Early Season Snowshoe Report

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I thought I’d provide some brief reports on the start of the snowshoe season up here in New England. Snowshoeing has exploded in popularity this year, and it’s very exciting for many of us who have been racing in the snow for a while. At this point, it may end up being more popular than trail racing on a runner per race basis. Crazy.

I Love (the slush at) Woodford 5k 12/27

The family pulled into a very wet parking lot at the Woodford start, but luckily the rain had mostly stopped just in time for the race. I thought I got a good warm-up running around a little with Steph and Gavin, but it was clear it was not really enough as soon as we started.

My legs felt too heavy on the first soggy climb, and while I was trying let Jim Johnson, Tim Van Orden, and Josh Ferenc go and ease into the race, I had already done some damage. I held my own in third for a while, but never really felt comfortable. On a short steep hill about halfway in, Brian Rusiecki tried to pass, and I reflexively picked up the pace. I should have just let him pass, but I guess some part of me thought that I could handle a faster pace. I let him by on the next hill, and Dave Dunham followed soon after. I tried to keep them close, but couldn’t get any momentum going in the soft heavy snow that covered the entire course (well, there were puddles). With about a mile left, I passed Josh, who was hurting from a major fall onto some snow covered rocks. I thought he was going to rally as he chased me for a while, but I pulled away on a technical section. I spotted Dave as we exited the singletrack for the last 400m to the finish, but he was well out of reach.

Despite not seeing JJ, TiVo, and Brian for much of the race, they weren’t as far ahead as I had feared, but it still wasn’t a great race. However, you always work harder when you are having a bad day, and it was definitely a good workout. Steph and Gavin had fun cheering everyone in, and Gavin appreciated some of the racers thanking him for the support as they ran by. I ran in my 212’s, which fit my Dion snowshoes well and are lighter and more flexible than the 230’s.

Salem Greens Snowshoe Classic 3 mile 1/9

Despite being a first time event, this race was an instant classic. The big attraction for was that it was about 90 minutes closer to home than the race in Western MA, which allowed for another family race trip. We got to the race with plenty of time for warm-up, but were surprised to see so many cars at a new race. Eileen Dunn and the rest of the race organization acted like old pros despite an unexpectedly large field. While I was expecting a somewhat boring golf course route, the majority of the race was on winding singletrack around the 9 holes course. Besides Jim Pawlicki and Dan Verrington, I wasn’t all that familiar with anyone else at the race.

Everyone seemed to let me take the lead at the start, and Geoff Cunningham tucked right behind me. My goal was to focus on having a consistent race, with a strong last mile. Most of the first mile was pretty flat, but there was one long downhill where I pulled a few steps from Geoff. This was followed by a tough open fairway of deep snow, and I pushed a little harder through this section leading to the first mile. The second mile was all singletrack, and had a few surprising steep hills. They were very small, but they would kill your legs if you didn’t back off the pace a bit. I couldn’t see Geoff, but it was hard to see more a few meters in back of you at any time. The numerous sharp turns forced me to focus on my own race, and I was actually glad to get back out onto the fairways in the last half mile. There were a couple more small rolling hills leading to nasty little climb right at finish chute. My time was 22:41, with Geoff about 45 seconds back, and my CMS teams Dan Verrington and Jim Pawlicki were 4th and 7th. I wore my 230’s for this race, and the extra stability felt more comfortable than last week in the 212’s.

Although the Salem race was not part of the MA or NH snowshoe series, it almost broke a record for the largest snowshoe race on the east coast with 191 finishers. The race organizers and Bob Dion, who provided a pile of loaner shoes, were pretty happy with the turnout. Steph and Gavin decided to follow the course in the Chariot (with skis and handlebar; snowshoes and harness = whiplash!), and had a good time weaving through the singletrack with the help of some of the walkers on the steep downhills. I met up with them in the last mile and took over mushing duties. After some hot coco, we made the enjoyably short trip home.

Feel Good Farm 4 mile 1/16

Not much feeling good during this one. This was the toughest short snowshoe course I’ve ever raced. From Jim Pawlicki’s GPS data, it looks like we had about 1400 feet of climbing over 4 hills in 4 miles. My quads are telling me that sounds about right, but that’s only half the story. Two other factors that upped the difficultly level were the lack of snow (as in dirt), and ridiculously steep downhills. The last time I ran such steep downhills was in Lake Tahoe.

I drove up to the race with Steph and Kevin Tilton, who were both nervous about racing. Kevin had raced since last November, and Steph hadn’t raced for about 3-4 years due to a recurring hamstring injury and motherhood. Kevin and I took a warm-up run to check out the first climb, and were pretty impressed. After reminding Steph that the goal was to have a safe race and be healthy by the end (in spite of an innate competitiveness), the race got off to a quick start. Charles Theriault and Geoff Cunningham started blasting up the first climb, and Kevin and I hung a few steps back. They seemed to tire towards the top and Kevin quickly went from 4th to 1st. I knew that there was much more climbing to be done, so I hung back.

Kevin started to stretch his lead over the first summit of Moose Mountain, and I worried that would get stuck behind Charles and Geoff if they couldn’t stick with Kevin on the downhill. The first section of that downhill was described as suicidal by the RD, and I pretty much killed my race on it. As I went to pass Geoff, I tripped on something barely buried by the snow, and slammed into the snow so fast I barely had time to get my hands up. I quickly got up, but it took me a while to shake off the fall. I worked my way past Charles, and got to within 10 seconds of Geoff as we started the second climb of the first loop. Kevin and Geoff climbed strong, and put some time on me as we started the second loop. In most snowshoe races, you can relax a bit on the downhills, and they are pretty easy on your legs with all the cushioning from the snowshoe. Not so at Feel Good Farm! We were constantly slamming into tight downhill turns on little more than dirt, trying not to trip on the exposed rocks and roots.

While the footing was easier in the second loop due to the other hundred racers, all our legs were pretty beat up by the up and downhills of the second loop. Besides my initial fall, my 230’s and Dion snowshoes kept me upright the rest of the race. I kept Geoff in sight until the last downhill, but must have slowed down in the last mile down to the finish. Kevin won in 37:19, with Geoff and me at 37:46 and 38:40. Kevin and I headed back on the course to see how Steph was doing, and soon spotted her weaving down the last descent. Kevin and I were pretty beat, and had a hard time trying to follow her to the finish! She ended up as the 5th female, and 3rd in her age group. I told her that she was far more efficient with her training compared to me. I train 7 days a week and get 3rd, where she trains 2-3 days a week and places 5th! It was a pretty tough race to start back on, and the rest of the snowshoe season should seem pretty easy. It was good to see Steph racing again, definitely the highlight of the weekend. Although I told Kevin he had to walk home if he beat me, I settled for lunch at Panera on the way home on his dime.

The weekend ended with Kevin and I doing a long run in the Blue Hills on Skyline Trail in Kahtoola microspikes. If we had tried to run that with regular trainers, we would have cracked our skulls open. The 340’s would have been perfect, but neither of us had a pair. The Kahtoola’s worked great on the rocky, icy, hilly singletrack; we were actually looked for ice to get the best traction! It was strange to be running such a technical singletrack while holding a conversation, and we got some pretty funny looks from the hikers sliding down the trail. I was wearing my trusty 318’s, and Kevin had his 295’s. While the Gore-Tex in the 318’s is always appreciated in the winter, they also provide a nice firm base for the microspikes.

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