Snowshoe National Championships

Yup, I've been remiss in updating my blog (again) - sorry. You can always follow my daily workouts over on Google+.

Since moving to the left coast my snowshoe racing career has big hit due to.......hummm.......well, lack of snow & races.  That said, I have many fond memories of snowshoe racing in New England (your fault +Dave Dunham) and consecutive snowshoe nationals appearances from 2002 until 2006.  Since then I've only raced in snowshoe nationals when they have been in the Northeast US (2010) or Oregon (2009 & 2013).  In 2013 I didn't actually race because I was co-race director when the event was held in Bend, OR. Returning to nationals in New England has been a chance to catch up with my many trail running & snowshoe friends and catch up on old times.  Old times and new tech - most of the photos on this post were taken with +Google Glass.

Me (far left) and my Central Mass Striders teammates

February 28, 2014 - So, there I was, back in New England at the most competitive snowshoe race ever held in North American and my most recent snowshoe race was at the 2010 snowshoe nationals 4 year earlier.  Ouch, this was going to hurt!  It was well below zero but that didn't stop us from waking up early for a morning run AND then running the 10k course mid-day.

Running up to the Bennington Monument - sunny & -15 degrees F.

Running the 10k course with Ken Tripp & Dave Dunham the day before the race.

Race director & masters trail running champion +Tim VanOrden. Great job on the course Tim!

What are these things on my feet! It's just like trail running - only slower!

March 1, 2014 - Race Day!  Over 200 men toed the start line including 2 elite Canadian runners & former +US Mountain Running Team members Scott Gall, +Kevin Tilton, +Dave Dunham and a whole mess of really strong trail & snowshoe runners from 22 US states and 8 countries.

My good friend & executive director of the +American Trail Running Association +Nano Hobbs took this photo just prior to the start.

Early in the race before I was too winded to wave & smile.

My plan was to start the race "easy" & stay in control for the first 2k and then hammer the hill from 2k to the summit at 5k.  It seemed like a good plan until I got to 2k and was already at the limit.  Instead of picking up place on the climb, I ended up loosing a few and watched Dave pull away from me.  From then on I struggled to hold position - especially through the twisty single-track downhill and 2nd uphill to the 8k mark. 

Here's what the downhill single-track looks like - from our course preview the previous day.

The last 2k of the race was almost all fast, wide downhill.  I hoped that saving a little on the previous climb and not forcing my way past several slower runners in the single-track would save a little energy for the final push.  When we came out of the woods onto the wide trail I put the hammer down and finally started passing people again.  It wasn't all smooth sailing as race director Tim Van Orden put in some soft, narrow switchbacks within sight of the finish line to catch out runners with soft, lactic acid filled legs - like me.  I fell in one of the corners - thanks Tim.  Tim also added one last small uphill in the final 200 meters where I got re-passed by teammate Todd Callaghan after working my ass off to catch him.  Thanks again Tim.  No matter, it was all good fun and good clean competition but I was really glad to cross the finish line and get that suffering over with.  In the end I finished 31st overall and 4th in my age group.  It was my worst place finish in the 8 times I've raced snowshoe nationals.  No worries - I had fun and that's what really counts.  My GPS & heart rate data for the race is here.

The top 10 men at snowshoe nationals.  Frosty finished 8th.

March 2, 2014 - Relay Day!  Snowshoe nationals has a tradition of holding a relay race on the Sunday after the main event.  It's always a low key affair with pick-up teams and many fewer participants.  It's still a whole lot of fun and a chance to burn out your lungs over a 2.5k "sprint" course.  I joined my Central Mass Striders buddies for a masters team and took the first leg.

This is what the start of a snowshoe race looks like through +Google Glass.

Yes, costumes are encouraged for the snowshoe relay.

+Ben Nephew handing off to +Tim VanOrden for the CMS open team.

Race director Tim cheers on runners after finishing his leg of the relay.

This is how snowshoe racers do "Rock-n-Roll".

Me with Ken Tripp and Dave - thanks guys!

Dave Dunham wrote about the snowshoe nationals relay here and the 10k championship race here.  Tim Van Orden's excellent video promoting snowshoe nationals is here.  See you in 2018??

Summer Recap: High Sierra Trail Running

What do people in the San Francisco Bay area do for a fun, summer getaway's on the weekend?  If you said "go to the Sierra Nevada mountains", you'd be correct!  Since this was my 3rd Summer living in Silicon Valley I figured it was finally time to get up to the mountains and see what all the fuss is about.  Lucky for me a friend owns a nice ski house in Truckee so I packed the Subaru and headed East for a few days of high elevation trail running.

Day 1: late afternoon 5 mile trail run with a view of Donner Lake

Yeah, that view doesn't suck.  Mind you I have been to the Sierras before but it was a long time ago when I was still cross country ski racing.  We came up here (or rather down here from Alaska) to train and race at Tahoe-Donner and Boreal......and it poured rain for a week!  We also got turned back by chain control, bought the wrong sized chains for our rental van and generally wasted time until the highway opened.......but that is another LONG story.

