Northwoods Snowshoe Championship

This photo is from the Duluth Newspaper, It is myself, Wayne Nelson, who I ran with through the 1/2 marathon, and some other guy that took us a long time to finally pass.
I signed up for the marathon knowing it was going to be a maybe for the finish. But I knew I was able to snowshoe between 3 and 1/2 to 4 miles per hour. I did not often get any faster. I only had to do 3 and 1/2 miles at the 4 miles per hour pace then could do the rest anything over 3 miles per hour and finish.
Sounds good except I didn't ask- "How long is this Marathon?" Turns out the distance was over 28 miles. There was also a cut off that made the time for all but the last 3miles a little tighter which I didn't figure in either.
I was very surprised that at the midpoint I was at 3;43. which was 1/2 the total time limit of 7;30. I had been keeping track of my mile pace and I thought I was doing good. I took off anyways for the 2ND loop knowing it did not look good for a finish. At the first aid station they told me I only had 1 and 1/2 hours to finish both the far loops before heading back for the last three miles. Donald Clark was there and had decided to call it quits, he knew the last time it look him 2 hours and I was behind him so unless I felt faster than last time I wouldn't make it. Given this info and the fact that I hurt horribly I ended up turning back. I DNF'd but had a nice 21 mile training run.
It really was a great day out there. The awards ceremony was fun- It was fun to catch up with running friends. My husband and daughter had come to Duluth with me for the weekend. The first time they came with me on a trip. The did not complain so all in all a great weekend.