Back to Racing!

It had been way too long.

America and the entire world are now a full year into the Covid-19 pandemic. Although I've missed in-person races and running events as much as anyone, most organizers that opted to cancel events out of precaution made the right call and I respect race directors' decisions to do what they think is best. Given all that's been going on, some races that did take place weren't events I was comfortable running. And of those I was comfortable with, some went off just fine at a time I was in no shape to run them (i.e. 2020 Cayuga Trails) due to the cumulative stress of trying to train while stay-at-home parenting twin babies. All the local sub-marathon races I may have considered running were cancelled, leaving me no organized in-person race since the Beast of Burden Winter 100 in early February 2020. 

Almost a year to the day since my last race of any kind, I made it up to Hammond Hill State Forest for the Finger Lakes Runners Club's Super Frosty Loomis Snowshoe Race. With a field limited to 40 runners across two distances, separate start times for each distance, mask and social distance requirements, and a bare minimum of volunteers and spectators, the club determined it

could hold the race responsibly and I was comfortable with signing up for the 10k. Nevermind the fact that I hadn't run in snowshoes since the 2019 Loomis. I had the chance to pin on a bib and follow the same set course as everyone else at the same time. RDs Eric Sambolec and Dave Kania and the FLRC did a great job organizing according to county and state guidelines. The precautions, plus the two rounds of the Moderna vaccine I'd received at work, put me at ease for spending a morning around other people. 

The run itself was a miserable slog through deep powder and highlighted my ineptitude on snowshoes. The two group training runs I participated in leading up to the race did little to enhance my snowshoe prowess. I was repeatedly kicking myself in the malleoli with my pair of rented Dion racers—repetitive, self-inflicted blunt trauma that would leave my ankles sore and severely bruised for an entire week. But who cares? I got to wear a bib and embrace the suck with 39 other runners while the timing clock ticked away. 

The finish line gathering was a small affair, but I did get the chance to catch up with some friends while wearing masks from six feet apart. And that's what made the race a race and is what I'd been missing the most while running and stumbling through the pandemic. 

What's next?

While the Hash House Hundred fat-ass run was epic, I look forward to getting back to racing ultras this year. I have deferred entries to the Hyner View 50k and Twisted Branch in late April and late August, respectively, as long as the RDs are able to pull them off. I recently registered for my sixth Cayuga Trails 50-mile on May 29. And the big one—the event I and so many others have pined for over the past five years—

—the resuscitation, resurrection and redux of... 

...the Virgil Crest 100!!!

Running the 2015 Virgil Crest as my first 100-miler was a life changing experience. After a six-year hiatus, Ian announced he's bringing it back, although possibly for a one-off. I still get a chill of nostalgia whenever I run parts of that course, especially on the Greek Peak slopes and Tuller Hill singletrack in early autumn. I can't wait to embrace the highs and lows and everything-in-betweens of that race now that I have a respectably amount of ultra experience under my belt!