Julie and I got up at 5:10 AM Saturday morning to head for the Grand Lake Snowshoe Festival. We signed up for the 7K fun run/walk (which we walked) a couple of weeks earlier, and wouldn't you know, we got over a foot of snow the Thursday and Friday before the festival. We thought that if we left at 6 AM that it would give us plenty of time to get to the race that started at 9:30 (a drive that normally takes two and a half hours). Well, we ran up to the start line at 9:25, just in time to hear the instructions and get a quick picture.
Just before the race started.It ended up being a beautiful morning for the race. We kept a steady pace throughout the entire race, not wanting to stop except for a picture or a little water. The course took us through parts of Grand Lake, and a little portion even went into Rocky Mountain National Park.
Nice shot on the course route.
Jules coming down the steepest park of the course, a definite wipe out hazard.
After some very heavy panting at times, Jules and I crossed the finish line, hand in hand, in 1hr 35min. Not to bad for us we thought.
After the main event was over, they had several other things going on in town. We sat in the town hall and listened to some local musicians play. I think our favorite was a group that played primarily old Irish pub type songs. We ate at the chili feed and rested up a bit. At 1 PM they had celebrity snowshoe races downtown, so we checked that out. They had different civic people (such as: fire department vs. ems) racing one another through an obstacle course. It was very entertaining, especially watching people face plant into the ground.
Smokey the Bear, Cat in the Hat, and some other bear racing each other.
After the races were over we had some time to fill before the award ceremony and drawing began. We decided to head into the park since we hadn't been there since last fall. The park road was open for about 10 miles, so we ventured in to check out the scenery. After that we came back and wondered through town for a while. Grand Lake is a gorgeous town, located on the west boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park. There a less than a thousand permanent residents there, and the town basically shuts down during the winter, but it is definitely a place we like to visit.
Lake front self portrait in Grand Lake.Everybody gathered back in the community center at 5:00 for the award ceremony. I guess the only exciting thing about that was we both ended up walking out with prizes from the drawing. Julie won some Hammer Gel (a sports goo that you eat; I guess it's designed for endurance athletes), and I won a $100 gift certificate to a local outdoor shop, which I was really excited about.
After the ceremony we headed back home, and walked through the front door at 9 PM. It was a long and very fun day for us. We will definitely be planning to do it again next year.
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