Sunday, October 25, 2009

So Did You Win?

It's a question that I get a lot from friends, family or any others with whom I discuss recent racing events: "so did you win?" Usually I giggle and explain that in a marathon with thousands of participants, the goal is not to win, but rather to finish and accomplish personal goals.

Except today. Today I did win (sort of).

Today was my initiation and introduction into the sport of adventure racing with the completion of The Edge sprint distance adventure race in suburban Pennsylvania. After volunteering at a similar event in April, I decided that this was something I wanted to try. Another experience to add to my ever-growing repertoire of crazy hobbies.

With veteran adventure racers Abby and Sue as my trusty teammates, I simply followed behind them like a blind baby duckling. I knew little more than the basics of what would happen and wasn't even physically prepared for even that. I had been on a bike once, yes once, in preparation and had no paddling experience other than the occasional afternoon kayak trip at camp. I did have surprisingly good knot tying abilities and memory recall (rabbit, skateboard, doll, bird, skateboard, keys, ball).

The iskiate-fueled energizer bunny (Abby), the spot-on-orienteerer (Sue) and I had quite the performance today, clearing every checkpoint (even the one at the brew pub in town and the one all the way at the end of the lake, on top of a bridge, behind a cross) and pushing ourselves, but having fun. And we finished first in the female-three division and were one of only about 12 teams to clear the entire course. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Some scratches on my legs, a large bruise on my left upper arm, a sore tushy and back and some very muddy wet clothes/shoes/bike are the only lingering effects of yesterday. And a desire to do this craziness again.

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