This past weekend I ran in the Santa Fe Classic Snow Shoe 10k Race. I ended up in 3rd place. The race starts up a slight hill which makes it hard to get into a good running pace. One runner went out really strong and I was in second just hanging on him. There were two others behind me. After a little bit into the race, the guy in first place burned out and slowed way do. Somehow I ended up leading the pack. I did not want to do this as the snow was not fully consolidated and I was sinking into the snow several inches here and there. About halfway through the first 5k look, one of the races behind me just took off. My friend Sean stuck to him and before I knew it they had built a large gap from me. So I basically just continued to stumble around the first loop.
Photo credit: Sean CunniffThe second loop was much better becuase the snow was now packed from all the other racers. The running was much easier becuase now I was warmed up. The major issue that I had on this lap was that my snowshoes were becoming loose and I did not want to spend time tightening them because I did not want to get passed. I ended up with a finishing time of 1:05:34. My second lap was faster than the first. All in all a fun event. Hats off to Sean for finishing second in 1:02:34.
Photo credit: Sean Cunniff
