Hit the Dusty Trail

Kahtoola Bigfoot Snowshoe Festival

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Location:

Marriott Slaterville,UT,

Member Since:

Mar 08, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Let's see, Finally ran Boston 2004. Broke 100 miles for 24 hours in 2005.  Finished the Wasatch 100 three times now.  4th place in the Across the Years 24 hour race 2007/2008

PR's:

5K - 21:03 (a long time ago), around 23:00 currently

10K - 44:??

1/2 marathon - 1:36

Marathon 3:21

50K - 5:05

50 mile - 8:59

100K - 11:37

100 mile - 22:18

24 hour - 106.65 miles

72 hours - 167.77 miles

2006 Wasatch 100 34:23

2008 Wasatch 100 32:22

2009 Wasatch 100 33:57

2009 2nd place 50-54 age group Striders Winter Training Series

Short-Term Running Goals:

Direct a successful Antelope Island Buffalo run in March 2011, Mountain View Trail Half Marathon in October, and the Antelope Island 50K/100K in November. 

Tenative 2011 race and run schedule - Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon, Grandeur Peak fun run, Timp Trail Marathon, Pocatello 50 mile, Western States 100 mile, Vermont 100 mile, Leadville 100 mile, Wasatch 100 mile (yep, trying for the grand slam of ultrarunning), Striders Winter training series, Moab Red Hot 50K, Red Mountain 50K, Survivor Series 10K (Rockford, IL), Grand Canyon Double crossing, Zion traverse, Boise Half Ironman (my first tri).  Might Run the Ogden Valley 50 mile, the Pony Express 50 mile and maybe the Chimera 100 in November.  I'm a memeber of the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing Team (www.wasatchspeedgoat.com).  One of my major goals is to not embarass the team with poor finishes.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Stay injury free and still be able to outrun kids half my age.  Stay fit enough to keep up with my grandson.

Personal:

52, married for 30 years to the same wonderful woman, 2 grown kids, 1 grandson.

That's my son and I in the picture at the 2007 Buffalo Run.  He's always a big help and a pretty cool kid.

I direct the Antelope Island Buffalo Run, the Mountain View Trail Half Marathon, and the Antelope Island 50K/100K, all on Antelope Island State Park.  The website is www.buffalorun.org

Come on out and run it, we have a good time.

I post some of my more interesting runs at my blog www.ultrajim.blogspot.com.  Check it out.

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Kahtoola Bigfoot Snowshoe Festival (15.5 Miles) 03:55:00, Place overall: 3, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0015.500.000.0015.50

Ok, let me preface this race report with the fact that I really dislike running in cold weather and I don’t like running on snow and ice either.  I define cold as anything less than 30 degrees, and even that’s not much to my liking.  So what did I do?  Sign up for a snowshoe race out in Midway.  I have no brains.  I’d like to also mention that I had never been on snowshoes in my life until about 4pm Friday afternoon in my backyard.  A couple of trips across the yard with them on and I was good to go…..so I thought.

John Bozung of Squaw Peak 50 mile fame puts this race on and Kahtoola in the main sponsor.  They make a series of snowshoes that are really nice.  They also had a bunch available to use for those of us without them.

The race took place at Wasatch Mountain State Park on the golf course and up in the surrounding hills.  The 25K race I ran involved a 10K loop on the golf course followed by a 5K loop up the mountainside followed by another 10K loop on the golf course.  We had wear snowshoes for the first 10K and 5K loops and then we could take them off if we wanted.

We started at 8am as the sun was just coming up.  My car told me that the temp. was a very cold 7 degrees.  Did I mention that I dislike running in cold weather?  I knew that once the sun was up the temps  would warm up.  I was also wearing black to help absorb some warmth.

We all took off on the 10K loop in the fog and early morning sun.  The golf course has a series of groomed trails for snowshoers, x-country skiers and anyone else who wants to go out, so we had a really nice trail 10 feet wide and packed to follow.  I managed to go around the 10K loop the first time in about 1:20.  A lot slower than my normal 10K time, but I figured that would be the case.  After I left the start/finish area I headed over for the 5K single track up the mountainside.  The 5K loop has the same vertical as the 10K loop, but in half the distance, so the climbs are much steeper.  Couple that with the fact that it was single track and you have a recipe for faceplants.  I managed two during this loop by stepping on my snowshoes.  It was a tough climb up the hillside followed by a great run back down.  I think I did the 5K loop in about 40 minutes, but I’m not sure, also much slower than my normal 5K time.

After a couple minutes at the start/finish I went back out on the 10K loop.  I did about half of this with my snowshoes still on my feet then decided that was enough and took them off.  I found I could run much easier but not necessarily faster.  I ended up completing that loop in about 1:40.  It was while on this loop that I decided to drop down to the 25K.  My feet were absolutely frozen and I did have some concern about frostbite.  Not only that, but I was rapidly developing a painful blister on my heel from the snowshoe strap.  I should have placed it lower on my shoe.  Oh well.

So after about 3:55, I finished the 25K.  Good enough for 3rd place (I think, results aren’t up yet) out of six runners.

I did have a pretty good time in spite of the cold and snow.  John puts on a pretty good race.  The course was challenging, the scenery beautiful.  Lots of good homemade chili and soup at the finish.  Would I do it again?  I might, but I won’t sign up for the 50K.  That’s just too much time outside with cold, wet, frozen feet.

 

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