| March 2003 Newsletter |
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Snowshoe Race Review
I ran the Finger Lakes Snow Shoe race yesterday. The snow was very excellent. Friday, it cracked freezing for the first time in a month. (Daytime high of 35, I think.) I was concerned about the drizzle in Ithaca on Saturday morning. As Becky and I drove out to the race, we climbed out of the valley and the rain changed to snow. At the race site in Finger Lakes National Forest (where they won't be drilling for natural gas in the next couple of years), there was lots of snow, lots of trees, and temperature of about 28 F.
I checked in right as the one mile event was to start. There were about forty people, and the organizers were surprised to have every one of the twenty-five loaner pairs of snowshoes spoken for. I did a little warmup about 20 minutes later. Twenty minutes after that, as I returned, the last of the one mile people were coming back.
(The one mile was definitely an all-ages event. I tried to avoid running past the ten year old near his finish, when he decided to run, too. Amusingly, he did a face plant two yards before the end, and crawled across the line.)
At noon, an hour after the short race, the 7.6 mile event started. I had my Cal cycling jersey on. It's long sleeved, and provided a stark contrast with the winter weather. I think first prize for best dressed goes to a fellow employed by a local winery, not the race sponsor, but another vineyard owned by the same family. The prize bottles of wine were "Ridgerunner Red", which feature a red stick figure with crazy blue hair running across some hills. The day before the race, the manager of Logan Ridge winery put together a costume of red sweats and a hat with a ragged blue tassle for this guy to wear, which he did.
[This race has done really well with sponsors. Redfeather snowshoes supplies the loaner pairs, and it's a good investment; I bought a pair this year. The personified logo on the wine bottle was a fun addition to the race, and there was a rendezvous at the winery after the event.]
[This race has also done really well with volunteers. There were three water stops, and there was a bonfire at the finish.]
The race itself was fairly challenging. About a mile in, I decided I was running a higher intensity fun run, rather than a high performance race; the two hour run on Monday (indoors) and the ninety minute bike ride Thursday added up. Besides the unknown at the time superstars who were ahead from the start, Becky also snuck past, on her way to a women's course record, about 69 minutes. After that, I ran alone, within sight of someone in the distance on the few straights.
This was my third time on this course, the second on snowshoes. I remembered the end of it this time before it was upon me. Down a shallow hill in the woods, across a road, up the steep bank, and past a sign showing a half mile to the campground and the finish. That last half mile is a steep down hill, across the bottom of a ravine, and then a steep ascent, which for some reason I really cranked. When I got to the shallow part of that last hill, I could hear, but not see, the finish. After climbing out of the ravine, I went up the shallow part, and around a sharp right turn. It's about hundred meters to the finish from there, but one can't see it until the last twenty. I scampered up to the finish line. After I crossed, I was astonished to learn my 77 minute fun run had earned me an age group win (my first in a new age group!) and a bottle of wine. I also received a trophy in the form of a moose figurine. The moose is standing on two legs and wearing snowshoes.
That's the news from ridge above lakes Seneca and Cayuga.
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