i'm still alive...

well saturday was the day. the day i've been "training" for. i put that in quotes, because i hate training for anything. anyway...it was the day of my first adventure race; animal iq. it took place at paint creek state park in southern ohio, down near bainbridge. it consisted of 10K trail run, 10K canoe, and 25K of mountain bike riding.

we got there at about 6:30/7pm., and checked in. then got to our hotel about 45 minutes later to look over the map, and decide what we needed as far as all the gear went. demolished pizza and wings, and the all needed carbs from beer. it rained just about the whole way down. we were kind of hoping that it would rain during the race, no lighting though; we would be in an aluminum canoe. after a quick trip to the super k to get some baggies for our maps, yes we had to navigate through the course, we were set.

the alarm went off at 5am. left about 6am to get there by 6:45 to start at 7am. after a little preparation talk we were off. we ran to the boat launch to get into our canoe. our transition was flawless, too bad our rowing was not. it's not hard to canoe, it's hard to keep it in a straight line. up the river to cp (check point) 1, and back down the river to cp2. get out and run to cp3. we started to notice people passing us going the other way. we were running on an horse trail. muddy and wet. who ever said that horses do not destroy a trail...is a lair. hit cp3, and back up the trail to cp4, and into the canoe. no one was around us. i began to think "where the hell is everybody?" i know that i can't run to save my life, but am i this bad? we dock the canoe, and trot/walk to cp5 to transition onto the bike. just what i've been waiting for. we hit the trail to cp6, and i'm feeling it. we then begin our ride to cp7. after a while we notice that we are coming out of the trail. oh shit. wrong turn. damn it. and the trail goes counter clockwise. so we push back to our mistake, and also again passing others going the other way. after the long way around we hit cp7. well by this time we were last. so we took the whole trail back around. why not. and then hit the finish. this was my goal. to finish. to do it.

as we hit the food, we learn that there was a short cut during the running. what?! we were permitted to take short cuts. damn. and as we saw the time checks from the cp's that's where we lost our time. that and taking a wrong turn. and sucking. it took us 6 hours and 37 minutes. but i did it. that's the point. and had a great time doing it. i hurt yesterday, and a little today, but i'm looking forward to my massage. hey, i'm getting old. these are things you have to do. i'm already looking forward to riding again. if i get any pics, i'll put them up.

good times...