Picking up the pace
ATC sophomore polymath getting steadily faster
Nothing good comes easily. Those nuggets of wisdom came to Odin Frostad by way of his grandmother when he visited Tanzania for the first time in more than a decade over the summer. The words still resonate in the Frostad’s mind, although he probably knew them before she even imparted them to the sophomore at the Academy for Technology and the Classics.
Then again, it seems that Frostad is usually ahead of the curve. Frostad skipped fourth grade and is about two years younger than the rest of the sophomore class. He was a Boy Scout, can play the saxophone and the banjo, and is helping ATC develop a debate team. He holds a 4.0 grade-point average on top of all that, usually doing school work until about 10 p.m.
While it might be easy to apply the “prodigy” tag on Frostad, he readily admits there is more to his success than just smarts.
“I was always a smart kid,” Frostad said. “I guess there’s no other way to say it, but my dad always told me it wasn’t smarts that make a person. It was their willpower and how they want to take on adversity. I try to typify that with the diverse things that I do.”
For all the things Frostad accomplished academically and musically, he never considered himself an athlete. In fact, he didn’t exactly have the highest regard for athletes.
“I had never been a sports kind of guy,” Frostad said. “I always kinda looked down on sports like it was lower than me.”
Running was different, though. His parents, Greg and Naombael Frostad, ran and even competed in some events. It was his dad’s encouragement that led his son to try out cross-country, and Odin has transformed himself from the pudgy kid who was always last at junior varsity meets in 2016 to now running in the pack.
Odin Frostad still runs mainly for the junior varsity, but the freshman who usually ticked off 5-kilometer courses in 40 minutes or more last season is now crossing the finish line in the mid-20s. ATC head cross-country coach Tim Host
believes the younger Frostad will have a place on the varsity squad next year, but sees Odin as a tale of perseverance.
“It’s a crazy transformation,” Host said. “From last year, he’s lost about 80, 100 pounds. He’s just kind of an inspiration.”
There was no thought about being an inspiration when Greg Frostad convinced his son to give it a shot when Odin told him Host invited him to try out for the team. The younger Frostad signed up, but didn’t give it a second thought — until that 6 a.m. wake-up in August of 2016 to prepare for the start of preseason cross-country practice.
Odin Frostad wasn’t exactly in prime running shape — as a kid growing up in Gallup, he was picked on by classmates for being “black, fat and smart; the trifecta” — but it didn’t stop him from standing by his commitment. So, Odin run. Ever. So. Slowly. In his first cross-country meet with the junior varsity, Odin ran his first 5-kilometer meet — at the Rehoboth Invitational, just 2 miles from where he used to live — in 48 minutes, 48 seconds.
“You can walk pretty slowly and still do a 45,” Odin said. “So I was going pretty slowly, and that’s three minutes slower.”
What struck Host, though, was the expression the freshman wore during the race, and every race after that.
“He was just this heavy, pudgy guy with a grin while running,” Host said.
But the times started to come down — a 37:52 at Pecos’ Ron Valdez Memorial Invitational, then a 34:15 at the Northern New Mexico Challenge that was his best in 2016. Odin remembered the first runner he ever passed — an injured girls runner from Desert Academy at the Desert Academy Invite.
“She broke or sprained her ankle,” Odin remembered. “I don’t know, but I just knew her ankle was big. I asked her if she was OK, and she said, ‘Yeah, you’re doing well. Keep going.’ ”
Odin did just that. He competed on the track and field team and finally experienced his first real pass — whipping past a runner from Santa Fe Prep during a 400-meter heat.
“That felt pretty darn good,” Odin said.
In the offseason, Odin ran and rode his bicycle, and even continued to do that when he visited Tanzania. He called the trip “an eye-opening experience” as he disengaged from the usual technological traps at home and found it exhilarating.
“You didn’t notice the things you were missing — Wi-Fi, all the comforts we have here in America,” Odin said. “You just feel at home. They are nicer than I any people I ever met, and are so accepting and willing to teach you the language and the culture.”
Running is a part of that culture, too. Odin and a cousin went out for a run on a Sunday. Before he knew it, Odin saw men, women and children in their church clothes running with them.
“It was amazing to have such a community and people who were willing to just run.”
And that suits Odin’s lifestyle at ATC, too. There’s school work, running, the debate team and even his stint in an “Acoustic America” music class that focuses on tradition American folk music, which was why he up the banjo. Eric Carlson, the school’s music director, said Odin is open to trying just about anything.
“He’s very open-minded,” Carlson said. “I started him out on the banjo, and I think he joined my class with the intention of learning it, which is cool.”
It was as cool as the one time Odin ran for the varsity, at the Northern New Mexico Challenge on Oct. 7. The opportunity opened because three varsity runners were unavailable, but Odin made the most of it, running a person-best 21:07.
“It was my favorite race,” Odin said. “It was just amazing to be able to run varsity. It was just one of those things where you get to see how far you’ve come. It stunk that three guys had to miss it for me to go, but it was truly an amazing race.”
Unfortunately, Odin’s season ended with the Desert Academy Invite on Oct. 20, where he ran with the JV for its final race. However, it wasn’t a total disappointment. Host said Peter Frostad made a deal with his son that he would buy him new shoes if he broke the 23-minute barrier, which happened at the Northern New Mexico meet.
Now, Odin Frostad looks like a legitimate cross-country runner.
“He gets his first pair of racing flats, so he doesn’t have to wear those [cross-]trainer’s shoes,” Host said.
Sometimes, it’s good to reward hard work.