by Jamie Anderson

First off, huge thanks to Ryan and Ian for putting on a killer event. The Bradbury Mountain Snowshoe Series rocks. This was the first of three and the series is off to a great start!

I’ve only done one other snowshoe race, which was last year. Like then, I finished feeling humbled at how tough the sport is, but boy, is it also a lot of fun. For me anyway, there seems to be a bit of a gap there with my running and snowshoe race performances, but I’m up for the challenge of getting better.

Kate and I got there early, as she was helping with registration. It was 4F/-15C when we got there, but fortunately we were both dressed warmly. After a lot of socializing, it was time to shed the layers down to the race apparel and do a quick warm-up.

Ryan suggested I go out fast to jump ahead and hold it, saying it was easier to do so in snowshoe racing. Made sense, so I more or less kind of did that. Not full-on, but maybe a little faster than I would have otherwise. Still, I felt out of sync for the first mile, not really able to get in a rhythm. Zak and some other guy passed me during that time.

I kept Zak in my sights and was starting to find my stride now. Hard but steady breathing, and moving forward with relatively good efficiency. I started to reel Zak in and passed him back with maybe about a mile and a half to go.

Nobody in front of me, so I just kept pushing and eventually reached the finish line in 36:08. I then caught my breath, vurped, blew some snot rockets, had a coughing fit, and then saw I actually came in 9th out of 40 finishers. That’s a little better than I expected placing wise, but not as well as I had hoped time wise. Tough sport, but a lot of fun. Can’t wait for the next one!

Approaching the finish

And…done.

w/u: Ran .4 miles @ 9:57/mile pace.
Ran 3.7 miles @ 9:44/mile pace.
Time: 36:08
Placing: 9th out of 40.
Trails, snowshoed-single track and some well packed double-track.
Very hilly.
Mid to upper teens, sunny.
Dion 121 snowshoes, long tights, sleeveless shirt, long sleeved shirt, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.