How a runner from the Midwest fell in love with snowshoe racing
Midwest runner relishes chance to experience trail running in NM and falls in love with snowshoe racing along the way
Erica Baron is first a runner.
But recently, the 44-yearold scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory earned a spot on the U.S. National Snowshoe Team.
“Although I had been running most of my life before that point, I didn’t have as many opportunities to run on trails or in the mountains as a Midwesterner,” Baron recalled. “I was anxious to do more mountain running and to try new sports, such as snowshoeing.”
Moving here in 1998 gave her that opportunity.
“Since I had already been running and racing since junior high school, snowshoe running was not a big transition for me,” she said. “It is an excellent way to keep doing something close to mountain running during the winter months.”
Baron applied her running race strategy to snowshoes and it worked out right away.
“One of my first weekends here in New Mexico, I won the women’s race at the Santa Fe Snowshoe Classic with rental snowshoes,” she recalled. “I went out at a very fast pace, not realizing how much more effort it was going to take to do the full five-mile distance compared to traditional running.”
And the sport made an immediate impression.
“I have been snowshoeing on and off ever since,” she said.
One thing she had to deal with was the wider steps necessary when using the snowshoes, Baron said.
“The width of the snowshoe requires me to run with my feet a little further apart than with running shoes,” she said. “But the essential motion is the same.”
As a matter of fact, Baron said, it’s a pretty easy sport for newcomers to pick up.
“I’ve seen statements such as ‘If you know how to hike, you can snowshoe’ oftentimes written about the sport,” she said. “It is true. Snowshoeing can be picked up very easily, and is really just a matter of strapping on a pair of snowshoes and getting out on the trail just as if you were going for a hike or a run.”
And training is often a simple run.
“Because we don’t typically have enough snow to snowshoe on the trails that I access from home, most of my weekday training is traditional running,” Baron said. “During the winter on the lower elevation trails, I can usually wear some sort of traction device like Kahtoola microspikes on my shoes in order to run on the trails. On the weekends, I typically drive up to the Pajarito Ski area and snowshoe on the Canada Bonita trail or head to one of the many trails on the way up to the Santa Fe Ski area.”
Baron earned her spot on the U.S. Team last month by finishing fourth at the U.S. National Snowshoe Racing Championships at Powder owder Mountain Resort near Ogden, Utah. She finished the 10-kilometer race in 52 minutes, 53 seconds.
“The most difficult part of the national championship race was the wind, which gusted up to 40 mph,” she said. “Not only did that make the effort harder, but it was difficult to dress for. I was overheating on the sections that were with the wind, but comfortable during the sections that were against the wind.”
The whole event was a memorable one, Baron said.
“The course was wide open and offered many views of the surrounding snow-covered peaks,” she said. “It was spectacular scenery. The first couple of miles were downhill, so the start was very fast. I was in about 10th place for the first half mile or so and then began making my way up to fourth place, where I stayed for the remainder of the race.”
It all makes the sport one in which Baron said she plans to continue to participate.
“I really enjoy getting out on the trails, no matter what time of year,” she said. “Snowshoeinghoeing gives me the opportunity to run on trails at all elevations year round. I especially enjoy going out after a snowstorm and snowshoeing in the fresh powder.”