the Way of the Turtle

Season of the SnōShū 2010 - Race #2
Turner Trail 5.3mi Snowshoe Race
Saturday, January 9, 2010

Last year we were lucky enough to have several new races added to the schedule, including the Turner Trail race in Pittsfield State Forest which ended up fast-tracked to replace a race at Savoy that had to be cancelled due to all the damage caused by the December 2008 ice storms. RDs Brad and Beth Herder developed the race in part to showcase the newly re-routed Turner Trail - thanks to the efforts of the local mountain biking club, the badly eroded and relatively straight trail down Berry Mountain was replaced by one featuring 40+ switchbacks. After years of sending on a screaming descent down the nearby Shadow Trail (an old ski racing trail) during Curly's Record Run at the end of January, it was only natural that Brad and Beth would have us winding our way down 2 miles of switchbacks during their new race. And some of us liked it so much that we even came back for more as part of the trail race series...

This year's early information indicated that the course would be different and we would actually be climbing the Turner Trail to the top of the mountain and eventually taking the much more straightforward Honwee Trail back to the finish, with about a mile added to the length of the course. A bit grueling for those of us who are still pretty out of shape this early in the season, but how could I pass up a chance to run in the beautiful Pittsfield State Forest, despite the fact that I was still coughing crud up out of my lungs as a remnant of the cold that knocked me off my feet the weekend before.

And after a lot of clouds during the preceeding week, what a beautiful day it turned out to be - bright and sunny, with ample snow covering the eastern slopes of the mountains. Listening to the weather reports I expected it to be colder, but it really didn't seem that bad (at least for those of us treking around on a trails - I suspect it felt a lot colder to the folks who were there to help the race run smoothly.)

As usual, geared up and caught up with everyone while we waited for the fun to start. Eventually Beth called us over to the start and we discovered that instead of running up the snow covered road for a bit we'd be taking the Telephone Trail over to begin the climb up the mountain - that turned out to be a nice warmup for the long hike that followed. Beth said a few words about how the trail was marked and then off we went. Nice wide rolling trail to start, which after about a quarter mile turned off onto the Turner Trail... and then the fun began. Maybe the folks who are really good at this stuff ran up that trail, but for those of us at the back it was a long, slow, sweaty slog, winding our way up the mountain, with everyone packed in pretty tightly at first and then the line gradually spreading out as we climbed and climbed. Along the way I found myself thinking that an aerial photo would probably have been pretty cool - a string of brightly-clothed racers twisting its way along the side of the mountain like holiday lights against the white of the snow.

Despite the hard work to get to the top, it was a gorgeous day to be out in the woods, and once the trail leveled off up near the summit we were treated to a true winter wonderland, with white snow coating every available surface and gleaming in the sunshine. The snow-covered branches against the clear blue sky were simply fantastic... it's at times like that I'm glad I'm slow and can take a few moments to take in the beauty of the surroundings.

Of course, all too quickly the course started descending and I had to pay attention so that maybe I could avoid taking out one of my knees. There were a couple of steep drops early on that had me wondering if I'd end up going head-over-heels to the bottom, and then some nicely rolling terrain to get us to the top of the Honwee Trail. I had hiked up that trail last year, so I had some idea of just how long and unrelenting that hill would be... what I hadn't counted on was how much fun it would be to run down it! For the most part of the slope was fairly gradual, so I was able to let gravity be my friend and pick up the pace a bit without worrying too much about my knees. It definitely felt good to let loose a bit - I can only imagine how the top runners hammered down that trail. Of course, even running downhill is work on snowshoes, and I spent a lot more time gasping for air than I did taking in the sights. And as much as I enjoyed that mile and a half of downhill running, I was mighty glad when I saw the trail drop down to the road, since that meant it was only a little bit further to the finish. And finish I did, staggering across the line in just under 1 hr 39 minutes... not a great time, but not horrible, all things considered.

After crossing the finish, I spent a moment or two doing my best to cough up a lung and then headed back to the car to change into dry clothes. As always, the chance to spend a few minutes visiting with our happy crew of snowshoers was a real treat. My only real regret is that I didn't have enough juice left in my legs to go back out and hike along the Lulu Cascade trail - Honwee's narrow winding cousin that follows closer to the Lulu Cascade and provides a great view of the many waterfalls along that brook. Maybe after Curly's Record Run later this month or one of the other races over this way...

As always, major kudos and thanks to Beth and Brad and their intrepid volunteers who put on a top-notch event and not only made sure we were all well taken care of but that we'd have lots of pictures to look at to remember a fun day. The places we run are by and large absolutely wonderful... but it's the people who really make our snowshoe series as special as it is.

JMH

2010 Event Totals
Run
Bike
Snowshoe 5.3 mi, 1 hr 39 min

states visited: MA