{"id":13032,"date":"2011-02-01T08:44:09","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T12:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=13032"},"modified":"2011-02-01T08:44:09","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T12:44:09","slug":"2011-fantastic-frigid-5k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2011\/02\/2011-fantastic-frigid-5k\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Fantastic Frigid 5K"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Two years ago I just started running.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I was unexperienced and new to everything.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I was under-trained.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I wasn’t as strong.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I said, “Never again.”<\/p>\n

A lot has changed in two years.<\/p>\n

The Fantastic Frigid 5k is a race put on by Columbus Running Company<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s a January race at a park on the outskirts of Columbus. It’s a “trail” race in the sense that it takes place in a park that is unpaved.\u00a0 There are some pea gravel sections and a “wooded” section that is single track trail running.<\/p>\n

It’s pretty flat with a few inclines and lots of loop arounds.<\/p>\n

It’s meant to be a fun race and to get us outside in January.\u00a0 A nice way to kick off the start of the year and what will soon be spring half and full training for most.<\/p>\n

Two years ago it was my very first race.<\/p>\n

Ever.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I had only been running 3 miles for a short time.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I didn’t understand what a “trail” race really meant.<\/p>\n

Two years ago my ignorance caught up to me and I was left feeling frustrated and upset. It was totally my own fault! You can read all about it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

I wanted a do-over.\u00a0 I told Scott my plans and it was received with raised eyebrows and a couple, “Are you sure?”<\/p>\n

Yes.\u00a0 Two years ago this race kicked my ass and I let it.\u00a0 It was my fault.\u00a0 I wanted to change that. I now have more experience, am a much stronger runner both physically and mentally.\u00a0 I’m a stronger racer and I am smart enough to know not to head into any kind of trail race with expectations.<\/p>\n

The only thing I wanted to do for this race was not to let it beat me and to have a much better time than the first one.<\/p>\n

That’s it!<\/p>\n

I asked around and got some friends to run with me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>From Left to Right:<\/p>\n

Mike, Zach, Jess, and Myself.<\/p>\n

Races are so much more fun with friends, right?\u00a0 Especially when it’s 20 some degrees and it’s a snow covered trail race!<\/p>\n

P.S. You know you love my cone-head hat. It’s the only one I have found that keeps my head warm and covers my ears.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We had to walk to the starting point which was on the other side of the park.\u00a0 Then we would do a short backtrack at the very beginning of the race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Scott loves this race because he said it has the best visibility.\u00a0 There’s only a few times when he actually can’t see me and those don’t last very long.<\/p>\n

Check out the chick in the shorts! Hardcore! (And cold, I bet she was cold.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>The beginning of the race we cut across a field which has a slight incline on both sides.\u00a0 Nothing major but just enough that you’re going to feel it as you run it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first loop takes us through what will be the finish area.\u00a0 We run through this and then head down the field towards the woods.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was curious about how the woods were going to be and I was also ready to tackle it! While there was snow on the ground, it was dry and hard packed down.\u00a0 The woods were the same and the trail was a breeze.\u00a0 It wasn’t nearly as long or as hard as the first time.<\/p>\n

I came out of the woods and knew that it wouldn’t be long before the finish.\u00a0 I also knew that I should be seeing Scott again soon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Oh hey, there I am!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Once I reached this point, I was starting to feel really pleased with the situation.\u00a0 I felt like I was doing a great job and was happy that the “Woods of Death” didn’t hold me back!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You can see here how some of the “trail” is actually pea gravel. Some sections were snow covered and other sections the snow had melted and it was pretty clear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The obligatory, far away action shot.\u00a0 It’s nice! You have to click on it to see me though. It was at this point I saw the Mile 2 marker.\u00a0 I had a brief moment of, “Oh gosh that’s it!” but it quickly passed as I realized that one mile left isn’t to terrible at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Coming down the finish shoot happy happy!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Whoo-hooo! Done!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Done, stoked, and so freakin’ happy! My finish time was 32:something which crushes my previous time for this race by about a bazillion.<\/p>\n

I do have to say that the previous race conditions were more challenging, it was very cold and there was a fresh 6 inches of snow on the ground.\u00a0 However, if faced with those conditions again, I know I could still dominate this race. This shows how much I’ve grown and evolved as a runner. I am beyond happy about this!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A trail race with snow, you know I had to bust out the YakTrax. They were such a huge help!<\/p>\n

Don’t run on snow without them friends!<\/p>\n

I asked Scott to take these pictures and he only took two of them, then moved on to full body shots.\u00a0 I was unaware of this and thought I would stoop down and sabotage his picture taking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It didn’t work and all you’re left with is this ridiculous photo of me being goofy.<\/p>\n

Why yes, I am complete a dork in real life, why do you ask?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If you know me, then you know that no race is complete until I get to drink my chocolate soymilk at the end.<\/p>\n

Done and done!<\/p>\n

This race taught me that all races should be fun and not something taken too seriously.\u00a0 Life is too short for that.\u00a0 It showed me how much I’ve improved as a runner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It also taught me to never say never. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago I just started running. Two years ago I was unexperienced and new to everything. Two years ago I was under-trained. Two years ago I wasn’t as strong. Two years ago I said, “Never again.” A lot has changed in two years. The Fantastic Frigid 5k is a race put on by Columbus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,52],"tags":[62,53],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-3oc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}