the Way of the Turtle

BREAKING TRAIL
3.4 Mile Snowshoe "Run" in the Pine Bush
Thursday, December 13, 2007

It's funny how our minds work. I've been getting fairly enthusiastic about the 07-08 snowshoe season, and I was very excited this afternoon at the prospect of getting out on my snowshoes again after today's snowfall. I remember enjoying my time out in the snow last winter... what I always seem to forget until the first time each season that I go out in snow of any depth is that snowshoeing is HARD WORK.

Since the roads were lousy, very few students showed up for karate tonight... 1 at each class, staffed by three instructors... so I did a little work in the office and then headed out into the snowy night. An Albany Running Exchange group was supposed to be running over in the section of the Pine Bush where I usually run, so I decided to head to the Columbia Circle trailhead instead. I also knew I could do a fairly simple 3-3.5 mile run over there, and thought it was possible that I'd be one of the first folks out on those trails... there's something cool about being the first person to break trail in pristine snow...

... at least until you're doing it! Even though we only had about 6 inches of snow, it was very tough going, and I actually only managed to really run down a couple of hills... but the rest of the time I was moving as fast as I could, so I'm going to consider the entire distance part of tonight's "run."

With the sky totally overcast (and the cloud cover fairly low level, at that) the reflected light from all the local streetlights and buildings kept things pretty brightly lit... it looked more like dusk than after 8 PM in December. Didn't need to use my headlamp at all, which was pretty incredible. I almost wished I'd brought my camera... I don't know that any of the pictures would have come out, but they would have been cool if they did! All the trees were covered in snow, and the air was still in that way it only gets on a crisp winter evening... very scenic and cool, and it ould have been downright serene if not for the constant background noise of local traffic.

My neoprene booties from Performance Bicycle worked great - my feet have never been toastier during snowshoeing! Those were definitely a worthwhile investment.

I managed to give the new snowshoes (a 23 inch pair, slightly smaller than my first pair) a good breaking-in... if I'd had more energy I would have liked to take a short hike on the larger ones and see if the extra flotation would have made a difference. I bought the smaller pair primarily for racing, so I do want to compare them and see what works better for different snow conditions. But not tonight... by the time I got back to the car I was exhausted and sore and definitely not up for heading back out for another mile of tromping through the snow!

JMH