Frigid 5K Recap

First, I hope you all had a good holiday! The Engineer and I ran the Frigid 5K on Saturday. Overall it was a great race.

Frigid 5K Recap | FrenchFryRunner.com

The race started at 9:00 a.m., which was awesome. Who doesn’t love sleeping in on race morning? I know I do. Since the race course was on our local river trail, it was quite chilly when we got to the race. Thankfully they had some hot chocolate to help us warm up. Unfortunately, the race was delayed at the start line for 20 minutes. I felt bad because all the speedy people could’ve been done by the time we finally started running (the winner ran it in 17 minutes). Oh, well.

After that hiccup, the race was super gorgeous and fun to run. The river trail is lined with trees, so it was really pretty running through that canopy. I took it slow at first, running and walking (3:30 and 1:00 intervals, respectively) and then sped up for the last mile or so. I’ve been easing myself back into running over the last month, so I was working hard but still felt good. I sprinted the last .1 mile and registered a 5:40 mile for about 5 seconds, so that was fun.

frigid5k-2
The Dashing Duo!

My final time was 31:35, which is a lot better than I thought I would run. My goal was actually 36 minutes, so I was stoked to run it in under 32. I attribute my faster time to all the strength training I’ve been doing. (Go BodyPUMP!) The Engineer came in less than a minute later than me. Go us! And we were both 8th place in our respective age groups. At the finish, they gave us donuts, cider, water, and Larabars. Not too shabby.

Frigid 5K Recap via @FrenchFryRunner Share on X

The race also included a polar plunge (for a separate fee), but we didn’t do that. We had a lot more fun watching people and judging (haha).

Polar Plunge on the Frozen Lake
Polar Plunge on the Frozen Lake

All in all, it was a good race, and we had fun. We’d run it again. Hopefully they fix the late start for next year.

Did you run this weekend?

Would you ever do a polar plunge?

Color Run Review/Recap

Touted as “The Happiest 5k on the Planet,” the Color Run lives up to the hype, offering a fun experience for people of all ages and abilities. I had the chance to run the Color Run in Sacramento, California, on Saturday with my sister, and I can honestly say I haven’t had more fun running a race than I did while doing the Color Run. The 5k route started by going through Old Town Sacramento and then circled around downtown—all the while snaking through various “color stations” throughout the race—ending back in the heart of the city. It wasn’t timed, which added to the laid-back vibe of the whole experience. We partied at the end of the race, throwing our color in the air with thousands of other color runners and overall just having a blast! I would highly recommend this “race” to anyone looking to lay aside their dreams of PRs for an afternoon, rekindle the love of the sport, and enjoy the camaraderie the running community has to offer.

 

Pros: Pretty much the whole experience

Cons: The cotton/polyester-blend shirts didn’t hold on to color that well