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Getting ready for Sunday’s Frozen Foot Race II

Frozen Foot start

After last weekend and its subfreezing temperatures, we all might have thought that the next Frozen Foot Race this Sunday might live up to its name. But if the forecast holds, the conditions for the second race in the 2016 series will be ideal: partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 50s.

What to expect

If you missed the first Frozen Foot Race this year, here’s what you can expect: The course has been altered slightly, eliminating a small loop on a private road at the far end of the course. To make up for that, the start and finish line have been pushed back in the parking lot at Leffler Chapel on the Elizabethtown College campus.

Sorry to all of you who dislike hills. We haven’t changed anything, else. That means you’ll still find a challenge pushing up the hills past the Mennonite cemetery and just past Bear Creek School.

New to running and 5K races?

If this is your first-ever 5K, we hope that you’ve been doing some training. At the very least, that means getting in two or three runs per week. Many new runners worry about how much they should run in the days leading up to a race. If you’ve been training regularly with some decent mileage, we recommend another run between 3 miles and 5 miles between now and Friday.

If you run on Saturday and want to be competitive (or improve your time if you ran the race a month ago) Sunday, we recommend an easy run of about 20 minutes. Follow that up with 4 to 6 strides. Then rest up and plan to arrive at the race no later than 1:30 p.m.

When you arrive, get yourself registered and then spend time warming up. Jog for 10 to 15 minutes and do some dynamic stretches. About 15 minutes before the race start, people will start lining up. Settle into the pack. Remember: The faster runners will be at the front. If you expect to be a little slower, position yourself in the back half.

When the race starts, your adrenaline will kick in. Just trust your training and know that you’ve put in the hard work. It will pay off. Most important, have fun and good luck!