Sunday, 23 March 2008
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Winter's Last Hurrah Snowshoe Scramble
I was on of almost 50 crazy snowshoe racers who braved freesing rain and snow to make our way to Biddeford, Maine for the final race in the Acidotic Racing Snowshoe Series. Despite the treacherous drive up, the race was well worth it --- a 4.5K trek through Rotary Park in Biddeford. The course was the easiest so far in terms of hills, but the freezing rain turned the course into a slushy and very difficult race. The ground seem to squish and slide underfoot, making every stride more taxing than on the well groomed courses of the past 3 snowshoe races. I was more tired after this one than the much more hilly Cobble Mountain, Horse Hill, and Kingman Farms races.
But - the course was pretty neat as we zig-zagged through Rotary Park to get the 5K distance without multiple loops. Looking left or right I could always see the half dozen or so snowshoers closest to me - in front and in back. I did not use this to my advantage though as I let 2 Yeti's pull away to an early lead on me. By 1K I was 200 yards behind them both as they ran in a pack of 6 or 7 snowshoers. At around 2K I had picked on of them off as he crashed and burned (much like he did at Kingman Farms), but I could not close on the Yeti leader, Eric Keup. By 3K however, I got my second wind and started closing on him, but unfortunately I ran out of room --- the missing final .5K might have cost me a chance to take the Yeti title at all 3 races.
Despite missing out on the Yeti triple-header (and the 6 pack of Longhammer IPA), I was satisfied with my time and effort --- and effort made much more difficult by the fact that I did absolutely no snowshoeing or running between the Kingman Farms race and the Winter's Last Hurrah. (A family vacation to the West Coast followed by 2 70+ hour weeks at work kept me from working out). This is a lesson well-learned for next year's snowshoe season. I plan to be in much better shape for the 2009 New Hampshire Snowshoe Race Series. (More about that later...)
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