2011 Turner Trail Snowshoe Race

Starting area at Turner Trail

The Turner Trail race was probably my favorite snowshoe race from last year. In a season where snow was hard to find, the conditions at Turner last year (located in the Pittsfield State Forest) were near perfect. When you add the fact it was a very long and challenging course supported by great volunteers, there was no question I'd be back in 2011. Or would I?
The lack of any significant storms has kept the snow cover thin at best, even out in western Mass. Earlier last week Beth Herder (RD at Turner) indicated the course would be modified due to snow conditions. In fact, it wouldn't even be on the Turner Trail (which climbs Berry Mt via a nearly 3 mile switchback single track). I immediately started making other plans. I wasn't going to drive 333 miles for questionable snow conditions. So, on Friday I decided to head over to the Old Salem Greens Snowshoe Race (Salem, Ma) instead.
Two things happened late on Friday that changed my plans yet again.

1. Beth updated the conditions and provided a course map of the 'new' Turner Trail Race
2. The weather forecast indicated western Mass should get 6" of new snow prior to the race

New Turner Trail Course

The course would be a 5.4 mile loop on NEMBA-designed mountain bike trails and had 99% snow cover before the storm even arrived. If I could find someone to ride shotgun with me, Turner Trail would be back in business! A quick check with DoubleJ and I had my victim.
I really thought we'd be driving through a snowstorm early Saturday morning on the drive out. With the exception of a brief snow squall, there was virtually no snow at all, with clear roads for most of the trip. Although it made traveling easy, it did not give me any confidence that Pittsfield actually received the snow that was expected.
This time, the forecasters were right. By the time we reached Pittsfield, 4-6" of  nice, fluffy powder was on the ground. Phew. Snow for a snowshoe race, who would have thunk it?
Jim, John Pajer and myself did a brief warm-up on the finish of the course, to check conditions and to get an idea what the finish of the course looked like. I like to recognize something near the finish to give me an idea how much is left in the race. From what we could tell, the conditions would be ideal: hard packed base with fresh new snow on top, and LOTS of turns. It would be some of the tightest single track I've raced on, with the trail being the width of a single snowshoer.

photo credit -Berkshire Sports

At 10am we lined up for the start. It appeared very few wanted to be up front. Not me, I wanted to get in position on the single track as soon as possible and not worry about passing folks. If they wanted to pass me, fine, but they'd have to work for it. Within the first 50ft my position was set and wouldn't change for the next 5.4 miles. Jim, Tim Van Orden and Ross Krause took off up front, followed by high school xc star Connor Devine, myself and then John Pajer. The 3 of us ran fairly close for the first couple of miles (which generally went gently downhill). The entire course would be on super tight single track, with a gazillion turns. No need to ever look back in this race, just wait for a turn and chances are you'd be nearly running next to the guy behind you. Early on the snowshoeing was pretty fast, with good traction. At the last minute I switched to my ice cleats and early on it seemed like a good choice. However, the middle couple of miles were tough. No real elevation gain/loss, but the trail loosened up a lot, and we were breaking through the hard pack under the powder. The traction all but disappeared and we'd slide around every corner. It was noticeably slower and harder. Now I wished I stuck with my deep cleats!

photo credit - Berkshire Sports

During this section I could sense John was dropping back a bit. He was still in sight but the gap was increasing. I focused on keeping Connor within reach for the next few miles. I'd get really close at times and then he'd pick it up (or I slowed down) and gap me pretty well. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to pass him and was content with him pulling me along. The last 3 miles or so generally worked its way back up. Nothing steep, but enough that you noticed you were climbing. At one point we saw Ross on one of the switch backs but I couldn't tell if he was 10 seconds up or 2 minutes up because of the way the trail snaked around. It was the only time I saw another snowshoer in front besides Connor.
I finally started recognizing the trail as we neared the finish (thanks to our warm up). My position was set. I wasn't catching Connor and I didn't see anyone behind me. 48 minutes and 35 seconds after I started I crossed the finish line in 5th place (results), and second old guy (behind Tim). Some guy named Jim won I think.
Once again, Turner Trail did not disappoint. The course and conditions were some of the best I've snowshoed on in any race. Beth and crew did an outstanding job (at the last minute) putting together a top notch course. It was well worth the trip!


Additional photos by Berkshire Sports can be found here.

33rd Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k

Temple Town Hall

This race is the definition of a small town race (results) . It is in Temple, NH after all. Everything about it is low-key (which I like). It also happens to be the race I've run the most (8 times). I'd say running this race is the closet thing I have to a tradition, and by now it's an automatic. If I'm not injured, I'll run this race.

