The day of awesome had finally arrived. I rushed through some work that needed to be finished at the office and squirmed out early at lunch time to get ready to head to Fayetteville Arkansas with Fletcher and Leigh for the Lewis and Clark 18 hour adventure race. The beloved family met us at Fletcher's where we packed up the car and truck and headed south. Louis, Dad, Mom and Patty were our support crew for the race, transporting bikes and equipment to the next transition areas and providing both word and food style encouragement .
All the teams and support crews were crowded into the big white tent to get information about race start time and location for the next day. The announcement hit, followed by a gasp and a quiet caucus of chatter among teams.
12:01am start time! So much for sleeping.
We headed to our reserved hotel that we wouldn't be using to get everything ready there, then caravaned with everyone to the race start location out in the middle of some woods on some private property of which the owner "told about 150 rednecks they couldn't hunt there today" since it was the first day of hunting season...so, with orange race tanks on, we began the adventure in the woods, in the dark. I ran the first half mile-ish loop to pick up the map and checkpoint instructions. On the way back, running with 31 other people on a gravel road, we heard horses suddenly galloping along next to us. The powerful hooves packing the ground and the heavy breathing of the beautiful creatures stood my hair on end.
The race required us to calculate points with a UTM plotter to locate the checkpoints by the latitude and longitude on the provided map. Using map and compass, the topographical lines as reference, and a couple hints from other teams, we nailed every check point correctly. During the first leg of the race, we were biking around in the dark woods on some trails and through fields, even bushwhacking at times to find our targets. A puppy ran along side us as we were traveling back to the transition area, he was leading the way in floppy-eared cuteness. The next section was on foot back in the same area of the woods, which for me was much more enjoyable, since half the time, the bikes were more of a hindrance in those conditions. We also did some night climbing.
My lowest point was during the mystery event at 7:00 in the morning. We had to build a raft out of 3 blue barrels, 3 planks of wood, and 3 thin ropes, then get all of our gear, including bikes, and ourselves across a pond. After watching a few teams' rafts fall apart in the water, I became more and more hopeless. Especially after one team made it half way, and dumped everything in the middle of the pond, losing one of there bikes for awhile. Fletcher tied the knots and did a great job on this sections, but once we got on the well build raft, it flipped because it was not balanced...I guess. Leigh's corner went up, my corner went down, and Fletcher slipped off the back. Bother Leigh and I were completely soaked...We drug the raft out and decided to move on. I was worthlessly chattering and shivering for about an hour as we rode. After warming up, I navigated the rest of the that bike leg...It was great...riding along dirt and gravel roads through tunnels of amazing fall colors and overlooking rolling hills of gracious pigment variety. Those were some of the most peaceful and beautiful times during the race. There were a couple of intersections we stopped at to determine which way would be faster, when a loud whistle came from a nearby house...we looked over and saw some friendly plaid and overall wearing locals, chuckling and pointing the right way to go. It was a good laugh. At the end of that section we arrived at the transition area, were refilling water and food and getting ready for the next trekking and the canoing stages when a little baby (walking style) came up to me and reached up in the air toward me. I couldn't resist, picked him up, and we talked about politics for a little while, then I gave him back to his mother. That was definitely a highlight. This kind of race can have you experiencing an amazing range of emotions, from hopeless frustration, to the calm peace of a still autumn day and happy baby.
The canoing section was fun and tiring since we had to portage our canoe about 50 times over low water currents, beaches, and logs. I was getting pretty drowsy on the river. As the sun began to set again and we realized that we would be canoing through on the lake in the dark, a new sensation of calm came over me...I looked down and saw the reflection of the trees in the twilight, which was beautiful and relaxing, then Leigh spotted an owl perched high in a tree over the river. These memories even now feel a little foggy. I remember wondering if I would fall asleep in the canoe and fall overboard in the middle of the lake. Thankful that didn't happen. Close to the next check point, we were helped out of the lake and told that the race was over...Only 5 of the 31 teams finished on time. We were all quite satisfied with our performance since we never gave up and were ranked somewhere in the middle at that point. We only had about 10 miles left to run/trek and we would have finished...oh well. Our valiant effort and success by my judgment was rewarded with a BBQ dinner and Michelob Lager. At the after party, Louis informed me that some of the other support crews referred to our team as the team with the bearded man in tights. I felt honored. The rest of the night was a daze of somehow getting back to the hotel, showering and waking up again way to early.
-First time being cold and wet for so long and thinking it may be dangerous. (next time I come across that raft building event, I hope we'll build the raft, and put all of our stuff on it, including most of our clothes, then swim it to the other side, shake off and put on dry clothes.)
-First time picking up a random baby.
-First time staying awake for 40 hours.
-First time peeing in a canoe (we were transitioning into the lake, so it was getting deeper and wider...and I really had to go)
-First time sucking dew of my mustache. A great secondary source of hydration.
-many more firsts that I'm still to tired to think of.
I am so thankful for my family coming to help by being our support crew. Great job Patty, Mom, Dad, and Louis.
I'm proud of my team...Great job Leigh! Especially for your first adventure race. And Fletcher, we would've been lost (quite literally) without you. Thanks for plotting the points and teaching us how. Also thankful for safety. Thanks God, no injuries.
Go team!
Psalm 88
