"g" had been snowshoeing in the Adirondack High Peaks for a few years. However, in preparation for running an ultramarathon in the summer, he decided to take up snowshoe racing for improved strength and endurance. Never wanting to pass up an opportunity for new, cool gear... he asked Santa for a pair of RedFeather racing snowshoes. "You know Santa," he pleaded, "the ones with titanium crampons and weigh a mere 18-oz per shoe!"

At first, "g" ran in fields with his heavier snow-clogs. He figured he'd better get a handle on this snowshoe running thing if Santa was bringing him racing snowshoes. Then on Christmas morning the world of snowshoing permanently changed for "g". He had become RedFeather-equipped! Soon, he was chomping around before sunrise at the park, headlamp a blaze... dancing across stretches of snow and ice with his lighter then air snowshoes. All was good, until... he contracted bronchitis and the Great Northeast heated-up with unseasonable temperatures in the 50s. A combination of bad lungs and no snow made for poor preparation for his first ever, snowshoe race at Gore Mountain.

On race morning, "g" showed up extra early. He was nervous because there wasn't much snow, and he was the first to register. ("Will I be running by myself?" he thought.) By race time, there were 18 runners. Most of them looked pretty damn healthy in snowshoes.

At 11:00 AM, the support team took a couple of start-line pictures, and then sent the runners into the woods. Salted with a sputter of ice and snow chips, "g" and three other racers were left in snow-dust! The leaders disappeared lickety-split over the first hill. They were GONE!

After 1/2-mile on the course, "g" accepted his fate in the slow-poke pack with NJ, and the couple with yellow snowshoes. It was a good thing they stuck together. Like everyone else, they too got lost and found. In fact, they may have been the only ones who ran the complete course! Others took long and short cuts unintentionally to the finish. There were some real trail marking problems!

And, yes... it was a great experience for "g". He's doin' it again!