Snowshoe Racing in the News

It's not often you see an article on snowshoe racing but what are the chances you'd see TWO in the same day?

The Boston Globe did an article on snowshoe racing today, interviewing several of the fast guys (Jim Johnson, Ben Nephew, Kevin Tilton and Bob Jackman) following last weeks Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble. Funny, no one interviewed the guy that came in 8th?? Hmmmm.

Part two of the daily double was written by aR teammate Geoff Cunningham and can be found in today's edition of Fosters.  This one features lots of acidotic racers including Chris Dunn, Ri Fahnestock, Sarah Silverberg and Gary Reuter and even has a call out to our favorite race photographer-turned snowshoe racer, Scott Mason (even though the link to his photos was wrong).

Now if we can only get some snow around here!!!!!

First Snowshoe Double of the Season - Curly's (Part 2)

Curly's Record Run Snowshoe Race

Although not originally planned, I decided to run Curly's Record Run (results) on Sunday and complete my first snowshoe double of the season. JJ picked me up at 6am for the 3hr ride waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out to western Mass. Curly's would take place in the Pittsfield State Forest, in fact the start/finish was at the same exact location of the Turner Trail snowshoe race I did a few weeks ago (my favorite course to date). Curly's would be a totally different course but would include many of the same great elements of Turner.
Surprisingly (not), we were the first ones there but the lot filled up quickly. All told I think they had around 90 snowshoers, quite a large crowd for a race in the middle of nowhere. Heck, even the western Mass folk have to drive over an hour to get there :-)

First Snowshoe Double of the Season - Pooh Hill (Part 1)

Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble

On Saturday I headed up to King Pine Resort in Madison NH for the 3rd race of the Granite State Snowshoe Series (results). This race probably has one of the nicest locations for a snowshoe race anywhere in the Northeast. It's not often you get a scenic spot, a combination of groomed trails and snowshoe single track and most importantly indoor facilities (a real bonus in snowshoe racing). If you haven't done it you're definitely missing out on a beauty.

Last year this was the 1st race in the series and it was a doozy. 8.5k in length with a killer hill about 1/2 around the loop. A couple of things would make this years version a bit different. Pooh Hill was the 3rd race in the GSSS this year so most of us have worked out some of the kinks already (if that's possible in
snowshoeing). More importantly the infamous Pooh Hill was gone.

Feel Good Farm Snowshoe Race

Last year I was a spectator at Feel Good Farm. I don't remember why, but I didn't race that day (I guess I was smarter then). I instead opted for taking pictures of the 12 folks who raced. I remember a couple of things about that race: the snow was DEEP and the climb was pretty tough. The course was still two loops but they were generally two clockwise loops.

Fast forward to this past weekend for the 2010 version (results) and lots of things had changed.
First, only a handful from last year returned (including a carload of Tuesday Night Turtles) but the popularity of the Granite State Snowshoe Series brought out a bunch of new folks, 104 finishers to be exact.
Second, the conditions were night and day. A week of unseasonably warm temps (including mid 40's on race day) melted away a lot of the snow on the exposed slopes of Moose Mt. Some sections (including some steep downhills) were borderline unshoeable (I think I just made up a word). Lots of rocks, exposed ledge, iced dirt, tree branches. In fact, everything except the preferred snow.

Not Today

I should be posting a race report (Feel Good Farm Snowshoe Race), but not today.
The last couple of days have been hard physically and emotionally. Generally, physical issues I can handle and I try not to use it as an excuse. I like to train almost as much as I like to race. Today was different. This race was different. I raced today with a heavy heart and with some guilt.
My faithful dog of 10 years (Molly) had been really sick recently. Deb and I were up a lot last night keeping an eye on her to make sure she was ok. This morning we had yet another vet appointment to see if there was something they could do for her. Her appt. was at the same time of the snowshoe race this morning. I should have skipped the race...but I didn't.
I was completely drained when I finished and once I caught my breath, called to see how she was doing. It was not good news so I left immediately, stopping at home to pick up my kids and then heading to the vets. We had time to say goodbye and not much more. At 2pm she passed away. She was a good dog. We'll all miss her.

Ten Times Fast

What a great night at track last night. Group 1 had its largest showing of the year with maybe 10 folks stepping up. It definitely is a lot easier doing these workouts with a pack of runners. It's also nice when everyone generally runs consistent laps (like last night), allowing you to seed yourself appropriately and really get into a nice groove.
The workout was 10 x 400's with 200 rest. I think most of the group ran in the low 70's to mid 80's range for the repeats. I had a chance to try out my new shoes, Asics Hyperspeed-4's which arrived in the mail on Monday. Considering I've run in Hyperspeed 2's and 3's previously, it wasn't really that exciting.

The stats:

1. 400m   77 sec
2. 400m   76 sec
3. 400m   76 sec
4. 400m   76 sec
5. 400m   75 sec (lots of traffic, which for some reason makes us ran faster)
   
6. 400m   76 sec
7. 400m   76 sec
8. 400m   75 sec
9. 400m   73 sec (fast finish on tired legs)
   
10. 400m   73 sec (fast finish on tired legs)
    

 Very pleased with the effort last night, but like I said earlier, a lot has to do with everyone running consistent laps. It helps to avoid the natural desire to want to race folks. Felt strong, felt fast.

Now if I can only get it to translate into running faster in a race :-)

Turner Trail Snowshoe Race

This weekend I opted for the 2nd WMAC snowshoe series race (Turner Trail 5M) instead of the 'local' Olde Salem Green Classic. My decision to travel 6 hrs with jj and dd and be within spittin' distance of New York was based on a longer and potentially harder course. After last weeks sprint I was really looking for something different and boy did I find it.
For now, I'll skip over the details of the ride out. That could be a post all by itself. Let's just say it was amusing and entertaining.
Turner Trail (results), located in Pittsfield State Forest (Pittsfield,MA) is now one of my favorite snowshoe races, and one of the hardest. About an hr before race time Jim Johnson, Dave Dunham and myself did a 3M warm-up on snowshoes up an access road and then back down the last 1 and 1/2 miles or so on the actual course, meeting up with Tim Van Orden on the way down. The course would be run in reverse of last years race and would be a little longer.