A couple weeks before the Winter Wild Wachusset race, I sent an email to Chris Dunn of Acidotic Racing about joining their team. I was looking at the Gallery from some of last years races and saw a ton of aR jerseys. After a quick google search I found out a lot about the team and its members. I had no intention of joining a club/team but the more I read through the website, the more I realized this competes in All sorts of endurance events (from cyclocross to snowshoe racing and just about everything in between). They had a myriad of events that they host as well mostly all on trials. On top of the fact that this group was competitive in everything I am interested in, they also have a very philanthropic approach to event hosting. After a couple of E-mails I was warmly welcomed to the race team! Since I have joined I have raced twice, once at Winter Wild Wachusset and one snowshoe race in North Conway. So far I really like the idea of racing for a team, especially such an outstanding group of individuals who make you feel welcome and genuinely appreciate you just showing up to a race. I'm looking forward to more events with these guys/girls!
Winter Wild Wachusset
The Winter Wild races are uphill/downhill events with a few different options for racing them (run up/ski down, run up/run down, ski up ski down..you get the picture). I entered the "open" category (run up/run down). The race started at 7AM before the ski resort opened, so we would all be running on freshly groomed trails. Wachusset has a prominence of just about 1,000' so over the course of 2 1/2 miles you gain and lose all of that. I decided that my bulky/waterproof trail running shoes that I usually use for long distance or snow(Helly Hansen Pace's) would be the best footwear. I used microspikes and a lightweight goretex ankle gaiter to keep the snow out. This setup seemed to work great. I tried to start near the front but couldn't find my way around a couple snowshoers who would later trip and fall seconds after the start. The open category runners took off FAST, I knew i couldn't hold that pace to the top of the mountain so I tried to settle into a more comfortable pace, expecting to make some ground up when the leaders slowed down. Well they never really slowed down, but I did! The last 1/4 mile or so of the uphill was a black diamond trail, I really would have liked to have some trekking poles. reaching the top was a great relief, since the downhill wouldn't tax my cardiovascular system as much as the uphill did. In my typical fashion I recklessly bombed downwards gaining one or two positions on open category runners (losing a few to skiers). I finished at 26:58 which was good enough for 16th overall and 3rd for my age group. Afterwards there was an awesome raffle where tons of outdoor gear was given away to competitors. While I didn't win anything in the raffle I got a nice beer mug for an age group award! Winter wild was so much fun that I immediately signed up for the next one that I could make (Ragged Mountain).
Winter Wild Results
Nearing The Finish Line
Acidotic Racing Team at Winter Wild Wachusset
Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble
This weekend I took a leap out of my comfort zone and raced the Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble in North Conway, NH part of the Granite State Snowshoe Series. I have been really interested in snowshoe racing but wasn't sold on buying running snowshoes, especially since it is a seasonal sport. If I had only known how much fun I would have this weekend! I contacted the RD about renting a pair of Dion snowshoes (Made in Bennington, VT!) and he reserved a pair for me. It was a cold morning, probably at or around 20 degrees, but it felt much nicer. After getting into running snowshoes for the first time I jogged around getting used to them. It wasn't hard to get used to the Dions since they were incredibly light (especially in comparison to the 24'' hiking snowshoes I have). I started toward the middle of the pack since I was a complete "NOOB" as the gamers would say. The race was 4miles over rolling XC ski trails, I settled into a pace just below 9 minute miles. This pace was comfortable so I decided that I would speed up at the halfway point. The back half of the course was primarily downhill which helped me keep the pace up for a somewhat strong finish. I crossed the finish in 33:22 which was good enough for 17th overall. I was pretty pumped with the results since it was my first time running in snowshoes. I will definitely be trying to enter some more of these races, and i would recommend it to any runner looking for a fun off season race! I would like to thank aR and RD Kevin Tilton for making it happen!Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble Results
Granite State Snowshoe Series
aR team pic before the race (a few members missing)
Wrap up
Today I did a nice single digit temperature 7 1/2 mile trail run. It was kind of nice to be completely alone on such a normally busy trail. It was incredibly icy and I probably should have utilized the spikes. The last few weeks have been awesome, I am very proud to be part of such a talented group of athletes and I think that I will really benefit from being a member of aR. As some of you may know I am up for transfer this summer. I am ALMOST sure of where I will be going but until I see "official orders" I shall keep it to myself. For my next few blog posts I have thought about interviewing some people who I really look up to as competitors. The reason for this is that I am sure it is boring to hear my first person narrative of mediocre race performances all the time and i have met a lot of interesting people in the running world.
Happy Trails!
