Snowshoo
Sunday, the day after my latest mishap (i’ll explain soon, once I gather the courage), the day after i started training for the 2006 mountain running season, I ran in my first snowshoe race. It was the fourth time I’ve ever been snowshoeing. Rachel called with all the enthusiasm in the world, 12 hours later I found myself at the base of a mountain in tights with demo snowshoes strapped to my feet.
100 Adrenaline junkies gathered at the start line. A line that stared at the face of a 10k course that went straight up a mountain. In snow. In tights. I’m waiting for the race director to yell “go” and thinking, ‘How in the sam hell do I get myself into situations like this’. Go. I’m running, in snowshoes, losing ground to people twice my age and I’m only twenty seconds in. At that point I knew this was going challenge me to depths of my will power. Two minutes in I fell for the first time. Someone behind me stepped on my leg, as I eagerly rolled to the side. Up. Go. Heart Rate 190. Five minutes in, I fell again, Rachel passed me. “Come on friend!” I hate losing to her. Hate it. Last time I lost to her I puked, then pulled over my car on C-470 and passed out for 45 minutes. I was dehydrated. It was my first ever running race. This was my first ever snowshoe race.
I hit my stride about 10 minutes in. 25 minutes in I realized I was playing leap frog with a guy we’ll call Yan. I’d fall, he hop over me. He’d fall I’d hop over him. We became friends through laughter and pain. A dangerous but addictive combination. 45 minutes I wanted to be done and I wanted water. I stopped counting my falls at numero 25. They hurt and they killed momentum. I buried my face in snow twice, soaked my gloves and shoes, and lost my hat to a damn tree. 70 minutes in Rachel passed me again while i was face first in a snow bank. I tried to tackle her but she just laughed and left me in her dust.
I finally finished. In one last desparate move to give myself some credibility I passed a fifty year old man in the last 100 yards. As I crossed the line, I thanked God that the pain would soon be gone. It just left today. today. Wednesday.
Filed by ryanroth at February 15th, 2006 under Life