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| Let's just assume running is happening here. |
Because of this - and only having snowshoes appropriate for hiking - I haven't really done any. In fact, I'd run a total of about 60 metres (being thoroughly gassed by that point) in my hiking snowshoes before I decided to sign up for a snowshoe race. I figured I'm a fitter runner now than I was, and I could always just walk it if I had to - it was only 7km. That was back at the end of October, when I snagged the last spot in the Dion Winter Goose Chase. While there had been many pairs of Dion running snowshoes available for rent, they were long spoken for by the time I signed up. I figured I'd just get by with what I had - I was just going out for giggles anyway, since I'd heard this was a really fun event.
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| Lots of people got to race in the rental shoes, though you did have to sign up early. |
Months went by, and there was no snow. On the couple of occasions we did have some, I either couldn't get out on it before it melted, or it was so bitterly cold and miserable out that I was literally afraid of frostbite from the pressure of the bindings on running shoes - I'd only ever worn hiking or snow boots with them in the past.
I came across a screamin' deal on a new kind of snowshoe about 11 days before the race - ones made of all foam, with sandal-like bindings and metal studs for traction instead of crampons. I read loads of reviews that said they were great for running, and they were ~9oz lighter plus significantly narrower and shorter than my Atlases. I ordered them, and they arrived at my office the same day the snow did...in a BIG way.
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| To the point I only felt safe running laps around my office building. |
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| A howling blizzard with 70kph wind gusts and 12" drifts was maybe not the best test. |
I managed 4km in 30mins on the Monday of race week, and was thoroughly bushed from it - I'd had to stop a few times to catch my breath. While definitely lighter, the Evas still felt like cinderblocks on my feet, making my hip flexors protest quite a bit. They were also still wide enough that I gave myself a nasty bruise on the inside of my right calf, and long enough that I'd catch the tail of one snowshoe with the front of the other when cornering hard. They were amazing to walk in, as I discovered while cooling down after the run - very springy and fun, with good float and grip - but for running they were still not ideal.
I'd heard about Dion snowshoes for years, and have friends who own pairs and love them. They're designed specifically for running, with a modular system of frames, bindings and cleats to adjust to various situations (ice/deep snow/different footwear). Tank urged me to pull the trigger on a pair so I could have the best race experience possible, and also a pair to use for running moving forward - it's not like I don't run snowy trails all winter anyway, and the cleats provide better grip than screw shoes or my slip-on traction aids. So, having spoken with the Canadian retailer for Dion about needing them in time for the race, he agreed to send them Xpresspost so I'd have them by Friday.
Canada Post had other ideas.
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| GAAAHHHHHH |
They sat for THIRTY HOURS of their supposed 2 business day shipping time before leaving the receiving post office. I figured I'd just run in the foamies, but decided to let the retailer know that he should place a claim for a refund with Canada Post as they failed to meet guaranteed delivery. He messaged me back to say that he'd spoken with Race Director and amazing runner/snowshoe running badass Lisa Leskien, and she'd agreed to let me borrow her personal pair for the race! Having known Lisa for a few years now, I wasn't surprised by her generosity - she's always been a wonderfully kind and giving person, even while dominating the competition on the trails - but I was humbly grateful for it. I did have concerns about the possibility of damaging her snowshoes, though; I'm no lightweight, and I know she uses them for serious racing. When I messaged her to say thank you but politely decline, she basically insisted I use them so I could have the best possible racing experience..and also mentioned any damage would be taken care of (as she's a Dion sponsored athlete), if I could manage to inflict any at all on the tough construction of the shoes.
Well, what can you possibly say to that?
I'm not at all used to Sunday races - I feel like they give me too much time to self-sabotage on Saturday. I ran 10km of lumpy, snowy, frozen trail to the market on Saturday morning, and it felt awful.
Then it was out for a quick snowshoe hike with Tanker - with a couple of little 10sec running pick ups in my foamies.
Then, because of the 100 runs in 100 days challenge, I went and ran another 5k-ish through misting rain.
That rain - and the rise above the freezing mark - had me seriously wondering what snow conditions would be like for the race...to say nothing of what my legs would be like. Oh, and how the spicy Thai sausage dinner I'd made us on Saturday night would sit while redlining my heart rate.
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| He knows all my bad decisions, and still somehow has faith in me anyway. |
No way to find out other than to show up, right? I did my usual pre-race taping of my bad ankle, bowl of oatmeal and stop at T.Ho's for coffee, though a little later than usual due to the welcome 10:30am start time. We arrived at beautiful, snow-covered Shade's Mills Conservation Area with plenty of time, and Lisa handed her snowshoes over right away - before I even managed to pick up my race kit, which included a slick ceramic mug, some samples of Clif nutrition (gel and blocks), and a commemorative card with the race logo with a place to record your time.
