Eighty-seven hundred people wouldn’t let a little thing like cold weather interfere with their stride.
The record number of runners made their way to Yokota Air Base on Sunday for the 27th Annual Frostbite Run.
Abigail Smith, president of the Yokota Striders Running Club, which organizes the event, said the flat course and the fact that it’s on a U.S. military base makes the run popular to Japanese citizens.
"We get everybody from serious runners to new runners to the guy walking around in a cat costume. It’s picking up in popularity, so hopefully they don’t shut us down," she said jokingly.
The event pulled together more than 600 volunteers from Yokota Air Base and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Staff Sgt. Juan Cabrera of the 374th Comptroller Squadron volunteered for Frostbite last year. This year, his participation in the half marathon was coming on the heels of his first-ever marathon run in December.
"The atmosphere is great. Everyone is having fun, dancing around and having a good time," Cabrera said. "I’m a fan of running. I like the time it gives me to think and reflect on things."
He said he wasn’t concerned about his reflections being interrupted by the site of fellow runners in loony costumes.
"Nope, I’ll be concentrating too hard," he said with a laugh.
One such costumed runner was Yasu Ogawa, 31, from Tokyo, who ran his race in a pink ninja suit. Ogawa said he wears costumes in roughly half the runs he participates in, and that he chooses his pink suit over his blue ninja suit when he "really wants people to pay attention."
Right around the time that Sato Kenta crossed the finish line to win the Kids 2K run, a light sleet started falling, adding to the event’s chill factor.
Thirteen-year-old Katelyn Sult, a student at Yokota Middle School, was still shivering seconds after meeting her goal of finishing the 5K in less than 30 minutes.
"It hurt, but I just kept my breathing," Sult said.
Sult admitted to having some nerves heading into her first Frostbite Run.
"I was scared," she said. "I knew I’d be running against adults, and everybody says the Japanese are faster. And, yes, they are faster."
