The Big Foot Boogie snowshoe race at Timber Ridge in Traverse City this weekend was Jana Turpin’s first race of the year as a new WSI/Team Active racing member. She did the 5k as I did the 10k. We were hoping for a lot of fresh snow on Saturday as the weather forecast was predicting. To our disappointment, no fresh powder or even cold weather. The temp at the start was mid 30’s and rising and a snow depth of 4-5 inch’s at the deepest.
As the gun went off there was a flurry of snowshoes and snow flying like a human snow blower was rolling through the park. With in the first mile the field stretched out and some overly ambitious runners had dropped back. I could still see the leaders and started counting how many were in front of me finding myself in the top 25 I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to hold my pace and position hoping for an ae group win.
After making a few passes and the first of two loops on the course I started to lose my pace and slow a bit. Getting passed by two runners around the 7k mark I regrouped and made a charge to catch them within the last 1k and fell just short by under a minute, finishing 19th over all and 2nd in my age group. Good start to the new year.
~Chuck Brenner
