Spring Forward 15k

Photo courtesy of Barb Boutillier from FF.

A crisp spring day greeted runners at the Fleet Feet Sports Spring Forward 15k on Sunday, March 28.

The hilly course is always challenging, at least for slugs like me. I always think training on the old 10k kick course in the village of Spencerport is great for hill running. Then I get to a race at Mendon Ponds and learn what hills really are! Maybe I'm just getting too old?

New Roger, Roger Odell, had the race of the day from our Sals group. He won the 65-69 age group in 1:11:35, a 7:42 pace, picking up 10 RROY points. Lou, after running about 18 miles the day before, cruised through the race in an 8:13 pace and got 2 RROY points. Jan, beginning a comeback from injury, received 3 RROY points.

2010 Snowshoe Nationals

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ESG 2010 Movie

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Wet Suits

Why are they almost entirely black? Two thousand people in the water and I'm supposed to pick out my wife, daughter, or a friend, when all of them are in a black outfit? With today's technology it seems a company could produce wet suits in any color.

It's nice age groups have different colored swim caps, at least in the larger races, but that only narrows the group down to 200-400, not nearly enough. If my wife had a pink wet suit and a white cap for her age group, then I might actually see her swimming, even with a crowd.

Another benefit of multi-colored wet suits is that they would help safety and race personnel locate swimmers in the water.

Sal's Runner of the Year

The annual Sal's Gala was held this year at the Weinpress All You Can Eat and Drink Buffet. It was impossible to give out only one award for 2009 due to the amazing accomplishments of our group.

Prizes were awarded to Joanne K for Rookie of the Year (completed her first five mile race in March and 10k race in the Marine Corp Marathon 10k race, Washington, DC in October).
Mike W., Eileen W., Pete L. and Lou K. all received honorable mention awards. The four of them finished in the top five of their respective age groups in the RROY series. Mike and Eileen also won medals at the ESG snowshoe races in February.

Runner of the Year went to Jan M., who won 2 medals at the ESG snowshoe games, completed the Walt Disney World 1/2 Ironman, the Lake Placid Ironman race in July, and topped the year off by finishing the Marine Corp Marathon in October.

National Snowshoe Championship

Five days after the event and I'm finally ready to discuss it. Highland Forest had plenty of snow on the course, 90% of it ungroomed, which did not make for fast times. The organizers wanted a tough, challenging course and they got it. The mile plus long single track was difficult to maneuver through, at least for me. I needed about another 6 inches so I could plant my foot. I was trying to figure out a stride that would work and never really came up with one.

Looking back, basically my race came down to the fact that I ran scared. I started too slow, had problems in the snow, used that as an excuse to go slower and got passed by many people. I took myself out of the race more than any competitor did. Afraid of the hills in the middle, at about mile 4.5, and the ridiculous climb up the sledding hill at the end (which was actually triple the sledding hill and steep as hell) I never really ran to my limit. Idiot, chicken crap.

The average female 10k runner was 10 minutes behind their qualifying time at Mendon Ponds. The average male was 15 minutes slower (we ran after the females and the snow was more torn up). I "ran" 23 minutes slower. Just absurd. Maybe I am too fat for single track! LOL.

Eileen had a great race, finishing 4th in her age group, just missing the podium by a minute or so! Mike W. struggled much like me. But we all have a national championship experience and finish, which is good.

The facility and organization was excellent. Now the shoes are put away for a couple of seasons as we move to running and maybe a tri or two.

Highland Forest -National Championship

Pre-race smiles

Men's Start



This hill hurts!

All uphill finish

Snowshoe Racing

"Think easy, light, smooth, fast."
An appropriate quote from the book, "Born to Run" about the Tarahumara Indians, that can be applied during the upcoming USSSA National Snowshoe Championship race, or most running races regarding your stride and form is..."start with easy, cause if that's all you get that's not so bad, then work on light, make it effortless, don't give a shit how high the hill is or how far you've to to go. When you've practiced that so long that you forget you're practicing, you work on making it smooth. Don't worry about the last one-you get those three and you'll be fast."