Saratoga Winterfest 5k Snowshoe Race
Sunday, February 3, 2008
2008 Saratoga Winterfest snowshoe race results
Word came down yesterday that Saratoga was a go- apparently they even have enough snow for it to be a snowshoe race! So this morning found me making the relatively short drive north to Saratoga Spa State Park, wondering the whole way how they could possibly have enough snow when everywhere else was grey and brown. But however it happened, when I pulled into the park I found myself surrounded by the wintery white stuff... as well as lots of ice.
Having spent the entire ride up wondering if I'd correctly recalled the 11 AM start (or if I'd be arriving right as the race started.) That's what I get for not double-checking the start time this morning. Needless to say, I was very happy to see people warming up as I pulled into the parking lot at 10:30! Checked in, picked up my T-shirt (same design, but a new color this year! Hurray!) and goodies, and then headed back to the car to gear up. Even though I was worried I'd be a bit chilly, I decided to do some things different for this race - long-sleeves under my fleece vest, no water bottle (surely I could survive three miles without it) and no camera - I wanted to concentrate on doing the best I could today.
Over at the start time I ran into Konrad and we chatted for a while. Turns out his usual racing partner, Bill, hadn't come to today's event, so he was going to try to stay on my tail in hopes of maintaining an even pace. I let him know I was planning to take it easy so that I could do another loop of the course afterwards (Smart Turtle talking) and we remininsced about the torture of Northfield yesterday. Then it was time for a few words from co-RD Jeff Clark, and off we went.
photo courtesy of Fateague Fotos
The first stretch around the perimeter of the quad always seems incredibly long to me, probably because it is a good haul, and because I always find sprints tough to start - there just isn't time and distance to get a good warm-up before the race is over! So we started out slow and I picked up the pace a bit as it went along.
photo courtesy of Fateague Fotos
The first downhill was scary - solid ice coating the road with a very thin layer of snow. After that we had a nice stretch through the picnic areas before the first climb, up the hill to the pool. Not a long climb, especially compared to Curly's and Northfield, but tough all the same, especially so early in the run. The front runners passed us on their way down the hill - Josh Merlis from the Albany Running Exchange had the lead, with Bob Dion of Dion Snowshoes in 4th place and Ed Alibozek, the overall organizer of the WMAC Snowshoe Series, in 5th.
At the top of the hill I struggled to pick up the pace, but it was tough after that climb. We ran a loop around the pool and then headed back down the hill - that felt pretty good, though after a while even running downhill on snowshoes feels like work! Then we had a long stretch along the brook, before heading over a footbridge and across another picnic area to a new section of trail that had been chosen to provide better snow coverage for this year's course. Before the race Jeff referred to it as "the quadbuster" and that was pretty accurate! While the previous climb to the top of the ridge had always been a challenge because it was relatively long, this one was very steep, and the first part was mostly ice. Getting up that hill was darn tough!
After that we had an "easy" run through the woods on top of the ridge, winding through the trees... might have been very scenic, if I hadn't been concentrating on breathing and maintaining some reasonable speed forward. I ended up with a very loud runner right behind me for much of that stretch - not that I can criticize, since I usually sound like Darth Vader with asthma at one of these things. But he distinguished himself when we passed a volunteer and he got really ticked off that she didn't know how far it was to the finish... at which point I decided that no matter what, I wanted to beat this guy there. He actually passed me a short time later, so I tucked in behind him and hoped I'd have enough juice left to pass him in the final stretch.
photo courtesy of Fateague Fotos
We ended up passing the ever-incredible Rich Busa about a quarter mile from the finish, and then I passed the somewhat rude fellow and pushed as much as I could to maintain a lead on him. No question that I was seriously sucking wind on that final stretch down through the tall pines.
photo courtesy of Fateague Fotos
I was a little disappointed to hear that my time was 38:40 - that was essentially the same time as last year, and I thought I'd run better today. Rich crossed the line right after me, and then the somewhat rude fellow (who did stop, shake my hand, and compliment me on a good run.) A minute or so later Konrad appeared... turns out he'd dropped back just after the top of the hill, but he was still happy as could be because that was the fastest he'd ever run a snowshoe race and he still felt pretty good! So today was a first for me - I actually helped another runner go faster than normal!
I spent a while chatting with Konrad and Rich, while I tried to decide if I was going to go out for another loop. My legs were definitely feeling tired, because (no great surprise) once the start whistle blew, Dumb Turtle whacked Smart Turtle over the head and stuffed him in a mental closet, then proceeded to run the whole thing at something resembling all out. But eventually I convinced myself that I really did need to get in another 3 miles, so I said my good-byes and headed back to the car for a dry shirt, my camera, and my water bottle. And then it was time for a much slower rerun of the course...
JMH
2008 Event Totals
Run 0 mi / 0 min
Bike 0 mi / 0 min
Snowshoe 21.1 mi / 5 hr 47 min
states visited: MA,NY
