Glen Gunnell

I ran my first snowshoe race last Saturday. The event was held up in Midway Utah and sponsored by Kahtoola. They had 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k and marathon options. Three of my buddies and I opted for the 10k, Adam, Dale and Anthony. Dale and I were lucky enough to reserve a pair of Kahtoola racing shoes, a requirement in my opinion, as I have tried regular all mountain shoes compared to the Atlas Race shoes and there is no comparison, for a race at least. Wearing the Atlas were like wearing regular running shoes, as far as how light they were. The Kahtoola shoes were nice, somewhere between the Tubbs Flex and the Atlas Race.

The event was well organized, they had two kinds of soup, potatoes, cookies, chips, gel and Redbull to name a few of the fuels, or refuels. The 5k, 10k and 25k racers all began at 9:00 am. My goal was to cross the finish line at one hour, or less. The start went off, there was 35-40 people who took off. Mentally I thought, “take it slow” but I couldn’t help myself and moved quicker then perhaps I should have. All went well except I did not fill my camelbak enough, I put 10oz of water and got drinks at the aid station but I still got some cramping in my abs. I drink more water then most I figure. My buddy Dale probably drank 2oz of gatorade the whole race, I could have drank 20.

The 800+ft climb was fair and steady and got me walking quick and more often then I would like to admit, but I stayed in my position for the most part, the distance between competitors was wide. I forced myself to fly on the downhill even when I started cramping a little. My trick was to grab some snow and hold it against the cramped area, in about 15-20 second the cramp would go away.

I ended up finishing at 1:05 not a bad time, I came in at 7th place overall for the 10k division. It was a great day, good weather and good company. I really enjoy the snowshoe race and hope to do more in the future.