back in the saddle

Ok I will keep the blog going just do not expect daily reports...how about weekly??? thanks to the kind words from my friends that read the blog. here is my latest race report. I am also running in the Portland Marathon in 2 weeks ( total last minute thing that I was not planning on but somebody could not use their number)


RACE REPORT:

Cross training with adventure races is a great idea. Anthony and I teamed up for an 8 hour adventure race. We went out to the Metolius area near Wizard falls and got the mountain bikes ready. race equip included climbing gear, extra clothes, maps, compass, food for all day and water ( there are no aid stations in an adventure race)

we started against 9 teams of 2-4 people each and we started with an orienteering scramble ( scramble??? it took 2 hours and we came in third there) we were able to get the first 4 checkpoints in any order on foot. it was all overland travel over hilss and valleys and streams and we got lost once at a checkpoint by a stream. we later found out everybody got stuck on that one. I think we easily went about 8-10 miles on foot for the scramble.

After the scramble we got on the bikes and had to do the next 12 checkpoints in the specific order. getting on the bikes felt great both because Anthony and I are decent bikers but also because it was like a T1 and there were lots of bikes still there as we took off. we left T1 out onto a dirt road and the team leaving with us took a right and we took a left?????? What? we both had to go to the same CP so we stopped and double checked our map...ok we re fine.

Cp 1 was on top of an actual lava field so picture the Hawaiian lava fields and we have those and had to cross a river on a small slippery log....took the shoes off and crossed in socks. climbing over this never ending lava fields to get the CP.

CP 2 took Anthony's eagle eyes,,,,,,,,

CP3 was on an island. now was there a bridge....uh no, we waded ball deep across the Metolius river which is near freezing. I loved that one!!!!

CP four..check

CP five we had to ditch the bikes and run a few miles down a trail along the river and climb out on a log that was in the middle of a raging rapid section. this is the section we saw other team on and could base about where we were. we thought we were in second place and chasing Dave's team who had a solid 20 minutes on us. in adventure racing it only takes one CP where you get lost to lose a lot of time so you never count yourself out until the end.

CP6 you go up a huge gully into a dry creek bed climbing about 500 feet of vertical over huge boulders and check...hello? who's this? Dave's team now only has 10 minutes on us as we pass them coming down as we go up.

CP7 the map was in Km and we miscalculate the conversion to miles and take way too long to find the next CP about 7 miles down a very rocky road along the river. We do get within 5 of Daves team

CP8 caught Daves team....sweet. they are strong though and now we have to climb about a 1000 foot cliff that is pretty technical. we combine teams to get this one and it takes awhile.

The cutoff point was nearing at 6 pm so we decide to team up and get one more CP and go into the last section for a tie ( tactical on my part as Anthony had been playing catch up and were wiped, a little bonky at 7 hours in) we got the last CP and headed to the end for a third place tie. a few team even DNF. All in all I think we ran about 15 miles and rode about 25. along with climbing some cliffs and fording some rivers and we must have crossed at least 6 rivers and streams on logs we found. a great day ended by a pot luck after 8 hours of racing beer tasted REALLY good.

Finisher photo

Well here is a link to the photo I just ordered. nice shot eh? so recpertared for two weeks eating jelly bellys and drinking lost of beer. now thats over and back to working out. Got the opprotunity to run in a marathon in a few weeks so we will see how that fitness carries over.

plans are now to get fit for Backcountry ski season, then next year beaver freezer triathlon and the Pacific crest half and likely a self supported ironman here in Bend just for fun. then the next official ironman will be in Idaho in 2009.

so I will likely take a break from blogging for awhile and catch up next season.

see ya all over at triscoop and 140.6.com (http://swimbikerun.ning.com/)