the Way of the Turtle

Season of the SnōShū 2013 - Race #7
Cast A Shadow 6 Hr Trail Race
Saturday, February 2, 2013

The brief version:

I completed seven loops, each just under 2.3 miles according to my Garmin, for a total of 16.0 miles. The loops were fairly flat (some slight elevation gains and losses, though as time went on they seemed more and more significant) so I'd expect the GPS readings to be pretty accurate.

Didn't make it to six hours... finished loop 7 at 4 hr 32 min, having walked much of the way (and "shuffled" the parts that I "ran".) Legs were definitely feeling shot, right foot was aching pretty much constantly (walking aggravates it more than running) and I was pretty sure if I did another loop I'd be walking the whole thing. Ciuld I have done it? Sure. Would it have been miserable and extended my recovery time by a day or two? Yup. So good sense won out over stupid obstinance and I bailed at a little over 4 1/2 hours.

Despite stopping well before the time limit, I would count this as a success. I was out there for 16 miles, with no breaks longer than about 5 minutes or so. My longest day since early November was last Sunday, when I did 11.5 miles split between a snowshoe race in the morning and a run in the afternoon. My longest run since early November was somewhere around 8 miles. So today was a significant step up from where I've been for the past 2 1/2 months.

Would I do it again? Surprisingly, yes. I never found myself bored with the trail (exhausted and tired of running/walking/shuffling, yes, but not bored) which was my main concern. I would definitely like to do this as a snowshoe event, and I'd like to do it again as a trail event when I'm in better shape and can go longer/further.

It also helps that the Goose Adventure Racing folks (Mort, Tim, and their happy crew of volunteers) are incredibly supportive and a lot of fun... really the western NY version of the best parts of our snowshoeing/trail running crew around here.

The longer version:

May show up in the not-too-distance future, especially if I do a write up for Snonews...

JMH

2013 Event Totals
Run 16.0 mi 4 hr 32 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 min
Snowshoe 19.6 mi, 5 hr 12 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 min

states visited: MA, NY, VT