{"id":84,"date":"2018-03-21T10:05:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T10:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goplayoutside204619387.wordpress.com\/?p=84"},"modified":"2018-03-21T10:05:48","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T10:05:48","slug":"my-experience-at-the-bradbury-squall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/2018\/03\/21\/my-experience-at-the-bradbury-squall\/","title":{"rendered":"My Experience at the Bradbury Squall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Magoo Runs in Her First Snowshoe Race<\/p><\/div>\n

This January, I did my first snowshoe race. I ran in the Bradbury Squall<\/a>. This is a 3 mile snowshoe race through Bradbury Mountain State Park<\/a> in Pownal, Maine.<\/p>\n

Frosty and I drove down early, so that we could stop at L.L. Bean to drool over gear. We left with a wish list of items we hope show up at our local Bean outlet.<\/p>\n

Once at Bradbury Mountain State park, I checked in and got my bib. I used the port-a-potty then put on my snowshoes. Most of the runners participating in this event had racing snowshoes, either their own or borrowed ones. The Squall had some loaner\u00a0Dion<\/a> racing snowshoes available to registered racers on a first come first serve basis.\u00a0 Even though my snowshoes are not racing snowshoes, I wore them for the Squall. I had on my Tubbs Flex ALP snowshoes.<\/p>\n

I walked over with the group to the starting area. I had on my warmth layers pre-race to ward off chills. I brought a bag with me to put my winter coat in to leave at the start\/finish line area. There were close to 100 people in the race. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 80.<\/p>\n

The race was challenging in a great way. I had only run with snowshoes a couple of times before the race. I had practiced snowshoe running on my backyard trails which are flat. The Squall’s race course was not. I had only run road races previously, so this was my first trail race.<\/p>\n

The Squall’s course had small rolling hills throughout. It is a trail, so there is uneven ground, rocks, etc. I think trail racing terrain may be easier in snowshoes, but maybe not. I look forward to finding out someday. I have only run training runs on trails and they are smooth road-like trails.<\/p>\n

My first goal was to finish. I thought this goal was attainable unless I got hurt. My second goal was to not go over a 60 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I could do this. When practicing at home, I went over an hour by just a couple of minutes each time. When I got out on the course racing, I worried that goal number two wouldn’t happen. The terrain was harder than my training course.<\/p>\n

I pushed myself to go at a steady pace. Not too fast, I didn’t want to burn out. But I did want to push a bit. After the first mile, I was hopeful when my Garmin watch vibrated and said I did the first mile in just over 17 minutes. I was hoping for just under 20 minutes. But, I was not familiar with the course and worried about what obstacles would be coming my way and how they would impact my time.<\/p>\n

I was having fun pushing myself. Being physical, enjoying the outdoors, the camaraderie\u00a0of a shared experience with the other runners. I was thrilled when after the second mile my Garmin told that I had done another lap at just over 17 minutes. My third mile ended up being just under 15 minutes!<\/p>\n

The area around the\u00a0finish\u00a0line was so crowded and my eyesight is not great (thus my trail name – Magoo) that I was really confused as to where the finish line chute was. But I saw it a bit before I was directly on top of it.<\/p>\n

I was in the group of the last 10 people to finish, but I was so thrilled! I met my goal of finishing the race. And I smashed my time goal. I shaved nearly ten whole minutes off my target time of 59 minutes!<\/p>\n

These types of events are so inspirational for me. I love seeing the active senior runners. There was an amazing group of women in their sixties that kicked my butt. I may never be that fast, but I hope to be that active. And the 80-year-old man who finished in just under 65 minutes… holy cow! May we all be healthy enough to do what we love at 80!<\/p>\n

The post race festivities looked so fun. They had hot drinks and soup. Prizes for the winners, and I think some random drawings as well. The prize table looked decked out! I would have loved to win some Darn Tough Socks<\/a>. Frosty would have enjoyed winning the Baxter Beer<\/a>. But we couldn’t stay and enjoy the festivities. : (\u00a0 We had to hurry home to watch the Patriots battle the Jaguars in a play-off game.<\/p>\n

My Garmin said the course was 3.09 miles with 138 feet of elevation gain and 133 feet of elevation loss.<\/p>\n

Note: Parking is limited. Carpooling is encouraged.<\/p>\n

Gear Used:<\/p>\n

Magoo:<\/p>\n

Tubbs Flex ALP snowshoes<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0Buff merino wool neckwear<\/span><\/a>, Apana running mittens, Smartwool Running Socks<\/a>, Costa prescription sunglasses, ancient ear band, OR gaiters,\u00a0Danskin Now leggings, Danskin Now long sleeve tech. shirt, and old sneakers<\/span><\/p>\n

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This January, I did my first snowshoe race. I ran in the Bradbury Squall. This is a 3 mile snowshoe race through Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal, Maine. Frosty and I drove down early, so that we could stop at L.L. Bean to drool over gear. We left with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[8,9,15,18,21,22,24,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertpottle.com\/outside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}