The snowshoes were super slick - incredibly light, and much narrower and shorter than my foamies. Actually half the weight of them!
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| Dion 120 Laser LITE with ice cleats |
Then I looked more closely, and got a little nervous..
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| Totally appropriate for their owner, but how was I going to live up to that? |
After my usual flaily warmup, I headed outdoors to give the Dions a try - just a couple of minutes of gentle running to try to get my legs used to the idea of moving, and see how the shoes felt. They were very confidence inspiring! Super light, but with some nice float in the moist, packable snow, and definitely narrow and short enough not to interfere with my natural stride.
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| Definitely a far cry from the foamies |
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| I might not totally suck at this! |
Soon after, we headed down to the beach for some pre-race announcements, and I took an Endurance Tap gel to try to give me a boost and ward off the hunger I was starting to feel. Fortunately the freezing rain they'd predicted was holding off, and sine I found some friends were doing the race there was some inevitable clowning around before the start.
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| Wheeee! Surprisingly enough, though, I didn't take my phone out on course. |
We were told that the snow on the beach was a bit deep, but things got better packed down as we moved into the forest...except in a couple of lesser-used places on the course, which had actually measured 6.5km that morning. The Goose and Gander - usually last year's male and female overall winners, though this year some substitutions were required - made their way to the front in their black jerseys bearing either Goose or Gander on the back, and moments later we all set off to chase them.
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| The Gander in hi-viz short sleeves |
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| The Goose up front in all black I figured that was the last I'd see of her before the post-race brunch |
As you can see we kicked up one heck of a snowstorm in the un-packed snow at the start line, though it tapered off as the crowd started to stretch out a bit.
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| Some of us taking a moment to ham it up a bit while passing a camera. |
I anticipated I'd have well-packed trail to look forward to, as I expected I'd be toward the back of the pack of runners, though the people wearing snowshoes clearly designed for hiking (some even bigger than my Atlases) and one fellow optimistically clad in jeans made me think I probably wouldn't come in dead last. I was quite surprised, though, to find myself picking people off steadily as we made our way along the first trail, across the bridge, and into the woods.
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| Lifted from Lisa's instagram - shot from when she was out marking the course |
I'm not going to lie - I felt like my heart was trying to punch its way out of my chest, and I was well aware that I'd done nothing but slow-and-steady trail and ultra racing for the past few years.
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| Would I blow up and end up walking it in? |
The opening kilometer plus of the course is mainly flat, then you start to get into some climbing and descending just after a mile in.
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| Elevation profile from my Garmin - we didn't actually fall off a small cliff at the start, though |
I found the Dions gave reassuring grip on the wet snowpack in all directions, though the snow itself was slowing and fatiguing me severely - I was already death whistling not even 15mins into the hour I expected to take. By 2.5km in I was having some vague unease from my digestive tract, and I wondered if my decisions to eschew bringing any water along (and eat spicy Thai sausage the night before) might cause me grief. This was far too short and high octane an event to pop a squat in the woods!
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| Not to mention far too pretty a place to befoul. |
Fortunately as I pressed onward - having to walk the climbs to keep my heart from actually exploding - things settled down a bit and I was able to focus completely on pushing myself to run as much as possible. I'd passed the last person around 3km in and caught fleeting glimpses of someone ahead, but didn't seem to be able to gain on them at all. I was all alone for several minutes, and was forced to walk some flatter ground that had much deeper and less-packed snow than most of the course. I pushed myself back into a run as soon as I could, though, knowing that someone could easily be gaining on me.
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| The winding trails don't give much opportunity to sight ahead or behind. |
As I power hiked up a hill, though, I started to draw nearer to someone ahead all in black. I was incredibly surprised to discover GOOSE in white block letters on their back! It would seem today's Goose had a stomach bug, and it was hampering her rather significantly - poor girl was fighting hard, though! I passed her around the 4k mark, and was passed back again a little while later. Finally, as we neared the end of the loop on the East side of the bridge, she stopped for a moment and I passed her for good.
Back across the bridge and then up the biggest climb in the park - a winding, multi-stage ascent that every past Conquer the Canuck racer knows all too well.
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| This is actually the entrance to the East woods, but you can see a little bit of the exit at bottom left. |
Back across the bridge and then up the biggest climb in the park - a winding, multi-stage ascent that every past Conquer the Canuck racer knows all too well.
