It was on Memorial Day that my good friend, Amanda, first mentioned the adventure race to me. 7 mile road bike, 2.1 mile trail run, and 1 mile canoe with an obstacle course thrown into the mix. I was excited about it from the instant she told me about it, and I agreed to do it with her as a team. Amanda has been on incredible weight loss and fitness journey over the last 18 months. I knew I'd have to prepare to do this race with her! My only goal was to not stop for breaks during each segment of the race, and I did it!
Amanda and I showed up at our race at 8:57, when there was a prerace meeting at 8:30 and the race began at 9. Classy. We missed the explanation of the race, the route, and every important detail other than "just keep turning right". Thankfully, we heard that tiny tidbit because the 7 mile bike ride was not marked, but by making many right turns, we found our way. Running 2 miles is no problem, and I thought biking 7 would be the same, so I didn't hop in a bike until 1 week before the race. Not such a good idea. The last time I rode a bike I was 8 months pregnant with Colten living in the 3rd story apartment. Anyone remember that story?? Needless to say, the biking was a challenge. Amanda has been riding a lot lately, and she pushed me to pedal away. She was just cruising a lot most of the time, and I was pedaling to death thinking I'd never make it. She pushed me to go faster and to not give up. It was a beautiful scene through Sussex County; we even saw a fox and a snake!
After the biking was the running portion. It was through the woods where it was cool, shaded, and beautiful. Amanda struggled with cramps and nausea during this part, but it didn't stop us. We kept on pushing! As we rounded the bend and approached the boat house to start the canoeing portion of the race, we heard cheers from my mom and Gavin. It was very exciting to have "fans" routing for us and taking pictures. I think they gave us the last little boost we needed to hop into the canoe.
We had been looking forward to canoeing the entire time, saying that once we made it that far, it was a piece of cake from there on out. It was... mostly true. The worker helping us get set up in the canoe told us to sit backward (see picture above), so the canoe was not doing what we told it to. We laughed hysterically and eventually got ourselves turned around and headed to the orange buoy where the obstacle course was located. Amanda was strong in the rear and steered us well. The inflatable obstacle course was a joke. Muddy, hot, and stinky, but we laughed and recorded ourselves flying down the slide. I took the back seat on the ride back to the finish line... don't think that was a good idea. I could NOT steer the canoe (I haven't been in a canoe in say, 5 years). We ended up paddling parallel to the shore rather than in a direct line from the buoy to the finish line. We even made it through two trees that were sticking out of the water that were not in our path from point A to point B.
Once we got back to the shore, we hopped out of the canoe, took off our life vests, and ran through the finish line! THREE TIMES. My sweet mom didn't make it over in time to get a picture of us crossing the finish line, so we reenacted the event again. Well, she missed it that time too, so we got to run through a 3rd time laughing with everyone watching us. It was worth it though :)
We finished the race in 1:19 & I feel awesome about it!! Next year we are going to train, and we are going to WIN! <3
