Since I had off of work on Monday for President's Day, we took a quick 3-day trip to visit my parets in Blanchard, OK. I found a fun-looking 5-mile race in Edmond, OK, called the Frigid Five, so we both signed up and got ready to run.
Saturday morning, I put my game face on...but this time, complete with a burgeoning, trashy mustache. I've never had the opportunity to run with a mustache before, and I only decided this a couple days in advance, but I had to ask myself: WWPD?
Anyway, Saturday ended up being quite pleasant for Oklahoma in February: a high in the mid-50's was predicted, and it was mostly sunny and upper 30s/low 40s in the morning. Near perfect, in fact, except for a 15mph wind. But, not too much to complain about. The race had a casual but on-time start, and had a winding course on the paved trails of Mitch Park in Edmond. The race has gained popularity year over year, with around 1000 people in this year's race. Great to see that many people out in February!
Scanning previous results, and knowing my time from a 4-miler in November, I figured 31 minutes would be a good goal, and that somewhere around 20 people would be around that time, so I lined up accordingly. And, bonus if I didn't get chicked! ("Not that there's anything wrong with that!"). Seriously, it doesn't bother me at all, but because of my respect, it's always an honor to run near the leading female. (I will not, however, go out of my way just to race a female in an arbitrary position after 1st place, as I watched 2 guys do so they could beat my wife by a few steps!)
We took off, and there was plenty of room to find position and settle into a rhythm. The hills were mainly in the middle miles of the course, so I figured running the first, downhill mile a little fast wouldn't be the end of the world, and I hit it right on target. I dropped some time on the 2nd and 3rd miles, as the hills began and we headed into the wind, but I also passed a couple of guys here. I hit the 4th mile in exactly the same time as my last 4-mile race in FC in November, so I knew I was ahead of pace if I could keep it up. My last mile ended up being one of my fastest, as I got closer to one more runner and had a target to pace off of. This kid was a local 16-year old with his own cheering sections, though, and rightfully so: he had saved a heckuva kick for the end. Great to see a younger runner save something for the end rather than blow up, so my hat's off to him!
Anyway, I beat my goals for the race, and then looped back to find Jessica. Her goal was to run consistently for the entire race, but she kept running strong and beat her stated goal by ~2 mins per mile...and beat my more challenging goal for her by ~1min/mile. Great job! It was nice to have my parents out there cheering us on and taking pictures, too.
Afterward, we headed to Pops "Soda Ranch"on Route 66 in nearby Arcadia, which has over 500 flavors of soda. Crazy! Lots of interesting bottles and flavors of 'microbrew' soda, many of them with real sugar and other 'real' ingredients.
Then, we headed back down to OKC for lunch at Ted's Cafe Escondido, which has some of the best Mexican food in the world, I kid you not. Yum! Full and ready to pass out, we headed back home, where I took a shower and shaved off the 'stache. All good things must come to an end.
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