After my triathlon season concluded with Ironman Florida last month, I was eagerly looking forward to snowshoeing this winter, specifically doing snowshoe races because they are so fun!  This past Saturday, my wife Nikki and I, along with her brother Sean, did one of our favorite snowshoe races called the Luna Chase held at the top of Keystone Mountain here in Colorado.  This Hawaiian themed 5K race has all of the participants wear lei’s to spark up a little more excitement than the usual snowshoe race.  On top of that, every person wears a headlamp since it’s a night race that begins at 6:30 PM.  After taking a Gondola to the race check in, we took another Gondola to the race start which happens to be at 11,200 ft.  Just before the gun went off I saw that it was 1 degree….yes, very cold!  Luckily I was wearing my top of the line Spenco Cold Snap (http://www.spencocycling.com/) full fingered gloves, which kept my hand super warm, plus my durable Bell Weather/Profile Design vest (http://www.bellwetherclothing.com/).   I actually won this race last year, and was hoping to win again, but as we all know, you just never will know what will happen.  After taking a PowerGel and pulling down my PowerBar Beanie winter hat (http://www.powerbar.com/). I immediately pushed myself very hard to get to the front and started going up the 1^st hill which happens to be over 1 mile straight up.  I just kept my rhythm and soon pulled away from the pack.  I had about a 30 second lead at the top of the hill and started to head down.  I saw that there were a few other people catching up, but I managed to hold on through a few more up hills to get the win!  As I headed back on the course to wait for Nikki and Sean, I saw Nikki right away, as she took the overall win for the women!  I was so proud of her!!  Sean rolled in 8^th or 9^th place for a solid finish as well!  At the awards, which included the best post race luau I have ever seen, Nikki and I each walked away with a new pair of Atlas racing snowshoes combined worth over $500 (plus a dandy certificate pictured below).  We had a blast and plan to do more this season until my 1^st triathlon in the spring which will be Ironman California 70.3.