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| Fortunately, you get most of that elevation back. |
Knowing this section from years of hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and running at Shade's Mills, I was able to adjust my effort pretty well to the rolling terrain in the highest elevation portion of the park - advantages of a home-town race. I couldn't see anyone ahead of or behind me, but knew I had to keep the pedal to the floor as I was into the last kilometer or so. I also knew that Tank had been stationed as a course marshal at the road crossing with 200m to go, so I had to last at least that long before I blew up!
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| Which might prove difficult, as I was already ready to lay down and die. |
Eventually, I found my way to the winding downhill to the road, yelling at Tank that I had actually managed to pass the Goose! He gave me an encouraging holler and enthusiastic ring of his cowbell, snapping a couple of photos as I passed.
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| Almost looking like I know what I'm doing! |
Another flat section through pine forest, I tried to give a bit of a kick but don't think I managed to accelerate at all. Within a few moments, though, I spotted the finish line and gasped and wheezed my way across it.
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| To a friendly cheer from the competitors who had already finished. |
Official time: 49:48 @ 7:40/km
2/6 W0-39 - 7/47 Women - 13/66 O/A
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| Woop woop! |
I thanked Lisa profusely at the finish for the loan of her snowshoes, asking her half-jokingly if she'd loaded them up with nitrous - I had blazed past all my expectations for the day! It certainly would have been a very different event for me had I raced in my big, bouncy foamies instead. The best was really yet to come, though: after enjoying - if one can call the lung-searing, leg-burning venture I'd just been through enjoyable - the gorgeous and challenging trails, there were still the post-race festivities!
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| A lovely bonfire to warm up by |
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| And an INCREDIBLE pancake brunch! |
If there is one reason for anyone - and I mean ANYONE - to do this event, it would be the pancake brunch. I've never seen such a spread at anything under ultra-distance races, and even most of those would be put to shame! They had gluten free pancakes, prepared so as to avoid cross-contamination (which meant I could actually have some!), as well as regular and vegan pancakes as well. To top them they had loads of maple syrup, whipped cream, fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and bananas), Nutella, and even a small crock pot full of homemade blueberry syrup! To make things even more accommodating, there was delicious French vanilla almond-based creamer for the coffee, so I could have a hot post-race beverage. Lisa and her wonderful crew of volunteers had everything operating seamlessly; there was no reason for anyone to feel left out, and the whole morning was perfectly organized while still having a fabulous low-key vibe to it.
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| Everyone enjoying pancakes in the Nature Centre post-race. |
I got the shock of my life once the award ceremony began, though. I was just hanging at the back of the crowd with Tanker and Ron, chatting and cheering for the award winners, when they announced the Women 39 and Under winner...and Ron turned to me, as I stood there clapping obliviously, and said "That's you!"
WHAAAA...?
Turns out there's no duplication of awards, and the overall women's winner was the only one in my age group to beat me. So, I got a lovely prize with the cute snowshoeing Canada goose race logo on it!
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| Everyone else looks all professional accepting their award with a handshake or whatnot, then there's me. |
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| Who knew? |
So I guess it turns out I still know how to push a little in a short race, and there's definitely something to these Dion snowshoes after all! I'm so glad I decided on a whim to grab that last spot in the race those months ago; even had I come in dead last it would have been a super fun way to spend a winter day.
Of course, after that kind of exertion I went home and took the rest of the day off..
Pfft - as if. I actually went and did another 5k of road running in the mild air, enjoying not wearing a jacket as I splashed through the slush!
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| Because 100 in 100! |
Then Tanker brewed me up an excellent cup of coffee in my new mug.
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| Cheers! |
And, of course, my own spanky new set of Dion 120 Laser LITEs showed up on Monday...just as the snow melted past the point of being able to use them. Hopefully we get another good dump soon (though not for our commute, please) so I can see if Lisa really did put boosters on hers for me, or if they're just that awesome!
Ha! I did my first snowshoe race at the Dion Brighton the week before. Its like doing hill/speed work. Of course I stuck with the hikers managing to clobber each inside ankle once. Arrgh! Next time, I'm going with the Dions. And not running that 17k before the race...
ReplyDeleteHey hey, that's awesome Neil! Yeah it's SO TOUGH but lots of fun - you'll be amazed by how much easier it is with the Dions, though I'm sure that just means you'll go even faster! There's still Ganaraska and Kingston in the Eastern Ontario Series for this year; hope you give it another whack.
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