My Quest to Become a Badass Snowshoe Racer: The Blizzard

Part 5: The Blizzard

Race morning dawns cold. I go into town around 7:30 to pick up a couple of breakfast sandwiches for Jason and myself. It's six degrees. I know it's supposed to get warmer, though. I come home and start rounding up gear. I decide on the lightest weight Duofold top I have, and pick out a t-shirt to go over it. I grab a bunch of gear that I'm pretty sure I won't need, but it can be a ten degree difference between my house and Bradbury. We get there with plenty of time. I'm distracted and excited, and Jason takes it all in stride, gathers up stuff I'll need when I run the part of the course though the picnic area and my camera, and starts taking photos. I text my sister and tell her I'm a bad ass, my racing bib says so. She texts me back and wishes me luck. At the last minute, I decide that I don't need my windbreaker. Good decision, it turns out. There's an excellent turnout for the race, and we get started on time. Once again, Jerry and I are the rear guard. I'm OK with this. Like I said before, I'm competing with myself and no one else. My strategy today is to walk the uphill sections, try and run the downhill sections, and alternate on the flats. This race is on the mountain side. Not that Bradbury is a real mountain, the summit is 484 feet above sea level according to the NGS benchmark set into the granite at the summit. But it is steep in spots, and we're climbing it the equivalent of three times. Jerry and I talk a bit while we're heading up the early hills. I've been impressed with this guy from the start – he's 77 and has finished before me in the previous two races. Now I find out that he's been through four cancers in the past five years and is currently dealing with treatment for prostate cancer. My already high respect ratchets up multiple notches. My only real goal is to finish, but I'm going to try to keep Jerry in sight today.

We head up the Northern Loop and then switch to go up the Ski Trail. The trail is hard packed, it's been groomed for snowmobiling. By the time I reach Erik, the volunteer at the top of the Ski Trail, I'm already overheating. I've removed my neck warmer, but because I'm not wearing my windbreaker, I have no pockets to put it in. Erik agrees to hold on to it for me and bring it down to the finish. I'm not quite ready to ditch the hat yet. Jerry's just in front of me, and we head down the Northern Loop and onto the Boundary Trail. I know this trail like the back of my hand, and I know that there are two miserable uphill sections in my near future. I am ever so thankful for the deep snowpack because I've hiked this trail when it's been six inches of ice. We cut over onto the new bypass and continue on. Jerry's still in sight, sometimes closer, sometimes further away, he's got the same strategy I have for running this race. In one of the steep uphill sections, my asthma starts to kick in a little. I don't take anything for it, it's so very mild, but it does remind me to slow down a little and catch my breath. I've also been fighting (successfully) off a chest cold for part of the week. Jerry gets a bit ahead of me and I can't see his jacket anymore. I catch up again in one of the flattish spots and he turns his head back and says “Oh, good. There you are.” Simple encouragement, but worth more than gold. Shortly after this, we start meeting the front of the pack coming back around. This is one of a couple of two-way traffic stretches, but the only one we will actually meet anyone on.

We survive the Boundary Trail and turn down the South Ridge. I love this trail, and it's all downhill to the parking lot from here. Another trail I know like the back of my hand. I actually slow down in a lot of spots, I'm worried about losing control and falling. As I head down from the scenic vista (and yes, I did pause for a microsecond to enjoy the view!), I pass the spot where several years ago I hauled a frozen, dead deer off the trail and shoved it over the cliff and remember the incident and chuckle to myself. I continue down, being careful on the wooden stairs and avoiding the occasional hole in the snow. At the bottom, we head up through the lower picnic area and up the steep hill that comes out by the playground. Jason is waiting for me by the shelter with a bottle of water. I've shed my hat and gloves by this point and I hand them off to him. Linda Douglas comes over and give me encouragement. Jason tells me I'm doing great and I'm almost done. I laugh at him and say at the same time as Linda “more like halfway!”. In the brief time that I've stopped, Jerry has disappeared from sight. I trot through the picnic area, back onto the Northern Loop, and then up the Switchback. I hate this trail more than any other in the park. It is steep and miserable. Luckily, we seem to have cut off quite a few of the switchbacks, but it's still miserable. I can hear my lungs wheezing as well as feel them. I can see Jerry ahead of me again, and several people have taken a wrong turn and are now behind me. I figure this out as they come up behind me. I do the smart thing and just get out of the way. I know I'm going to be going at a snail's pace up this part. When I finally hit the top of the trail, I'm met by a couple of the awesome volunteers – one wearing a hat shaped like the front half of a cooked lobster and the other with a hat shaped like a roast turkey – and they give me the encouragement I need to hear, that the worst is out of the way and there's a great bit of downhill coming up. I've lost Jerry again, but it's OK. Like the South Ridge, I take a microsecond to enjoy the view from the summit. It's a gorgeous day, I think I might have mentioned that before, and I can see out to Eagle Island. I turn and head down the Boundary Trail again, this time from the other end and going clockwise. I see occasional glimpses of Jerry in the distance. I turn onto the Tote Road, another favorite, well-known trail, and enjoy the relatively flat going. I catch up with Jerry part way around and we continue on like we've been doing. I'm pretty pleased with myself for keeping him in view. We come down off the Tote Road and Erik greets us with “short uphill and then a nice long downhill to the finish”. We turn once again onto the Northern Loop and head up. I'm a little bummed the course doesn't go over the North Bluff, it's got a beautiful view, too. I figure I'm doing OK if I have the energy to be concerned about missing a scenic view at this point in the race. We hit the junction with the Terrace Trail before too long, and it's all downhill. We catch up to Ann here, and the three of us head down together. 

The Back of the Pack Baddasses. Like the South Ridge Trail, I slow down here, too. The trail isn't as well packed and it's steep. All three of us make it down to the bottom in one piece. Ann and Jerry are a bit ahead of me now. I catch up once we hit the bottom and turn once again onto the Northern Loop and head back to the field and the finish line. We jog along together on the flats and downs, and walk the ups. As we get closer, Ann is flagging a little. Jerry tells her to come on, they'll go in together. I think I might, too, but I've got a little energy in reserve and at the end I kick it up half a notch and run in, tripping and falling to one knee, but picking myself back up and running in. I come across the finish to cheers and encouragement and hugs. I give Ryan a hug and then tell him I still hate him and he bursts out laughing. This stems from a series of messages back and forth between us when I was asking for clarification about the course map and he told me we were running up all the hills to which I responded “I hate you”. Ann and Jerry finish 16 seconds behind me, I was too busy catching my breath to cheer at that point.

We all head over to the awards ceremony, and to my shock, I'm one of the raffle winners. I grab a pair of Darn Tough socks . Jason is freezing by this point and goes to the car to wait for me. I mingle and chat for a bit, and then we head for home.

I'm so glad I decided to this. It's been an amazing journey, from thinking maybe I could do just the first race, to deciding to do all three. The friends I've made along the way, the camaraderie, and the amazing encouragement I've gotten from friends, family, and total strangers alike has been incredible. I know I'll be doing this again next year.