Frozen Assets 5k Snowshoe Race
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Frozen Assets info
Man, that first snowshoe race of the season is always a painful reminder of just how tough snowshoe racing is...
I'd never been to Harriet Holister Spencer State Recreation Area (the race site) though Ann and I were down that way this past summer when we visited Hemlock and Canadice Lakes. I have to admit I wasn't too optimistic as I drove through the mostly snowless countryside, despite the Thursday night update on the race site that let us know there would be enough snow to have a snowshoe race. But my concern was groundless... as I drove through the outskirts of Honeoye and up into the hills overlooking Honeoye Lake, it became clear why Mort and Tim (the RDs) like to say that even when there's no snow anywhere else, there's often enough at Harriet Hollister to have a snowshoe race.
Parked alongside the road and hiked up to the registration area to check in... got a neat hat with Frozen Assets and the Roads Are Poison logo embroidered on the front as a reward for preregistering. Then I wandered around snapping a few pictures and stood in line for a while to use the Port-a-john, before heading back to the car to gear up for the race. The toughest decision was in what to wear... I eventually decided to go with a bit more clothing than I'd originally intended, because it was a bit chillier at the park than it had seemed when I left Ann's house.
After that, we all clustered around the starting area on the snowed-over road into the park (in the summer you can drive down into the middle of the park, but in the winter the road is groomed as a novice XC ski trail) and after a few words from Tim and Mort, the men's race started. (The women would be starting 10 minutes later.)
One of the big differences between the Roads Are Poison snowshoe races and the WMAC snowshoe races seems to be the back-of-the-pack runners... as in, both this race and the Mendon Winterfest race last January didn't seem to have what I would refer to as a back-of-the-pack (people running at something comparable to my pace.) Or rather, they did, and it was me! Most of the men disappeared off into the distance fairly quickly, and the rest vanished not long after we left the road and wandered up and down hills on the singletrack trails in the southern part of the park.
The singletrack was tough - a lot was uphill, though there were a few stretches on wider paths that were almost like roads. The woods were very pretty, despite the greyness of the day, but I really was spending too much time and energy trying to keep moving forward to notice it. After a while I reached the top of the hill and the trail wound its way through the trees over the rolling terrain... but at least I was able to run a bit more. This was also the point that the women runners started passing me... that slowed me down a little bit as I tried to step off to the side and let them by as they came through.
Eventually, we reached a small pond and came out on a fairly wide downhill path. I had a pretty good run on that, which took me down to the turnaround in the park road and then back onto singletrack, first through an evergreen grove and then through deciduous forest parallel to the road. All along the way I would step aside periodically to allow the quicker women to pass me, until I finally reached a point where they had apparently all gone by. We also passed a viewpoint with a great view of Honeoye Lake off in the distance - spectacular!
Eventually the singletrack came back out on the road, and I could hear the sounds of the folks at the finish line... that felt good! I hustled as much as I could down the snowed-over road - as the saying goes, I was passing trees and rocks like they were standing still. Got some quick guidance from one of the spectators that I needed to keep running down the road and then loop back around through the woods to reach the finish. And that's what I did, ending up crossing the finish at 50:39... not a particularly quick pace for a 5k, but also not terrible considering the terrain and my general lack of training over the past month or so.
In retrospect, I definitely overdressed for this race... a shirt and fleece vest would have been much more appropriate, despite the chilly temperatures at the start. A good lesson for tomorrow's race in the Pine Bush, especially since it's supposed to be warmer by then. I also found it very tough going out there by myself beyond the back of the pack... I thought I was used to that (I've done plenty of trail races where I didn't see another runner for much of the race) but apparently I'm not as used to it as I thought... or maybe the additional difficulty of running on snowshoes simply makes it that much harder to stay motivated to finish. It's also a bit demoralizing to see everyone disappear so quickly. Fortunately I've liked the overall attitude at the events run by Mort and Tim that I've attended, they're very supportive of even someone who's slower than slow like me, and I will definitely keep coming back for their races.
Last night Ann and I talked about how this race would qualify me for the Empire State Winter Games (to qualify for the ESG 5k snowshoe race you need be a resident of NYS and a member of the Empire State Snowshoe Racing Assocation, run a qualifying 5k or longer race, and submit the registration form on time. Not nearly as challenging as qualifying for Nationals!) While there's a part of me that thinks it would be pretty cool to have run in the Empire State Games... the more sensible part of me recognizes that the level of competition there will be light years beyond my ability, and rather than feeling good about competing in the race I'll feel depressed and demoralized that I finished so far behind everyone else... after all, the back of the pack last year ran the course in 28 minutes! I'd much rather run a race down here that weekend... the WMAC races tend to be a nice mix of fast competetive runners and slower runners and walkers, so I typically have company as I'm plodding along at the back of the pack.
Next up: the Brave the Blizzard 3.5 mile snowshoe race in Guilderland. The Albany Running Exchange has tried to do this race for 4 years now, and this is the first one that will actually be a snowshoe race, after one slip-and-slide ice race and two trail races. And since I've run those trails in all seasons hundreds of times... well, I may not have a home course advantage, but at least I know where all the hills are and how long they'll last!
JMH
2008 Event Totals
Run 0 mi 0 min
Bike 0 mi 0 min
Snowshoe 3.1 mi 50 min
states visited: NY
