Frosty's Frozen 10M - Run10 Mile

Sooooo...I knew I wasn't trained for this. The farthest I've run since the marathon in October is 8 miles. And that was last weekend. Otherwise 5-6 miles max, at sea level in Chicago, has been it. But the 10 mile was only $10 more than the 5 mile and I decided why not get the most bang for my buck.

I decided I would use the first mile as a warm-up, try to push it for awhile after that and just hang on as long as I could. The first five miles were quite nice and I felt strong. Then we started the trek back on an asphalt path that was fairly exposed and miles 6, 7, and 8 were fairly windy. My pace dropped off drastically and I knew I didn't have much more in me between the altitude, wind, and small ups and downs.

Miles 9-10 were more flat and less exposed to the wind. About halfway through mile 9 my stomach made me question the wisdom of a tall Guinness and my choice of spicy garlic and Asian zing sauces for my wings the night before, but luckily that cleared up after a few minutes.

I decided to make miles 9-10 training miles anyway because I was pushing way too hard for a 10 mile race that wasn't on my training schedule, a race for which I am not really trained, and when my goal is supposed to be Boston in April. My pace didn't actually drop off that much anyway once I relaxed and just ran what felt good, and then I was able to push it for the last quarter mile.

Deciding to make the last two miles training miles and then to actually stick to that was one of the toughest things I've done mentally. I love to race when it comes to running. It was hard to let some of the people I had passed earlier in the race pass me back at the end like that, but I knew I needed to re-focus on my training for Boston rather than blowing myself up in a 10 mile race that I wasn't really trained for.

Be trained at altitude. Be trained to race 10 miles. Have special powers that make me immune to the wind.

I talked to the guys from the Denver Rescue Mission (including long flowing golden mane guy who was one of the re-passers at the end). It turned out they were all originally from the Chicago area. They really liked my HHH "Biking like a Viking" shirt. Then I cheered a few more of the other finishers in. Then I met Drew and Greta who had been at the dog park and we headed out.


Altitude. Lack of training. No special powers.


Nice small local race. Well run and in an area with almost no traffic.

I'm used to huge 40,000+ person races in Chicago so this was really nice.