The toughest part of running the 3rd annual Frozen 5k Saturday morning may have been getting out of bed with the mercury around 20-below in west-central Minnesota.
By race time (9 a.m.) it was a balmy 13-degrees below zero with only the hint of a breeze. Runners game prepared. Mittens, wind pants, coats, scarves and all types of facemasks.
Not all 85 pre-registered runners showed but the total easily surpassed 100 with 45 walk-ups to race headquarters at Melvins On the Lake. With the Spicer Ice Castle as a backdrop, the runners headed east into the rising sun to the Bible camp and back, a distance of 3.1 miles.
Jacob Yurek, 26, a native of Silver Lake who now lives in St. Paul, was first overall. Lori Gehrking, a Willmar day-car mother with grown children of her own, was the first woman. The first runners, which included runnerup Jeff Miller of New London, finished in under 18 minutes.
Last year 226 runners competed in mild temperatures.
