2014 Bradbury Squall Snowshoe Race Report

Less than a minute into this morning's race, and I was saying to myself, "Oh man, how it is possible that I forgot how painful snowshoe racing is?!" My lungs felt like they were about to explode. I know it's going to happen, but it's always still a shock to the system :-) Going up that steep hill to the Snowmobile Trail, with Zak at the top cheering me on, I had just enough breath to say, "Well, how come you're not racing?" "I'm smarter than all of you," was the reply. Indeed!

I suffered a bit up the Snowmobile Trail - man, did the snowshoes feel heavy on my feet and odd, too. Ryan had put on ice cleats in place of my typical deep cleats and they just felt strange underfoot. I also couldn't believe it, but I had to make a short stop to fix one of the straps on my snowshoe - yikes! Such a rookie move! I was in a bit of a rush getting them on before the start as I had taken a warm-up run that might have gone a few minutes longer than it should have, and one of my shoelaces was caught up in the strap. I think it loosened it just enough... oh well, lesson (re)learned. Nathan passed me just before the turn onto the singletrack, and although I tried to keep him and a few others in my sight, I let my mind get the best of me through here and slowed up a bit. Darn that brain of mine! Wish I could just turn it off sometimes. Gotta work on that.

I managed to turn it around at the turn-around (ha!) and resolved to run the downhill as fast as I could. Still got passed by one woman though, and didn't quite have enough to make the ground back up. I did, however, manage to hold off the person right on my tail, who turned out to be Sean Case, so I was thankful for the small bit of kick I did have in my legs! Slightly disappointed in how I let the pace slip a bit in the 2nd mile, but there's always next time.Ended up 5th female in 26:27. The funny thing about this is that Ryan predicted last night that I would finish in 26:30. Guess he knows me and my racing well!

RESULTS
2.8 mile snowshoe race
26:27
22nd of 70 finishers (5th of 37 women).

As always, a huge shout out to Ryan, Ian and all the volunteers who make these races what they are. And given the trail marginal conditions yesterday before the few inches of snow that fell overnight, Ryan really did pull together a good course that was fun and fair to run. Not to mention there were 70 finishers today! That is just plain awesome!!

Also, a big thank you to Irene and Dana for coming up to spend the day with Sam so that both Ryan and I could race, and even have a chance to sit and eat and hang out with friends at Edna & Lucy's after the race. Sam had a great time with Grammie and Grampie, of course!

And lastly, many thanks to Linda for the fun hats! I think Sam has claimed them both :-)