Welcome. And Let's Go Snowshoeing.

You are privileged to be reading the first ever post on my new blog.  I have tried to do a little blogging before on the Fleet Feet Racing Team blog.  But I find talking about one's training and racing is a bit vain.  Especially if one isn't a top runner.  So I needed to expand upon just the running thing and add in some other topics.  What goes well with running?  Why, beer of course.  And it happens to be one of my other favorite passions.

So this blog will hopefully give you some insights into my running and the Colorado beer scene.  Just within Boulder city limits, there  currently are 11 breweries, with 2 more expected to open this year.  In Boulder County, there are over 20 breweries.  In Colorado, the total is over 120.  So there is plenty to drink and write about. Plus, I'll add in a few other opinions and insights as well (things I couldn't really do on the Fleet Feet blog).  I don't know how many people will read this.  Even if no one does, it is still a good exercise to keep the brain sharp.   I just need to write more.

My next blog update will recap a recent trip up to Fort Collins to stop by a few different taprooms, including Odell, which was tapping Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout.  This would be my recommendation of the month.  A very good brew.

But for this first post, we will stay with the running theme.  As it is winter time, snowshoe racing season is upon us.  After skiing over 30 000 vertical feet at Beaver Creek this past Friday the 18th, I wasn't sure how my legs would respond for a race on Saturday.  But waking up Sat morning, I felt remarkably good.  It was a relatively short drive from Avon thru Minturn up to Tennessee Pass and Ski Cooper's Nordic Center.  It was a beautiful morning.  Blue skies.  Upper 20's.  No wind.  Perfect day to race.

51 brave souls toed the starting line of the Colorado State Championships 5K/10K, put on by Pedal Power.  The start was on the groomed cross-country ski trails.  But the race course quickly left the groomers behind and instead became single track thru the woods.   Obviously the race director had hiked on the trail to set up the course, but other than maybe a few of others with him and the 2 guys ahead of me when we turned onto the single track, there hadn't been many who had trekked down this path.  It made the footing quite unstable.  When I didn't exactly land in the narrow single track, I sunk into the deeper powder.  And even if my foot did land in the middle of the path, since it hadn't seen a lot of traffic, it wasn't packed down hard, so occasionally my foot still sunk deeper than expected.  And then I tripped on my own snowshoes and bit it twice.

This makes it difficult to find a running rhythm and uses a lot of energy to stay upright.  2 guys quickly passed me by as I struggled a bit with the snow.  I'd almost rather break trail than run in a trail that only had a few pass thru.  Along with the uneven footing, the course meander thru the woods, over logs, under downed trees, and included brushing aside many low hanging tree limbs.  At 2 miles, it had long uphill climb.  Skiing the day before began to set in and my quads were burning.  I stopped and began hiking.  Another runner passed me by.  As I closed in on the 5k, my watch said 36:00.  I was tired and really began considering bailing on the 10k and just doing 5.  If the 2nd half of this race was anything like the first, I might end up crawling.  I, of course, never would do the easy thing and continued passed the cutoff leading to the 5k finish line.

Luckily the 2nd half of the race had a lot more hard packed snow to run on.  I found my rhythm and started to pick up the pace.  A long climb around 5 miles was much easier to do on the hard packed snow.  I passed a guy and thru the trees would occasionally see another guy ahead.  I thought I might be able to reel him in.  As the climb continued, I actually was happy.  It meant a lot of downhill to the finish.  And when that downhill came, I flew thru the winds.  But I never gained ground on the guy ahead of me.  In fact, I never saw him.  It was like he was a ghost and vanished.  A strong push to the finish earned me 6th place with a time of 1:13:53 (the time is quite irrelevant.  But for a perspective on the toughness of the course, Kevin Menard, who finished ahead of me in 1:12:11, went 1:05:49 a week earlier at the Swift Skeddadle 10K in Silverthorne a week earlier.)

I was happy with the effort.  Besides a dry, hacking cough that lasted the rest of the day, I came thru without any issues.  Then followed up on Sunday with another 22 000 vertical feet of skiing.  All in all a good weekend.  Now the mountains just need to get some snow.  I took a nasty core shot in one my skis on what wasn't just a rock, but based on what my ski now looks like, a boulder.  

Results of Colorado State Championships at the Tennessee Pass Nordic Center