This year's sloppy, slushy, puddle-filled February Freeze was my slowest but the one the grandchildren will hear about. It was my 9th Freeze but 75 year old Rich Hause(25:20) said that it was his worst. He should know, he did all 21 of them. Yes, some runners used spikes but then again, some people learned how to ride a bike using training wheels. The non-spikers discovered an experience whereby their feet wanted to go in several directions none of which was "forward". So these folks had to use seldom-used leg muscles to keep heading forward. The following morning these muscles would remind us of how hard they worked yesterday as they tried to run on ice & slush using short, choppy stutter-steps to keep from falling.

A Friday snow storm was predicted and came. Fingers were crossed that after the storm passed, Saturday's wind & sun would evaporate the snow & dry the course. Think again. There was too much slush, ice & standing water so the Freeze started with caution from race director Sandy Howard to forget about PRs (personal records) and to concentrate on returning for the soups.

Chris Wasnetsky finished 1st with a 17:07, 36 seconds ahead of #2 Reece Ayers. Chris(18) said that he likes this course because in high school he wasn’t allowed to do such "dangerous" courses. Top female was #10 Leanna Nastase (19:46). Keystone's Tim Nowakowski was 11th with a 19:56. Surely the course conditions were not optimal yet #12 Amy Rome set an age group record (40-44) with 20:19. Top Master Coach Randy White 20:43 was 14th.

Bobcats were in abundance: #30 Heather Fassett(22:53), #40 Jeff Pernot(23:43), #43 Carson Ayers(24:41), #47 Nancy Werthmuller(24:39), #52 Anton Brzoska(25:10), #53 Sheri Kukuchka(25:11), #54 Ed Hetzel(25:17), #59 Ken Layaou(25:46), #64 Tierney Ayers(26:21), #72 Victoria Williams(27:41), #74 Bridget White(28:02), #78 Beth O'Malley(29:06), & #90 Nancy Lee Harmon(31:33).

Used to be that runners hung up their shoes when they hit 60. Well it looks like the AARPers were out in force trying to catch Len Sowinski (22:14). Close but no cigar were: Max Furek(26:58), Joe Naughton (27:32), Dave Keeler(28:38), Don Quillen(29:21), Vic Milani(30:50), Bill Camp(31:16), Jerry Pitkus(31:18) & Tom Berezich(35:55).


#39 Bill Lawrence(23:22) thought that he was a victim of WMD on his way to the race. Before he became toxified, he opened his windows and knew that he would have to buy another bottle of Windex. Clean, good smelling car, though.

Good to see Gerry Condon(23:03) again. His son Casey(22:54) beat him, but Gerry won the age group award. The 3 raceketers Corey Scochin(4), Beth Scochin(31) & Margaret Nudelman(56) should win some kind of award. How about Corey, “The Youngest Freezer”? Hats off to my perennial competitor Beth O’Malley who zipped right by me. Of course no Freeze can be soup-less and we were not disappointed.