Asbury Park Polar Bear 5 Mile Run – Asbury Park, NJ
Sunday, December 26th, 2004 Posted in Polar Bear Plunges, Running Races | No Comments »
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The race was on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. Driving into the city, I was reminded of Bruce Springsteen’s song, My City of Ruins. The only people moving about were there for the race. There were around 170 runners. The course was 4 loops of the boardwalk. The stiff wind and snow flurries made things interesting. Running with the wind was great. Into the wind, I felt like I might be going in the opposite direction.
The race has been in existence for 41 years. It was definitely no frills. The race staff taped the finisher’s bib tag onto poster board in order of finish. My time (42:34) was slower than my 5k pace, but the weather was definitely a factor. After the race, the runners warmed up in the HoJo restaurant with soup and hot chocolate.
The highlight of the race and the main reason that I decided to run was the polar plunge afterwards. There were 18 or us fools who took a plunge in the Atlantic. The water temperature was 39 degrees and the air was 32. It was cold, but I was still overheated from the race. I ran in, dove under, shouted out and ran back out. At that point I was already cold, so I asked a bystander to capture the moment. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I felt the coldest on the drive home when the car heater reminded me of how warm my body should be.
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