Photos from the Polar Dash (Pharmie's first 10K!)

>> Monday, January 03, 2011

Yep, it's true: the Team Ortho Polar Dash was Pharmie's FIRST 10K! She's done 12 marathons, 9 half Ironmans, and 2 full Ironmans, but NEVER a stand-alone 10K! And she picked a DARN cold day to do it!



(Oh, and if you want to see more photos, CLICK HERE to read my Examiner article about the race and flip through the slideshow.)

The start was just under 2 miles away, so we planned on just jogging down there. We ran along the river to the start, and gathered among the masses in the parking ramp, near the "warming tent" and porta-potty line:




Pre-race Sharkies


Frozen faces

We went out to the start just a few minutes before 11 am (race time). Here's the mass of 1,800 people heading up to the starting line:




Jenny and Guy starting out


Debbie and Beth just 200 feet into the race


Pharmie running towards me!


Pharmie smiling (you can still tell she's smiling under all of that!)


Pharmie (in the middle) running out of MPLS towards St. Paul


Shirtless dude

I cheered the 5K runners to the finish. (There was a 5K and 10K going on at the same time.) I watched Kristy take the win in the 5K by MAJORLY outkicking this girl in the black:


Kristy in the yellow, ready to kick some butt!

Shortly after that, my camera battery was so frozen that even though it had a full charge an hour before, it was now DEAD. I put it under my coat to warm it up and hoped that it would have a few shots in it by the time Pharmie was going to be finishing the 10K!

I cheered on all the runners, and then started to slow down cheering because my fingers were starting to freeze. I cheered on Jennifer V, Steve H (swimming buddy), Guy and Jenny, Beth and her friend Debbie, and then saw Pharmie coming in the distance!! She was smiling big as she was nearing the finish line:


YAY PHARMIE!!

I ran after her through the finisher's chute, she grabbed a cup of hot cocoa, and we started our jog home. We got home and I grabbed a different camera to snap a shot of my frozen wife and her medal:



Then she made HOMEMADE hot cocoa, grabbed the new Runner's World along with our cat Ella, and warmed herself by the fire:



Fun way spend New Year's Day!

To see more photos from the race, CLICK HERE to go to my Examiner article.

Back with my report from my first indoor 5000 meter race tomorrow! (25 laps, baby!) Happy New Year, everyone!!

16 comments:

IronVince: IM WI 2009 and Beyond 5:56 AM, January 03, 2011  

Was "Shirtless Dude" wearing the bowl full of sunshine shorts?

Kevin 6:35 AM, January 03, 2011  

That's darn cold. My race this weekend in FL was about 70 degrees.

Kevin
http://halftriing.blogspot.com

triblog carol 7:56 AM, January 03, 2011  

you guys need to move south! brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Annie 7:59 AM, January 03, 2011  

Looks like fun. I guess I won't complain about the cold in TX anymore though!

Christi 8:12 AM, January 03, 2011  

Great way to start the New Year! I did our Rescue Run 5k and it was cold, single digits but what a great time I had!

Great job Pharmie!

Unknown 10:26 AM, January 03, 2011  

Got cold just looking at those pics! Gotta love shirtless dude!

How are Pharmie's legs crossed like that? She's like Gumby!

The Triathlon Rx 10:27 AM, January 03, 2011  

Wooooh congrats to Pharmie on her *first* 10K :) What do you guys think about the Tripple 7? (Team Ortho) I loved the 7K last year but I'm definitely intrigued by a 21K... :D

Question about shirtlessdude - did he color those Asics? Or are those the Gel Noosa's? (http://www.asicsamerica.com/products/product.aspx?PRODUCT_ID=240014604&TITLE_CATEGORY_ID=250001546&PARENT_CATEGORY_ID=250001538)

ANOTHER question - possibly adopting a cat. As soon as I'm done with allergy shots. I don't know a damn thing about cats.... suggestions?

The Triathlon Rx 10:28 AM, January 03, 2011  

Oh my gosh what am I thinking.... YOU should get the Gel Noosas!!! THEY MATCH YOUR SHORTS annnd are supposed to be tri shoes!! Come see me at the store - we can order them!!

Anonymous,  11:58 AM, January 03, 2011  

I always wondered how people dressed to run in cold temps... now I know! Holy cow that is A LOT of layers. I'll remain out West :)

TriEric 7:15 PM, January 03, 2011  

Why does everyone have so many clothes on?

RobbyB 8:40 PM, January 03, 2011  

It was a good thing the shirtless dude wore his helmet & goggles. Who knows what could go wrong when you run like that in the cold weather?

Austin 8:53 PM, January 03, 2011  

Wow. Congrats to Pharmie on a pretty epic (freezing) 10K. Destination race next year? Florida?

Laurie 10:05 PM, January 03, 2011  

Is Shirtless Dude wearing a ski helmet so he doesn't crack his brain when he freezes and falls over?
Go Pharmie! Cool medal, too.

Beth 8:12 PM, January 04, 2011  

You were such a good sport for being out there in the cold. Thanks for all of the pictures! I didn't see the shirtless guy that day- crazy! Glad Pharmie rocked her first 10K!

Richelle 10:03 PM, January 04, 2011  

Congrats to Pharmie! I'm glad that you both had a good time at the race, even though it was colder at the Polar Dash this year than last year. I had a great time volunteering for it. Will you be at the Get Lucky?

Steve Stenzel 8:07 AM, January 05, 2011  

RIchelle, Pharmie really would like to do the Get Lucky race too, so we might be there!

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