Photo from Vail Mountaineer
I had almost forgotten that I raced in the second race of the Pedal Power Snowshoe Series last weekend – the Pazzo’s Holiday 10K in Eagle-Vail. Ian convinced me to race so I convinced Jess to join me so I had some company for the ride to the Vail Valley.
Due to the winter storm that moved in the night before, both the highway and the course were exciting. I have raced this race many times even about twelve years ago when it was a night race. The course has never been the same twice which is something I love about Pedal Power’s races. These are not groomed races. They are on singletrack and have long stretches of untracked powder. 10K took me an hour and fifteen minutes…and I won the women’s race. I think mile 4 took me almost 20 minutes due to the steep climbing through plenty of fresh snow.
I had not been on snowshoes for two years since I didn’t do any racing last year while pregnant. The fast women arrived – Anita Ortiz, Lisa Isom, Mia Stockdale – so my goal was top three and to run well not leaving anything out on the course. I managed to pull away in the first few minutes and finished the the race running scared that one of these ladies would catch me at some point. Surprising myself with more fitness than I realized I had back at this point, I finished the race feeling strong and had a blast!
Please see the Vail Mountaineer for a story and more photos (page 5, 18 & 21) as well as the Pedal Power site for complete results.
