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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Winter runner stays sane on snowshoes

Alyssa Shaw of Coeur d'Alene strides out in lightweight snowshoes to run the 7-mile course most participants were walking in the Women's Souper Bowl at Mount Spokane on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2016. (Rich Landers / The Spokesman-Review)

Alyssa Shaw stood out like a rocket among nearly 300 women enjoying an invigorating snowshoe hike at the Women’s Souper Bowl last Sunday.

She was running – not to be confused with jogging – on snowshoes at Mount Spokane.

“This is how I stay sane in winter,” said the ardent runner from Coeur d’Alene in the Nordic area parking lot. She’d just polished off a seven-mile course.

Her husband, Daniel, was getting skis out of the car for her “cool down” exercise on the Nordic trails. Two child seats in the back seat indicate the Shaw family is probably “on the run” most of every day.

“Lots of runners hang up their shoes during the snowy days of winter. I like to take advantage of the different kind of workout.”

Shaw, 38, straps on ultralight MSR Swifts over her running shoes and looks for workouts on packed trails such as snowmobile routes or trails at Canfield Mountain, Priest Lake and Fourth of July Pass. Mount Spokane’s groomed cross-country trails are normally closed to snowshoeing but a route was opened Sunday for the special event.

“I like the Schweitzer trails, and the snowshoe trail up on Silver Mountain can be like running in powder heaven on the right day,” she said.

Shaw participates in year-round variety of races, marathons and off-road runs with the online group Trail Maniacs, as well as a few special snowshoeing races during winter.

But she considers a quiet run on snowshoes through snow-covered trees a motivating contrast to a run-of-the-mill run on area roads.

Snowshoes force a runner into a slightly wider stance that work different muscles. Shaw recommends that runners ease into it, although she didn’t need much time to work up to 10-12 milers.

“You work a lot harder on snowshoes,” she said. “But they make winter more interesting.”