UNI Panther Pacers are in the Christmas Spirit!
A bitter 7 degrees is the temperature that met runners and walkers at the 7th annual Snow Shuffle. A total of 215 hearty souls put on multiple layers of technical gear, stuffed lots of sock into the old shoes and shuffled through about 3 inches of snow along the wooded bike trails of George Wyth State Park. One indoor and two outdoor fires, coupled with a large heated tent, made it so nobody had to freeze before race time.
Santa and his helper Elf passed out gifts all morning. The gloves were very popular, for good reason. After those dissapeared everyone else got a custom wrapped Hershey's chocolate bar with a wrapper worth $2 off the next Trekman race. Inside the wrappers and on some gloves were hidden tickets good for 3 free pairs of Mizuno shoes and $100 worth of gift certificates to the Runner's Flat.
The road conditions moved the run to the snow covered trails for the first time. The distance wound up being 2.9 miles, but most people said it felt like more thanks to the snow underfoot the entire way.
Only one person is known to have fallen officially, and that would be me. Oh yes, right in front of the registration tent in front of everyone. Really, it didn't hurt...
Scott and Sarah Gall came in first, capturing their 4th or 5th consecutive and coveted SNOW SHOVEL awards.
Thanks to everyone who came out, many dressed festively in head gear and clothing. The volunteers deserve a special pat on the back for standing in the cold for so long.
Trekman
