WiNK

by: Katherine Breen, '23, & Matt Hoekenga, '23

On a nice hot summer day, it's easy to lace up your shoes and get outside to go for a run. But as the temperature drops, the desire to run starts to go away. It becomes harder to motivate yourself. So Mrs Wilkinson, our cross country coach, researched ways to keep us moving, and that's when she found Frozen Feet.

Frozen Feet, sponsored by Ridgefield Running Store, is a challenge done by people all around the United States and it has 1 rule: for 6 weeks get outside for at least 1 mile a day. If you are able to do so everyday (NO CHEATING) and log your miles, you get a free frozen feet t-shirt at the end of the challenge. During our cross country season, we loved collecting t-shirts from our invitationals so when we heard there was a free t-shirt, we were in.

17 members of the Wooster community have signed up to be a part of the challenge, including students, faculty, and teachers! The frozen feet challenge has even inspired new runners to get out there even in the most treacherous conditions. Justine Gray '22 says "I wanted to take up running but I could never motivate myself. Doing frozen feet has kept me motivated and helped me to enjoy running!"

Runners have to push themselves through the many obstacles that come with Frozen Feet. Obstacles like, finding time to run, running through snow, rain, ice, sludge, and getting Covid-19, which feels unavoidable these days. Matt unfortunately tested positive on January 9th, the day before the much anticipated start of Frozen Feet. At his weakest, Matt still got out there, and braved it in the cold. Like the rest of us, we had not fully prepared ourselves for how cold it would be. On Day 2, temperatures dropped, Katherine got up at 6:30am, running in the 8 degree weather, or what the weather app said felt like less than 0 degrees, and it indeed did. Sadly, we have lost some members of Wooster's Frozen Feet group. Max Porter '22 was our first fallen soldier. "I was really looking forward to completing the frozen feet challenge, but, sadly, I went to log my hours for Week One an hour after the opportunity ended. It's disappointing because I really wanted the satisfaction of knowing I ran a mile everyday for a month in the cold... just kidding, I mainly wanted the frozen feet shirt prize. Nonetheless, I'll probably keep running this month even though no prize is involved." We applaud Max for his commitment, but if you have learned anything from this article it is that Wooster's Cross Country runners are only in it for the shirts.

To keep us in the Frozen feet game, we try to do our miles as a group. If you look outside during lnch time, or right after school, you might see some frozen footers, frozen feeting around! If you want to pick up running this winter, don't be afraid to reach out to us and join us in our group runs. The challenge becomes a lot easier when you are surrounded by a community motivating you to get your miles. We are currently on Week 2 of the 6-week challenge. As the weeks go by, the number of people participating falls, and so do the degrees. Check back in with us in four weeks to see who's still in it!