I was thankful to have my family in tow this year. They don't see too many of my races but I appreciate it when they do. At least the weather was nice this year (mid 50's, mostly sunny). Seems like it's icy cold or snowing most years. The nice weather also brought out a good size crowd (~200) which was nice to see. If you've come for a 5k PR you've come to the wrong race. The first 1 1/2 miles generally climbs, the next mile is mostly downhill and the final stretch punishes you with a deceiving difficult uphill finish. I don't know if it qualifies as a tough 5k or not but it definitely is a slow 5k. Very few folks run under 18 minutes at this one. Heck, in 8 tries I've never run under 19 minutes.

Start

I lined up in the front row and checked out this years competition. Fellow GCS teammate Joe Rogers was running for the first time. I gave him an overview of the course and thought he had a chance for the win. My plan was to go out fairly easy (since it's mostly uphill the first 1 1/2 miles) and just fall into position and then hammer the downhill. As expected, Joe was with 2 other guys up front and I was a ways back in 5th for most of the 1st mile. I eventually gave up a spot in the first mile, and another spot in the 2nd mile before gaining one back in the final mile. The mile markers ALWAYS seem to be off each year so I don't put a lot of value into my splits. I ran the uphill a little slow but really picked up the pace on the downhill and the short section of dirt road. The last 1/2 mile is always hard as it gradually climbs back up before finishing just below the town hall. It has to be the longest last 1/10th of a mile anywhere. This year it took me 1:15 to run that last '1/10th' of a mile. That comes out to something like a 12 min/mile pace (not bloody likely). Like I said, the mile markers ALWAYS seem to be off. Oh well, at least it's the same every year so I don't mind so much.

Finishing up

I really wanted to break 19 minutes and once again I just missed it, finishing 6th overall in 19:05 (my 2nd fastest time ever at this race). At least it was faster than last year (by 2 whole seconds!). Joe was in the mix right to the end, even leading around the 3 mile mark, before getting passed right before the finish. The top 3 all finished within 8 seconds of each other, good racing indeed. Thankfully Joe finished in the top 3, allowing me to take home the cookie medal for 1st master (40-49). Thanks Joe!

Deb was kind enough to take a bunch of pictures throughout the race. All pics can be found here.
Happy New Year!

Woodford Snowshoe Race

Let the 2011 snowshoe season begin! It's very confusing but trust me, this was the first race of next year :-) The 3.5m loop (results) around Adams Reservoir in Woodford State Park (just outside of Bennington,VT) always seems to have snow, which is probably why it's the 1st race of the snowshoe season each year. Chris Dunn and I tried to round up a few acidotic snowshoers to make the trip with us but instead I was stuck listening to Chris drone on and on about how he was going to beat me. Thanks guys! Just kidding, it was actually a nice uneventful drive, arriving 1 1/2hrs early, with 10-15 cars already in the parking lot. Me thinks some folks were itching to do some snowshoeing.

It seemed a little odd doing a race when I hadn't put on snowshoes since March. All part of the fun I guess. We chatted with some of the regulars and headed over to the start about 1/2hr early to check out the course a bit and try to remember what it was like to run in snowshoes. DD and JJ had marked the course and thought the course would be fast. Woodford isn't a difficult course, doesn't have any real hills but has been tough in the past. This is due to snow conditions. Deep snow, wet snow, deep, wet snow. This year it was just powder. Nice!

The race starts on the access road to the park and goes off like a 5k, heads up the only real hill on the course and then turns into the woods onto some nice single track for the remainder. In my 3rd year running Woodford I thought I'd do something different; take it out a little easier at the start and wait until I hit the single track before picking up the pace. I tucked in behind John Agosto and one other guy early on and could sense Chris right behind me. By the time we hit the single track the top 5 guys were out of sight, never to be seen again. In the past I"d be sucking wind by this time but this year I felt good. The plan worked, who would have thunk it? I passed one guy early on and was content with John pulling me along, finding it easier to follow then to lead. As far as I could tell, Chris was right behind me. Probably a little over a mile in John peeked over his shoulder and slowed on a short climb so I made the pass. Turns out this was the last time I'd see either John or Chris. I'm not sure what happened, whether I got faster or they got slower but within a few minutes I had gapped them enough that I couldn't hear them behind me any more. For the remainder of the race I'd run alone. For the most part I felt good and didn't have any of those 'snowshoe racing is stupid' moments when you wonder why you're doing this. I peeked over my shoulder as I exited the woods for the final 1/3mile finish on the access road. I was all alone so I cruised in, finishing in 6th place o/a with a time of 24:10, nearly 3 minutes faster than last year. Chris and John finished less than a minute behind me.
Good start to the season.

Next up: Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k on 1/1 and (weather permitting) Beaver Brook 5k Snowshoe Race on 1/2.