was wearing shorts...


We pushed through at a fairly comfortable pace until mile 4, where my husband was really feeling it. I knew once we hit the turnaround and the wind pushed us back he would have his second "wind". Once we had a tailwind, that 19 degrees and sun felt so... Spring-like.

The running surface was a mix of ice in some spots, loose snow with ice under it, and then patches of fairly easy snow running. No complaints. This is the Frozen Feat - interesting winter terrain should be expected! Even without traction aids it wasn't too bad; just a little extra work to run.



Leo and I finished in 50:43 which sets a record for our slowest 10k together and probably one of my favorite "run dates" we have been on. We ended up finishing first for the Lovebird 10k teams and won some flowers and a $50 Toasted Frog (bar/restaurant) gift card. We were both really pumped!

Now to go on a supper date some night after 4 pm. I am craving the Toasted Frog's deep fried pickles.


My only regret of this race is not grabbing a donut immediately after finishing the run. We changed into dry/warm clothes first and, to my horror, all of those gorgeous donuts were gone! I settled for two cups of chili and that was good enough to hold me over for a while.



I ended up being the 3rd place gal for the race and kept my Frozen Feat cup streak alive (minus the fact that I broke last year's cup). The top 3 males and top 3 females receive a plaque, Scheels giftcard and a nice mug. Each year they have had a unique mug design and I love that about this race - it is really well planned out.

And not pictured are our pairs of brand new Fitsoks! That's part of the race swag and I collect them. Seriously, I collect socks. Both the Grand Forks Marathon and Frozen Feat have had Fitsoks in their swag for the past few years and I always look forward to them.



After the awards were finished, we headed out to the nearby coffee shop to just visit for a while before a couple errands. We didn't stay super long, thankfully, because I was so tired I could have fallen asleep! Story of my life lately.



The eventful day ended with our 4-year-old taking a bite of spaghetti for supper and then somehow having it get stuck in/and shoot out of his nose. Wow. That was a definite parenting first for us! I was impressed and shocked. Apparently the marinara on the spaghetti burned a little in his nose.

And thus ended our run date day. I'm hoping I can talk my hubs into doing this again next year, only faster!

Let's Connect!

Comments

  1. I just love that you did this together as lovebirds! So fun and huge congrats to you both. You look so happy!

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  2. How cute are you two? Congrats on coming in first and getting a dinner gift card. Enjoy!

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  3. Great job! That's a neat concept, the "lovebirds" thing ;-) Your race conditions (temps-wise) sound a lot like my recent FreezeFest race (last weekend). I'm glad mine was only a 5K LOL

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  4. You are brave to race on snow - you'll really fly on normal pavement! Sounds like a fun day. :-)

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  5. What a fun run date! I love that the category was called "love birds"! Congrats on the win in both categories! The medal is pretty cute too. Thanks for linking up with us! -M

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  6. Congrats on your age group! That sounds like a tough course. I ran a 3.5 mile trail race last week and there were some icy spots as well. Chili sounds great to warm you up afterwards. We had chicken corn soup and it was delicious.

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