Pooh Hill 8.5K Snowshoe Scramble

Pooh Hill 8.5K Snowshoe Scramble

 

 

What can I say….I ran like a guy carrying a piano and a rock.  This race was the first of the year for me and gave me a good indication that I have a long way to go to get into shape for Boston.  The race was held at the Kingpine ski area in East Madison, NH.  The ski area looks like a great family location, small and no crowds at all.   Where is East Madison you ask, it’s just a few miles north east of Lake Ossipee.  Or 2.5 hour ride from Westford.

 

The day started out like many race days for me, I was up at 4:30 and put together my racing gear.  It was cold out so I decided to bring just about everything.  Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.  One problem I ran into was I was unable to locate my racing flats.  So I settled with an old pair, 15 years old, oh well they worked good before on the roads they might have something left in them for the snow.  Out the door at 5 AM and I punched in East Madison into my GPS.   Time to settle in for a long lonely ride.  I’m happy to report that the ride was uneventful and my GPS did not fail me.   Upon arriving at the race location Chris Dunn (the race director) had just finished emptying his car and was heading back to his motel to get his family.  Chris asked me if I’d watch the race prizes while he was gone, and I obliged.  In short order Chris was back.  Once they were set up I signed up for the race, then I headed out to help park some cars for Chris.  It was cold, some said it was -1 degrees out but because of the clear skies the sun helped out a lot.  With 30 minutes left before the start it was time to get ready.  What to wear?  It was cold, but snowshoe racing heats you up very fast.  I went with a base layer for top and bottom and then added a fleece top, with a pair of light gloves and a pair of light mittens and to top it all off a pair of ear muffs.   I went out to the course and got my shoes on and did a little warm up jog and almost immediately my big toes were not happy.  In fact I could not feel them.  Time to gut it out and hope that they would warm up during the race.  At the starting line there was a person dressed up as a white tiger.  Please don’t let me loose to at cartoon character!!!  Chris went over the race directions with the crowd and announced that the race would start in 10 minutes.  I was starting to get cold but after another quick jog I was feeling much better, except for my big toes.

 

Chris announced 30 seconds, 10, 9, 8,…1, GO!!   I was off.  The guy who won the race really took off, this was his race and nobody was going to even challenge him.  I was running in 6th place and feeling pretty good for the first kilometer.  Then it happened, I started feeling a little rumbly in my tumbly.  At 1.2K mother nature was calling me and I had to answer.  I jumped off the course and took care of business all the while a parade of runners made their way past me.  When I finally rejoined the race I figured that I had lost about 30 spots, and this was going to be a throw away race.  However, I wanted to get a good workout in and knew that I needed to take my time in catching people.  Slowly but surely I began catching people.  Heck I may finish this thing in the money!  Then it happened….Pooh Hill.   Just after the 4K marked we headed UP, and UP, UP, UP.   I was reduced to my usual “snot bubble blowing, pile of poopy”.   I had to walk, but then again everyone in front of me was also walking.  Every now and then I would try and run but it was not to be.  The hill was beating me badly, and some of the people I had passed earlier were now passing me.  Including the founding father of the DUNGEON ROCK RACING Team, Bill Morse.  Bill is a very strong hill runner and my only hope was that I could catch him when we hit the flats.

When we finally reached the top of Pooh hill the course turned from a trail run into a bush whacking down hill hold on for dear life event.  This means you can finally run BUT watch out for them TREES!!!  Once we popped back out on the cross country ski trails I was able to recover from oxygen debt and begin my assault on runners in front of me.  Slowly but surely I was passing people.  As I passed Bill, he hollered out to me that here is where I should be able to beat him.  I knew better and was always looking over my shoulder for Bill.   As I passed the 8K mark I was in a battle.   The guy in front of me was much younger then I and I knew if this thing was going to end in a sprint to the finish I was dead meat.  As I passed the guy (James Porter), he started to give up.   I yelled at him “Don’t QUIT”.  And sure enough he pulled right back along side of me.  DAM!!   This was not a good sign.  We pushed each other and in the end it was no contest.  His young legs (34) just danced away from me.   This had to be my poorest showing at snowshoe racing ever.  I ended up 19th overall and 2nd in my age category.  The good news was that I wasn’t beating by anyone older then me, the bad news was I was beating by 4, yes count them, 4 fast women.  This was a first for me, but those women beat me fair and square, they earned it.  After finishing the race I went back into the ski lodge and took off my racing shoes and my big toes on both feat were white, and neither of them had any feeling.  After a few minutes the feelings came back and soon they were throbbing with pain.  20 minutes after I finished the results were being posted, and I learned the bad news.  I guess I need to start training or this will be a reoccurring theme for my racing.   

19   58:43 10:53   54 Scott Graham           acidotic RACING            50 M    48 Westford MA    

This race was very well managed, there was food and drink after the race, and they had prizes for everyone.  How could you go wrong?        

Next up is the Beaver  Brook Scramble in Hollis, NH on the 17th.