Bigfoot Snowshoe 10k

It was a beautiful race this morning. The temperature about 10ºF and there was over a foot of snow on the ground. I stayed comfortable though, only my feet were slightly cold. I was glad a wore my Gore-Tex® pants over my tights as they protected me from all the snow I was flicking up my legs with the snowshoes.

When I first put on the snowshoes I was afraid I wouldn't be able to run in them at all, but it turned out running was easier than walking. I fell twice, but since it was in nice fluffy snow it was no big deal. It was a 2 loop 10k course, and mostly single track, so I walked a good portion of the first lap as I was stuck behind slower runners. Once the 5k participants finished, the course was empty and you could enjoy the scenery while running rather than focusing on not stepping on somebody else's snowshoes.

My time was 1:21:20 which made my place 4 of 5 in my age group (AG), 17 of 48 for sex, and 60 of 105 overall. I awarded a mug with Hersey kisses for finishing in the top 5 in my AG. There may have only been 6 runners in my AG (the woman winner was also in my age group, but they don't count the winners when determining AG awards), but you can't win unless you show up to play. The picture above is myself and two other women from the PR Fitness Livestrong Running Group with our AG awards.

Unfortunately, the race experience ended poorly. During what should have been a 15 minute ride back to Greg's parents, our car went off the road into a large ditch. Luckily the car was fine and we could run the heat while waiting for a tow, because at that point my socks were soaking wet. I spent the remainder of the day in front of the fireplace with a blanket.