Brave the Blizzard 5k Snowshoe Race
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Originally, I was supposed to run the Lake Effect Half Marathon out in Syracuse today... except I've been lazy in my training and would have ended up walking at least 1/4 of the race. So then I planned to head to CT and run the Lake Waramaug Polar Bear Run... except the forecast for today was for constant rain and temps in the mid-30's, making a 2 hr loop around the lake something less than a fun time. So I ended up at my backup to my backup plan - the ARE's local snowshoe race, which while it has the disadvantage of spending a while circling a golf course (boring!) also has the advantage of taking runners into the woods and fields south of the Normanskill, if you sign up for the 5.5mi course... except we found out a few days ago that the 5.5mi was being cancelled for unspecified reasons. And with the rain all night and throughout the race, the expectation was that it would be a mud and slop race rather than snowshoes... sigh.
Except the snow held up surprisingly well, so much so that while I had the option to go with shoes and spikes I quickly decided the snowshoes were the better plan, which led to a last minute scramble to change a few pieces of clothing when I got there 15 min before the start. But after that it was a typical "snowshoe in the rain" race which I walked a lot of because I'm just plain not in very good shape right now.
Afterwards I chatted with some friends for a bit and then got ready to check out those woods and fields - there was no way I was settling for only 5k, and I knew I wouldn't go back out once I was dry and warm at home...
2019 Event Totals
Run 17.2 mi, 4 hr 42 minBike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 16.3 mi, 5 hr 57 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
states visited: MA, NY, RI, VT
