"Jet Lagged" at the Rocky Gap Adventure Race

Rocky Gap Adventure Race is described as a “pint sized version of Venture Quest” which is the longer adventure race that we finally finished last fall. RG is supposed to be 3-6 hours, and roughly 18-24 miles of various disciplines (running, mountain biking, paddling, bushwacking, tubing, swimming….). We thought RG would be a great early-season race (because we’re not in very good shape right now!) and a lot of fun. It turned out that Paul would be on a 10 day work trip to China, coming back the night before the race. “Luckily” he didn’t really sleep much while over there, so he never really adjusted to China time. Team “Jet Lagged” was ready to race on Sunday morning. Thankfully, the hot weather that the Promise Land runners faced had moved out, and we had a nice overcast day in the 60s. I can say with assurance that had it been 85 and sunny, I would not have been able to finish. We met up with Joe and John (“The Team”) on Sunday morning at the race site and they told us they were “out for a promenade”. We agreed with that sentiment and just wanted to finish, have fun, and not require medical attention.

We got our maps and the order of events was laid out as follows: run, paddle, bike, paddle, run, and bike. And at some point you had to get a ‘water checkpoint’ in the middle of the lake. You could swim or paddle your team on 2 tubes/1 paddle. We thought swimming was the fastest option, but probably the dumbest.

The day started off well, and it was quickly evident it was going to be a muddy, wet day. We ran for about 30 minutes before we started the paddling leg, which took us about 15 minutes. We transitioned to the bikes and started our muddy journey around the lake. We made the first of a few bad route-finding decisions at this point, and it took us about an hour to hit the next few CPs and get around the lake. We switched back to running gear and then got back in the boats. After about 20 mins of paddling, we had a long trekking section ahead of us with a daunting climb. We needed to get 3 CPs and we opted to get them by going up the ridge the steep way (1000’ climb) and hoping the gentler downhill would be runnable and we could make up time. The uphill was exhausting and difficult- no switchbacks, just straight up 1000’ in a mile, on a gas pipeline clearing (not a real trail). After we got to the top, we were happily able to cruise the downhill, do a bit of bushwacking (Paul took us over a boulder field) back to the lake, and a few miles back around to the transition area.

We decided to get the ‘water checkpoint’ now, and thought (stupidly?) that swimming would be faster. Swimming likely was faster, but was exhausting, and cold. It’s hard to swim in a lifejacket (though I may have drowned without one…), but we made it to the boat, checked in, and headed back. I tried to zone out on my way back and just backstroke my way in. The current somehow spun me around and I ended up heading back to the boat. Luckily I heard screaming and realized what was going on…and figured breaststroke was the safer option. Paul almost cramped up on the way in (and realized why he doesn’t do triathlons… he thought this was the hardest 20 minutes of the race!).

We were now back on the bike for 2 more colored CPs, then back around the lake, and to the finish line! We probably chose poorly at this point too, and ended up bushwacking our bikes up a steep hill, before hitting some nice singletrack (we could have taken this trail up but didn’t realize it- it wasn’t on the map. Grr.) For the next CP, we had a little biking on some nice trail followed by a very steep slope (cliff face, basically) we carried our bikes down, followed by a very long, steep, relentless uphill. My legs were absolutely trashed and I couldn’t imagine that I still had 4 muddy miles to go around the lake, after all this climbing. The rest of the lake loop was uneventful, except I was having some bike rage on a team of pink-shirted b*^@*!$ who eventually got past us. Of course now I’m a little annoyed that they beat us by a few minutes but I was so tired I really didn’t care who passed us at that point!

We hit the last CP, then cruised the last bit of singletrack into the finish area. We were covered in mud, soaking wet, and VERY happy to have finished. We chowed down some pizza and collected our pint glasses for our 4th place finish (race time of 5 hours, 52 minutes) in the co-ed duo division. So much for Rocky Gap being VQ’s “little” brother!

Promise Land 2008

Battaan Death March. The Sahara. It feels like noon (remark made at 8:30 am). It was the worst day of my life too (quote from fellow ultrarunner Bill Potts that also hates the heat).

