Left Columbia at 3 in the afternoon on Friday and drove as fast as I could to get to Arkansas. When I got to the hotel room, the boys were doing the final packing, repacking and checking………it basically looked like a bomb had gone off in a bike shop. We had been informed that the race would be starting at 3 am and that there would be NO transition area. We would be picking up our bikes somewhere along the way, but anything we put with the bike had to go with us…..we could not leave anything on the course. So, we put bike shoes and some food with the bikes and packed everything else into our back packs.
We did our best to get some sleep, but I think all of us where awake before the alarm went off at 2 am!
Once everyone was gathered together at 3 am, the race directors announced that we all needed to get on the busses they had strategically hid behind the building as we were going to drive to the start location. We spent the next 45 minutes on the bus……I took a little nap.
At the real start, out in some remote wooded area, we were given maps with points already marked on them and sent out into the dark to find them. We had on our head lamps, but running in the woods requires a strong head lamp. I had on a cheap head lamp so I stumble and tripped and slid and poked myself in the face with branches. The most annoying thing of all was when I would be climbing up the side of a steep embankment (or descending), slipping around in the leaves I would grab a near by tree to steady myself and presto, the darn thing was dead and would brake off in my hand. This happened more than 50% of the time! We had a terrible time finding the very first point and we knew we had fallen badly behind……it was not a good way to start the day. I was frustrated because running in creek beds lined with leaves and loose rocks and branches was killing my feet and ankles and I was seriously worried I would bite it big time and be majorly hurt.
Finally, the sun came up and we ran back to the start to find out what we needed to do next. This time they gave us the real USGS topo maps and a sheet with the UTM coordinates written on them. Slebos meticulously plotted the points on the map as I sat there, sweat dripping off the end of my hair; getting colder and colder by the minute. I am pretty sure the temperature was around 35 degrees. I was glad when all the map marking was over and we started running again.
On the run we passed the Flying Monkey team and we got hopeful that we could make up some time. We found the next point with no problem and headed on to the next one. Along the way, we came upon the Flying Monkey team that we had passed earlier. They were back in front of us…….they took a smarter route than we did evidently. All of a sudden, we were standing in a line. Yea, there were a dozen teams in front of us all lined up. They were waiting to take the zip line across the river to the next control point. Again, we were sitting still and getting cold. I put on my dry gloves that I had been saving for after the canoe and I put my rain jacket on to keep in some body heat. The boys kept busy by double and triple checked the map. I have never done a zip line before…..it was fun. It was also a 45 minute wait!!
Once on the other side, it was a short jog to the canoe put in. Now, at this point, the boys were all fired up and paddling like mad men. They were bound and determined to try and pass a few more teams……….make up some more time. We passed the Flying Monkeys, again. I was in the middle and it was hard to paddle from there……..long stretch for a short girl. I tried to help, but I felt like I was not getting much accomplished. It was a scenic trip; the sun was shining and the river was deserted and quite. A Blue Heron perched on a rock watched us glide by. It was still rather chilly out….I don’t think it ever got as warm as I had expected it would. I remember wishing we had some music to help motivate us to keep paddling…….which is boring……..but not as bad as swimming! After approximately 3 hours of paddling, we had passed about 6 teams and we pulled our canoes into the shore. Our legs stiff and cold, we hobbled up the bank to the bikes.
We got on the bikes as fast as we could and headed down the road to the next control point. It was here that marking the map at the zip line paid off as we had all the roads we wanted to take marked up with an orange high lighter. Inevitably we missed a few corners and we had to climb a few monster hills, but all of the biking was on paved or gravel roads so it was a pretty easy bike portion.
We finished the race in 9 hours and 53 minutes. 7th place………really not a bad race.
What did I learn? I need a better head lamp and I should wear better socks for romping in the woods. I should go ahead and pack that extra shirt in case it never warms up as much as I think it will.
1 comment:
That sounds like a blast. Did you guys ever come up with a team name?
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