Camp Saratoga 8k Snowshoe Race
Saturday, February 17, 2007
2007 Camp Saratoga 8k race results
Camp Saratoga 8k snowshoe race info
2007 Camp Saratoga 8k photo slideshow
As I packed my gear and got ready for the 50 minute drive north to Wilton, I was struck by the fact that today's snowshoe race means I've run twice as many snowshoe events as I did last year. Who knows... by the end of the season maybe I'll bring that up to triple...
I have to admit, I like local events that have a late morning start. No rushing around and hitting the road before dawn! (I suspect crawling out of bed at 5:30 AM tomorrow for the Hallockville race is going to be a challenge...)
The drive up to Wilton was uneventful... after I got off the Northway I thought the road I was on might have been one of the one's I rode as part of the MHCC Metric Century back in Sept. 2005, but as I drove further down it the scenery seemed less and less familiar, so probably not. Found the Wilton Wildlife Park & Preserve and Camp Saratoga, home to today's snowshoe race, with no difficulty. As I registered and geared up I saw several familiar faces but also signs that there were folks from a ways away - there was definitely a group from Paul Smith's College and I even saw Mort Nace and Tim Ratowski of Goose Racing in Rochester (the folks who put on the Mendon Winterfest snowshoe race I did back in January and the Muddy Sneaker 20k trail race I didn't make it into for the 2nd year.) I guess the lack of snow has made it difficult for people to qualify for the Empire State Games and the USSSA Nationals in Minnesota - since today's race was a qualifying event, they ended up with a pretty good turnout.
As I hiked up the hill to the starting area, it became very clear that this was not going to be a PR race like the last three... the snow just wasn't going to cooperate. Among other things, today's race gave me a greater appreciation for just how many varieties of snow there are. The snow we got on Wednesday was a very, very fine powder... tiny particles with lots of space between the particles. Skiiers love powder - it provides good glide. As I discovered on Thursday, deep powder provides lousy flotation for snowshoes (unless you have a huge shoe - a 30" or 36" shoe probably would have worked fine, but those are mighty tough to run on...) So powder of any depth can mean pretty hard work snowshoeing. Once people start skiing, snowshoeing, and walking through powder, it becomes crud - the surface becomes uneven, some areas get packed and others don't - makes it tougher to ski and tougher to snowshoe, especially when the powder is as fine as our current snow is - it doesn't pack down as much as it shifts position. Making my way up the short hill, my shoes were sliding all over the place, making consistent forward motion a definite struggle.
Gradually everyone made it to the top of the hill and the start. We had a few quick words from Jeff Clark (co-race-director with Saratoga Stryders president Laura Clark) and then - off we went! Well... sort of. Surprise, surprise, the snow that made forward motion such a struggle getting to the start also made forward motion bloody difficult on the race course. I have never seen the group take so long to spread out... there were large numbers of runners visible for the first two miles or so. As for me... I ran some and walked a lot. And got my heart and respiration rate up to levels that were as unbelievably high as my forward progress was unbelievably slow. And got very tired and a little bit discouraged at the thought of 5 miles and 100+ minutes of this non-stop struggle.
The trail helped make up for some of my frustration with my lack of speed... the Wilton Wildlife Park & Preserve is absolutely gorgeous, and it was a bright sunny day, only adding to the beauty all around. Much of the run was through pine forest, though there were some bits that took us through open fields. After about 40 minutes I came to an old barn and silo that I'd noticed from the road on the drive in, and as I stopped to take a picture Rich Busa came along and helped motivate me...
Rich is a 77 year old runner who has an absolutely amazing attitude - and who's also a darn good trail runner. I only know of only two races that we've both been in which I finished first - and in both cases he was right behind me. In most cases, he's not only reached the finish before me, but by a substantial margin (and in some cases after getting lost!) When Rich passed me my first thought was, "Oh, well, gonna get my butt kicked by a 77 year old again." Then it occurred to me - what an opportunity! Rich could be both my "rabbit" to chase and an example I could follow, watching to see what he was doing to make it to the finish line as quick as he could. So I tucked in a couple of hundred feet behind him and did my darnedest to stay there. (And it was not easy!) When Rich ran a section, I did my best to run it too. When he walked a section, so did I. And it worked! I finished just half a minute or so behind him!
We had a water stop at the halfway point - I felt sorry for those folks, standing around in the cold waiting for us. The 2nd half took us through more woods and down a couple of steep hills - steep enough that I essentially slid all the way to the bottom on the tails of my snowshoes! After one especially steep downhill we ran along the hillside above a frozen pond - very scenic! Made it arund the pond to the road by the finish line - and then the true torture began, because we had to pass the finish and run up a long, seemingly never-ending hill on the other side of the headquarters building! That loop took us up and down hill after hill and into a field overlooking the buildings and parking areas. But finally, after one more steep downhill, I had a short "sprint" to the finish - at 1:37:26. Definitely not a PR but that's OK - this was one tough race!
Grabbed some food and changed into dry clothes, then thought briefly about XC skiing at either the Preserve or somewhere between there and Albany. Ultimately I decided against it, in light of Sunday's 5 mile race - it was a shame to waste such a beautiful afternoon driving and running errands, but my legs were already pretty beat from fighting my way through the snow - I want to have some juice left in them for the Hallockville Pond 5 miler!
This was a tough race but one I'm glad I did. I definitely want to return to the Wilton Wildlife Park & Preserve - maybe next summer I can catch some of the Saratoga Stryders' summer trail series there. It's a beautiful park and it looks like it would be a great place to run. Speaking of the Stryders - they deserve a huge round of applause for putting on two excellent snowshoe races this month. Both events were top-notch, and I definitely want to do both again!
Next up: the Hallockville Pond 5mi Snowshoe Race, in West Hawley, MA. Assuming, of course, that my legs still work when I crawl out of bed tomorrow...
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running
Cycling 6.2 mi, 33 min
Snowshoe 18.3 mi, 4 hr 52 min
