Lemont Park District’s Frigid 5K

This past Sunday, December 2^nd, the 9^th Annual Lemont Park District’s Frigid 5K was held at the park district’s Centennial Community Center and the surrounding park.   I live in Naperville and with a hop onto I-355 on an early Sunday morning it is just a 20 minute drive away.

In Illinois, in early December, the weather can be almost anything from cold and snowy to hot and humid.  This year the weather was just about perfect – the temperature just a couple of degrees above freezing and rising and a bright blue sky.  As I drove over the Des Plaines river, the early morning fog was a beautiful pink.  It really deserved a photo but I was driving. 

I love small local races!  With only 229 participants and lots of groups running together there was more than enough free parking.   At 7:20 AM, I pulled into the parking lot walked into the community center and by 7:25 AM, boom, I had my packet and was walking back to the car.  One of the reasons to run the Frigid 5K is the nice quality hoodie that is given out each year.  This year’s hoodie is a seafoam green color that, although different, looks nice on almost everyone.  

Bolingbrook Fun Run Club

A number of Bolingbrook Fun Run Club members and friends from the Ulman Foundation’s Cancer to 5K team were also going to be running so I went back into the community center to meet up with them.  This is another reason to love small races.   Right up until race time we were able to meet up and hang out in a lovely warm gym area and have the use of real bathrooms, no port-a-potties at this race!  At about 7:50 AM someone announced that we should head out to the starting line which was just a short walk away.  Once everyone was in place, someone said “your mark, get set, go” and blew an air horn and we were off! 

The starting line

Although the Frigid 5K is chip timed, it does not have a timing mat at the start.  With no timing mat, and no instructions for walkers and runners with strollers to line up at the back, the start is a bit disorganized.  Luckily, the run starts out on a very wide section of parking lot and faster runners can move to the head of the pack easily.  The Frigid 5K is a two loop run on a paved path that circles a park that surrounds the community center.  There really isn’t a lot to see but it is a pleasant run on a car free route.  At various points along the path, there were small groups of young people cheering us on which just added to the small race feel.  There was one water stop which we passed twice with Styrofoam cups filled with water laid out on a table.  The water stop was more than sufficient.

I only have one complaint, and it is not about the race but the runners.  PEOPLE!!!  If you are going to walk (and god knows, I do it often) do not block the whole path.  I had to speak to a group of young men who were doing a bit of run walking and when they walked, they were walking four abreast across the path.  I could tell they thought I was a nasty old lady but really, you don’t realize you’re blocking the whole path?  In addition, there was a woman closer to my age that was fully plugged into her headset that would just stop dead in the middle of the path with no hand signal when she switched from running to walking.  What the heck?

Bolingbrook Fun Run Club & Ulman Fund's Cancer to 5K friends

Okay, back to the race itself.  At the end of the race, we went back into the warm gym where they had bananas, granola bars, water, Gatorade and a hot chocolate bar with whipped cream and all sorts of toppings.  The gym is decorated nicely for the holidays and is great for taking group photos.   It is a nice place to hang out while the overall and age group awards are being handed out.   No age group award for me; those old ladies are fast!

Hanging out - Notice the Sweatshirts!

The overall race winner was Josh Rogowski  with a time of 17:09, a 5:31 pace!