Those words pretty much sum up the day for me! The good news is that I actually did pretty well in the heat, especially considering that it's still April and I haven't run in 80+ degree heat and high humidity in quite awhile. Amanda and I were pretty close to my last year's time (with Mical and Lorrin) at about 24 miles. Then we had the dreaded 2.8 mile climb up Apple Orchard Falls, that was really grueling. We started this climb at about noon, we'd been in the sun all day, it had been hot all day, there were hardly any leaves on the trees yet -- after mile 24 was when the wheels started to fall off for me. At least I didn't have to sit on a rock and vomit like one guy we passed, but I didn't feel great, that's for sure. When we finally made it to the top, we'd been out for about 8 hours and now had 5 miles to go, all downhill. Last year I felt elation at this point, this year I just wanted to slog on and get it over with. I didn't enjoy the downhill nearly as much, but Amanda (four days after running a 3:30:55 at Boston) and I still pushed on and passed a bunch of people on the way down. At the last aid station, a guy told us there was a bad thunderstorm heading our way, we'd better hurry. We cruised down the road and at long last got to the right turn to the finish. Horton and our buddy Mark (who busted out a 7:41 finish!) were there to great us! I couldn't be happier to be done. It was a 9:10 finish compared to 8:42 last year, but I'll take it! We both got our finisher shorts in the sizes we wanted (yeah!) and then I quickly dashed over to take my tent down. The thunder and lighting started, Bill, Amanda and I took down my tent in 2 minutes tops and then the skies opened up. We got in the car and begged for air conditioning, then decided to skip the after race food given that it was pouring. We drove on to Burger King and then Dairy Queen for the traditional post race blizzard. Yum!!

All in all it was still a pretty decent day. I got to hang out with WVMTR friends on Friday night, I got to spend all day checking out beautiful wildflowers and listening to great birds. Thanks Amanda for keeping me positive, "march like an ant!" Here are a couple of pictures from our day. I apologize for not taking more, after a certain point in the race your photographer was grumpy and not in the mood. Oh yeah, add two snakes to the snake count Lorrin.

Greenhorn Adventure Race

Here are just a few pictures, race report to follow if motivation appears.

Adventure Day!

We tested out our paddling, running, mountain biking and map reading skills on Saturday at Black Hill Park. Joe scoped out an interesting course for us to navigate in two teams so we could do a trade off of bikes and boats. Despite what seemed at first glance to be highly confusing logistical challenges, it all worked like clockwork. Joe gets an A++ in my book for a fun and interesting course. And now our adventure racers, Lorrin and Megan as "Snakes on Terrain" and Joe and John as "The Team", are ready for the Greenhorn Adventure Race and the Rocky Gap Adventure Race. Kick butt out there guys! And despite missing Adventure Day this time around, we know team "Jet Lag" of Mical and Paul will kick butt at Rocky Gap too! Here are some pictures from our adventures out in the woods and on the lake. Oh yeah, we saw two more snakes to add to the snake count!

BRR or mountain bike at Green Ridge?

Turns out mountain biking was the better decision for me. Despite the forecast of rain for Saturday, it turned out to be beautiful and sunny, probably close to 80. Some of us even got sunburned! Riding bikes in the mountains sounds better than running 50 miles in the hot humid weather at Bull Run. I'm sure impressed with all you guys that were there.

And at Green Ridge, I continued my reign of terror on the trails. First I launched myself off the bike after taking a turn wrong, then I fell into a briar patch. I can't even explain that last one. I think I had another fall or two after that. I had fun but I think the trail might have gotten the best of me. Fortunately no one got any pictures of my battle wounds or I would have gotten best blood. I think Lorrin gets the award for best sunburn, sorry, no pictures here either.

During one of our many breaks during the ride, we got a hot tip from two kids to check out the fossils. And we found some too! Very cool!

Then we sat around the campfire and had cold beverages, can't beat it! Thanks Mark for calling us to give us the update on BRR, we were all wondering how everyone's day went. Here are some more pictures.

Catoctin Run

Well it's taken me a couple days to post these pictures. Today it's sunny and in the 70s, it hardly seems possible we were running on the Catoctin Trail on Sunday in 40-50 degree temps and that it was overcast and drizzly. Big changes! Anyway, here's our crew out having fun on Sunday morning. Hopefully those long climbs will help all of us get ready for Bull Run, Promise Land, Greenhorn, or whatever race is next! And if any of you have forgotten about all the rocks at Catoctin, here's a picture to refresh your memory. Here are a few more pictures.

So sorry for the delay in getting these up, it's been a busy week, including going to my first Nationals game at the new stadium. Here's the view from our seats, very nice!

More pictures from HAT!

and here are Caren's pictures