Race Coverage

So Hard, So Fun...

Tuesday, 10 March 2015 01:10

By Suzie Fox (suz--news.blogspot.com - March 6)

It is March! Only 8 days away from my first triathlon of 2015! My bike is in route to Puerto Rico & last weekend I got to be a part of US Snowshoe Racing history by competing in the inaugural Half Marathon Snowshoe National Championship in Eau Claire, WI. (A nationals over 10k has never been contested). It's been quite a wild ride training for both Half Marathon Snowshoe Nationals AND 70.3 Puerto Rico at the same time, all while being extremely cautious of a (fingers crossed) newly healed stress fracture. Biking in a ridiculously HOT bathroom has given me bloody noses, headaches & nausea while 'shoeing has left me with frostbite & ankle bruises...BUT I've loved every minute of it!

After IMWI I heard that Snowshoe Nationals were coming to Wisconsin for 2015. I had never tried snowshoeing but knew I wanted in! But then before the first snowfall I was diagnosed with my stress fracture. It crossed my mind that this might not be my year to take on a new sport but then I thought, nah if I waited for the perfect time to do everything I would be sitting around my house watching life pass me by. Is there ever a perfect time for anything? Nope! Just get out there & do it! ...

I convinced my friends Brooks & Ann to buy snowshoes with me so I would have some awesome people to enjoy training/racing with. On January 6th Brooks and I set out for our first snowshoe adventure. It took us longer to figure out how to put our snowshoes on then we actually snowshoed for & shortly after we got started we realized I had my snowshoes on the wrong feet! It was so HARD but so much fun! What a workout! I loved it & was ready for more! Because of my cautious stress fracture recovery & a lack of snow this winter I only got out to practice 4 times before my first race! The snow softens the impact of running & the snowshoe holds my foot very tight like my walking boot I wore for 6 weeks so it has been much easier on my foot to snowshoe then run on the roads. READ MORE