North Shore New Years Day Challenge 2020

What I call the "North Shore New Years Day Challenge" is running the Wicked Frosty Four race in Salem at 10:00 AM, then jumping in the car and driving up to Salisbury to run the Hangover Classic 10K at 11:30. It's a tight schedule as it's a 45 minute drive from Salem to Salisbury. The plan is to finish the Frosty Four, keep running right to the strategically parked car, and immediately head off to the 10K.

Today was a nice day for a race. Right around 32 degrees, about as warm as can be expected this time of year, and nicely clear and sunny. There was the inevitable wind on the course, but not as bad as it has been some years.

Last year when I did this I ran the Frosty Four moderately, saving myself for the later 10k. This year I held nothing back on the Frosty Four and had a nice run, with all four miles under 8 minutes:

Finishing the Frosty Four

Following the plan I jumped right into the car and headed north. I made it to Salisbury at 11:15, just right to make it to the start on time - and not stand in the cold wind too long. The wind is always worse in Salisbury than it is in Salem, and it was today. Otherwise, the weather was great.

Sitting in the car for 45 minutes after the Frosty Four, naturally my legs were pretty stiff at the start of the 10k. It took a couple of mile for things to loosen up, but I had a good race and negative split every mile:

The race bib comes with two beer tickets so I had a nice time after the race with some friends from the D5K. I also recognized several other runners who had also run the Frosty Four earlier - I'm not the only one who does this.