Castle Peak - elevation 9104'

Day 2: trail run up nearby Castle Peak.  Equipped with +Google Glass, +GoPro and mini tripod I was fully decked out with photo & video tech........yeah, and water & gels too.  I planned to do a loop but the map only showed an out-n-back trail to the summit 3 miles away.

That's some buffed out trail!

Also on the map I could see where the Pacific Crest Trail crossed the ridge only a mile East of the summit.  Huh, how hard could it be to bush-wack from summit to PCT above the tree line??  To be continued....

Gettin rocky near the summit.

In the meantime the easy run to the summit......did I say "easy"?  I meant "slow" on account of the high elevation and me being NOT acclimated.  Yes, my "slow" 2.8 mile run to the summit took 41 minutes and climbed 1800'.

Success!  Photo from the summit #throughglass. 

I took 10 minutes to shoot some video and pics from the summit before ponding the ridge traverse to the PCT.  Since there was a maze of small trails heading towards the PCT I figured I couldn't have been the only person to bridge this trail-less gap.  Onward!

Yeah, that looks passable......for now.

All was looking good until the ridge narrowed up and was bisected by a series of steep, rocky outcrops - the kind of terrain I wasn't going to attempt by myself and without protection - shit!  The good news was there did appear to be a scree slope below the West side of the ridge that I could get down to.

Yikees!  I'm not going down that!

Once down I hoped to traverse the scree and climb back up to a flatter section of ridge line only a few hundred meters distant.

Yes, this is as steep as it looks.

The scree slope was passable but it was also rough as heck and covered with abrasive rock.  Not good for my lightweight +Salomon Sense Ultra trail shoes or my dainty white collar hands. After a bit of scrambling and taking 20 minutes to cover 1/3 of a mile I finally made it onto a smooth, open & runable ridge line.

Looking back at the open and safe ridge line route from summit to PCT

In spite of the somewhat easy running after my scree slope scramble I still managed to twist my ankle on the "easy" traverse over to the PCT.  I didn't know it at the time, but that would come back to haunt me in a few hours.

The Pacific Crest Trail at Donner Summit

The rest of the run was uneventful.  4 more miles of buffed out high alpine single-track to my car, water, food and dry clothes.  Next stop?  Internet access of course - so I can upload my "move".  9 miles, 2300' of climb & descend, 137 average heart rate, 4.1 mph.

Once back to the house I worked on making a video from the footage I'd captured during the run and waited for my ankle to swell up.  In hindsight I should have stuck that thing into ice water straight away but you know how it is when you're running - no pain!  In the end there was no lasting damage, only a couple days of missed training and a wicked trail running video!

Sharp eyed viewers will notice that I shot all the sequences on the way down Castle Peak and edited it to look like I was running up the mountain.  Enjoy!

Where did the summer go? .....or how I spent my Summer vacation.

Humm, yeah - I've been negligent about posting so let's catch up starting NOW!

July: I flew back East to the old country (a.k.a. New England) to attend the 2013 +USA Track & Field Mountain Running Championships / Cranmore Hill Climb / selection race for the US Mountain Running Team / NACAC Mountain Running Championships.  4 races in 1 - woo hoo!  This was also my first time traveling with Google Glass so I took TONS of photos, videos and tweeted the heck out of the races.  As usual it was also a chance to catch up with my mountain running friends from around the country and be amazed (again) by how deep and fast the fields have become at the mountain running champs.

I didn't know that +Nano Hobbs was afraid of heights.

+Morgan Arritola rightfully skeptical of my new nerd glasses.

Mountain running power brokers & friends +Nano Hobbs, +Steve Vaitones and +Steve Taylor 

The women's race is underway!  

+Stevie Kremer and +Morgan Arritola way out in front after 1 lap.

The top 6 women after the race.

+Mario Mendoza and +Max King just moments before starting the men's race.

+Max King legging it out on the downhill.

Some runners endured serious aerobic pain on the steep, grassy uphills.

+Alex Nichols becomes the 6th and final man to qualify for the +US Mountain Running Team 

+Megan Lund-Lizotte and future mountain runner "Maven" relax after the race.

Yes kiddos, mountain running is a contact sport - contact with the trail.

The fastest trail runners in the USA show off their hard earned awards.

"Ok +Google Glass, take a picture of daddy"

+Dave Dunham - it's your fault for dragging me into this crazy mountain running sport........and Action Dave agrees with me.  

This race was also the first opportunity to test out my new +GoPro Hero 3 (thanks mom!).  Here's a little summary video of the races.

Full results from the race can be found here.  

Congratulations to all the athletes who qualified for the 2013 +US Mountain Running Team - +Joseph Gray +Max King +Glenn Randall +Alex Nichols +Ryan Hafer and +Zachary Ornelas.  On the women's side +Morgan Arritola and +Stevie Kremer finished 1st and 2nd in the race but declined their spots on the team due to schedule conflicts.  Joining the men listed above at the World Mountain Running Championships on September 8 in Krynica, Poland were +Magdalena Boulet +Megan Lund-Lizotte Megan Kimmel and +Chris Lundy.