Saturday, March 14, 2009

Season of the SnōShū 2009 - Race #14
MA State Championships 4.1 Mile Snowshoe Race
Saturday, March 14, 2009

2009 MA State Championships results

I considered skipping this week's race at Northfield Mountain... it's a longish drive there, and I'd run there once already this season, plus this weekend is the start of my two-week spring break and I want to get out to Rochester to spend some time with Ann. But in the end the chance to do another snowshoe race won out, and the pre-dawn hours this morning found me racing to Northfield, MA, in time to register and change into my running gear.

Crowd was a little smaller than many of the races this winter, but lots of familiar faces. Chatted with a couple of folks before hand, then Dave D. gave us a few instructions about the course (mainly that some of the downhill stretches were icy) and off we went.

Today's run was different from the race a little over a month ago in that we ran almost exclusively on the groomed ski trails, which are wide enough that in most spots you could easily drive a truck down them, and while we did a lot of climbing we didn't go all the way to the reservoir at the top of the mountain. As with many of the WMAC races, we started with a long climb, followed by a nice gentle downhill... unfortunately, that just meant we had even more climbing to do before reaching the highest point on the course.

One effect of the small race field - not too many of us at the back of the pack. There was one fellow who I saw ahead of me on most of the climbs, and three runners not too far behind me, but for much of the 4 miles I was effectively alone on the trails. After hitting the top of the last climb, it was a pretty consistent downhill the rest of the way, some of it fairly steep. As Dave warned there were some very icy spots, but I had my ice cleats on and took my time, so no problems there (the gal who came in a minute after me apparently took a tumble and ended up with a good scrape on her knee.) There were a couple of bare spots, but none too large.

Running downhill was tough for me, between my knees and the fact that the snow was packed hard enough that it didn't provide much cushioning, but the 2nd half of the run postively flew by (especially after the long hike to the top!) and before I knew it I was rounding the last curve and being greeted by Rich Busa, who was providing moral support today instead of running. Finished in 55:12, not a bad time with all the initial climbing. And then all that was left was to change clothes, briefly shoot the breeze with some of my friends, and hit the road back to Albany...

So in the end, despite the driving, I'm glad I came out for the race today. It was a gorgeous day for a run, and I got to see some parts of Northfield that I hadn't before, which has me even more determined to head over that way sometime this summer.

On a totally unrelated note, as I was getting ready to leave Farmer Ed mentioned the Northern Nipmuck course, which I'm planning to run in about a month... he was wondering if I'd GPS'd it yet, because he used to do a fun run along that trail and remembered it being 18 miles rather than the 16 miles the race is listed at. So now I'm both curious and a bit intimidated... that course was a tough run both times I did it previously, so it would be reassuring if it was actually longer than I thought - but the idea of running 16 miles over rugged hiking trails a month from now is daunting enough!

JMH

2009 Event Totals
Run
Bike 6.2 mi, 39 min
Snowshoe 51.8 mi, 12 hr 21 min
XC Ski 3.3 mi, 1 hr 2 min

states visited: MA, ME, NY, VT
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