Feel Good Farm ???

So if they call this Feel Good Farm, why did i feel like crap for most of the race? 

I drove up to NH on Saturday for this snowshoe race hoping to improve on my first race at Pooh Hill, two weeks ago. I brought along Bob "wrongway" Jackman, who was looking to get redemption from his shortened race at Pooh Hill, along with his better half, Jackie. Also coming up was Ben Keefe, who finished third at last weeks race in Hollis. We pull into the driveway to see two runners there, DoubleJ Jim Johnson and Dan Verrington. Last place is looking like a possibility right now. We check in at the barn and meet race director, Mike Amorello, who proceeds to describe the course.  He points at the top of this hill and says that is what you have to go over.....twice! Oh Shite!! I would call him evil, but i wouldn't be the first that day. The race went off with 13 starters, so i was thinking i had a great chance at a top ten finish :) At the start, Jim took off like he was shot out of a cannon, i tucked in towards the back. The trail was narrow and i kept it real slow to start as opposed to  the last one where i was sucking wind almost before the start. Things went well until the uphill at which point i figured a power walk up the hill would work better for me, at the top i ran into Steve Wolfe taking pictures, great, just what i want to see. People probably say the same thing about me at times. OK, so i make the top and now for the descent, i let it all hang out, flying down at reckless abandon. It was great, a total adrenaline rush. I passed Jim Hanson on the way down, who seemed to be going very cautiously and put some good distance on him, but going into the next loop, he caught and blew my doors off going up the hill a second time. I took him on the downhill a second time and finished one place in front of him at the finish. Little did i realize that we were battling for the 50 year old title. I will look out for Jim at the next one i do. All in all, it was a beautiful day at Feel Good Farm. As much as i dreaded the course at the start, it was fun. Your not evil, Mike, a little sick, but not evil :)

Oh, i almost forgot, Bob stayed on course and finished second to Jim Johnson and Ben finished 5th. CMS beat us, but there wasn't a team prize so forget about it.

We hit Martha's Exchange Brewpub in Nashua on the way home for some good food and excellent beer. A good race makes them taste all that much better. 

See more photos by Steve Wolfe here: http://hav2run.shutterfly.com

What to do on Sunday? Well, Martin Tighe was going up to Derry for the Boston Prep 16 Miler, so i tagged along to shoot some (323 pictures) at the race. It was quite cold when we got there, about 6 degrees, so we went out for a short run so Martin could get 20 in for the day. I cut it short because the legs were still dead from the race yesterday. Martin is training for a 100k race in Ireland in March, that is why he wanted extra miles.

 It was nice to get out there with the camera, i hadn't shot anything since an early December Cyclocross race, so i was feeling a bit stale. No need to worry, all the shots came out good.

 

I got to hang out with some of my blog buddies up there. DoubleJ and Steve Wolfe were there as well as Goon Squad Runner Sarah Prescott, who i finally was able to meet in person. What a treat!

Saturday night was a party to celebrate Turtle Pieter Snoerens becoming an American citizen. Congratulations, Pieter!

What a great weekend.

See more photos from Derry here: Boston Prep 16 Miler