Sunday, February 21, 2016

MUD, MUD, MUD, MUD, MUD!!!
Season of the (No) SnōShū 2016 - Race #6
Bypass the Blizzard 5.5mi Trail Race
Sunday, February 21, 2016

This was the 12th iteration of the Albany Running Exchange's annual snowshoe race, and from what was said before the start they've got a 50% snow rate. It's been fairly clear for a while that it was highly unlikely to be a snowshoe race - not at all unusual. What was different this year was the venue - Tawasentha Park and the Western Turnpike Golf Course in Guilderland, rather than the usual Guilderland Elementary School and woods bordering the Albany Pine Bush - and the addition of a longer distance, 5.5 mi, plus the usual 5k. Mid-week we were told to expect a lot ice, but the warm weather on Friday and especially yesterday seems to have done most of that in - there were only a few patches on the furthest reaches of the 5.5mi course. What we had plenty of was mud. And while my screwshoes helped me keep my feet (there were a couple of spots where I'm pretty sure I'd have gone down if not for the extra traction) they could only do so much when I found myself slogging up muddy hills and across muddy traverses that had already been churned up by the runners who'd gone through before me.

You know what? I think this might have actually been easier as a snowshoe race. Though all the traverses would have still been a bear.

I did learn a couple of things today -

(1) I've got a lot of work to do over the next couple of months. Today kicked my butt.

(2) I used to rate ski areas as my least favorite places to have a race. They've been demoted to 2nd place and golf courses are now my least favorite. They're boring and there's something about being able to look out across the way and see just how far you still have to go before you can finally go back to the woods.

Time to rest up for a little bit before a drag my backside out the door for some time on the bike - as much as I'd rather take the rest of the day off and just go for an easy walk, we're supposed to be back to more seasonable temperatures after today.

JMH

2016 Event Totals
Run 22.6 mi, 5 hr 17 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 min
Snowshoe 6.2 mi, 1 hr 39 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 min

states visited: NY
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