Raid the Rock Race Report

**I wrote this report right after the race to try and capture most of the details. I was waiting for results to be posted as well as some pics, but they are not yet available. So, here is the first draft, and I will add more pictures later as they are available. I apologize in advance for the length. Consider this a make-up for all of my prior short and stinky race reports***

I used to write long race reports, then I didn't want to bore everyone. I realized that I had shorted my reports so much that my previous Wales Ironman Report read like a 5k, and I am now back to just writing it how it goes. Read as much or a little as you want!

My first adventure race...

started with a 3:00 am wake up call. Whoo hoo!!!!

Much like an ironman, you have to pack and double check all of your gear the night before. I had no clue what to bring. What is a daisy chain again? The boys showed me how to do it all.

3:30am......oh yea baby! The BEST two teammates ever for an adventure race. I never could have done this without Olaf and Charlie.

I am in the pink jacket attempting to "help" the guys get ready.

The race started at 5:00am, and I had nothing to do initially but watch my teammates plot the course and then keep up with them as we hurried to check points.

I didn't know what to expect in my first race. I really had no clue! I thought we would be doing a ton of trail running, and I was worried I would not be able to keep up with their pace. I am a decent runner, but my teammates are BAMF. After 400 meters of running, we turned into the woods. Not trails. Woods. And proceeded to navigate our way to check points leading to the top of Pinnacle Mountain. And that was about all of the actual running I remember from the day.

The boys had asked me to get some trail shoes before the race, but I insisted on wearing my running shoes. I did not want to drop $100 bucks on shoes. I am trying to live a life of needing less. I just want to use what I have and stop accumulating and needing more. I will say there is probably a good advantage to wearing trail shoes when hiking up a mountain, but I made my old running shoes work and just kept moving forward.

A view of Pinnacle Mountain as we left Little Rock later in the day.

I was surprised to see that we did not climb up a single trail. We made our own trails. I was also in disbelief when we climbed up boulder type rocks to get up and down Pinnacle Mountain. At night? It was crazy dangerous! Who does this? It was really cool.

Seriously. I wasn't kidding about climbing up and down the mountain. Thank you to Outside Arkansas Blog for the picture.

When we arrived at our first transition to the canoes, we found out we were 2nd place overall and 1st place premier co-ed! My teammates were orienteering the cleanest race possible. We were rocking it.

Race picture from Outside Arkansas Blog

Unfortunately the canoe was a bit of a problem for us. Charlie recently dislocated (and it is still dislocated) his shoulder and was in a lot of pain throughout the paddle and mountain bike. He is not able to lift his shoulder to 90 degrees. He never complained and just kept an HTFU attitude. An injured Charlie + 0%body fat Olaf + bird-wings Damie probably did not make for the best canoe team. We moved forward and enjoyed the amazing sunrise over the still, foggy river. It was beautiful.

We accidentally grabbed the wrong paddles, though, and that made for an adventure. (Not to mention we were super frustrated we grabbed the wrong gear). What normally would have been an advantage with having the wrong paddles was actually a disadvantage in some ways for us. It required Charlie to constantly have to use both shoulders- no good for a dislocated shoulder. It also brought a lot of water into the canoe on a freezing morning, and we were soon completely soaked and having some real temperature issues. We made it to the end of the canoe section tied for 1st place, but Olaf was having major body shut down.

We pulled into the bank tied with another team. We were struggling so much with our plummeting body temperature, we just couldn't keep up. The other team jumped out of their canoe dry and happy. I thought Olaf might be visiting the hospital, and I felt really guilty for all of the water I splashed on him.

Our next transition was extremely poor. We were all way too cold- shivering uncontrollably with our teeth chattering. I think the race crew was actually a little worried about us. We knew if we could move forward we would warm up. We were back in a trekking section, and we trudged away. I felt good overall, just cold. The other team made a HUGE 20 minute gap on us in a very short distance. They got out of their canoes nice and dry and just ran away from us. We moved forward and finally warmed up, but not after losing ground to one team and letting another team catch up.

But then it was time for rappelling!

So, uh...I have never done this before, so let's practice in the hotel room! Oh, and the harness is not supposed to be able to slide off of your hips? Oops! wrong size!

I have never climbed or rappelled. Ever! I was hooked up, and off of the bridge I went. Fearless. It was so much fun!

Then we transitioned to our bikes. The first big section was on dirt road, and I was fine. We biked over to a...mud run?

Charlie gets our check point punch while I recover on the right side of the picture from falling face first in the mud. :)

Yes, a 30 foot mud pit with a local 5k running through. We had to run straight through the mud pit in the middle of the race in our bike gear to get our check point. Fun!

From here on out, the story is the mountain bike. Charlie, Olaf and I formed a pace line to ride the roads and make our way to the trails. I am completely at home in this situation, and we rotated through to stay steady. There was a team riding with us, and we had a bit of a decision to make. We are good cyclists, especially on the road, with lots of time trialing experience. We were debating whether to just crush it and make up some time, but, we didn't want to waste energy trying to drop a team when we potentially still had 6 hours of racing left. We decided to ride easy through the roads, kept the other team near, hit the first trail, and all was good. (In hindsight, we should have crushed the road instead of sitting up. I now know that when I feel good, I need to just go. You never know in an adventure race when you will have a chance to use speed.) First trail was easy and cool, and we used it to take some bathroom breaks.

Then we had to make our way up the mountain. It was no longer cool. Much like the only other trail I have ridden in Arkansas, this 15 (or however long- felt like forever) mile trail was very technical and rocky. The boys road well with a few sections of moving slowly, and even they had a crash or two as well as some periods of walking their bikes.

Picture from Outside Arkansas Blog

However, nothing could describe to you the ugliness of my mountain biking. I think I crashed about 15 times. I don't have the exact number, but I am not sure if that is an exaggeration. (I have a lot of excuses I am going to provide to you in the next few paragraphs....but you can always just read between the lines...I am a stinky mountain biker!!!)

This was my very first time to ride clipped in on a mountain bike...with my borrowed shoes, and only my 6th mountain bike ride ever in my whole life. (2nd ride on a mountain bike in 20 months. go me!) To ride a technical course, at my level, is just stupid.

Let me repeat. Riding a mountain bike on a tough course when you don't have the skill because you don't ride mountain bikes is stupid!!!!

I kept a positive attitude, or at least tried to keep one. I was only sad that I was holding up my teammates, and I am sure they were embarrassed for me. I have no problems sucking at new things- I don't expect to be good when I start, but I don't like to suck when it affects teammates. I worked hard, tried to stay smart by stopping and eating when needed, and just gutted it out.

The borrowed bike is too big for me and I can't clear the top tube. At one point, I hit my pubic bone so hard in a crash (not the bottom, but the very middle of the bone), and I was pretty sure I fractured it. As I type, it is purple and swollen. (I told my teammates I now look like a "worn out hooker!") The bike is heavy for a girl my size, so I just got worked over by the trail, the bike, the mountain, and my lack of experience. I took a lot of crashes (and tried not to complain) and just got back up and on. My mantra on the bike was "take the fall." So, I took a lot of falls for the team :)

To say that I was happy to see the top of the climb was an understatement. I would have gladly taken everyone on- men and women- in a 200 mile road race than to ride up that mountain again on a mountain bike.

We lost some time on the bike, but when everything was calculated, it didn't seem to be a significant amount. We were now in 3rd place with 4th place right behind us.

We transitioned to our final section on foot, and this is where I really felt my endurance fitness kick into gear. I was ready to RACE! Let's go!!!!! I was happy, energetic, and could have run or hiked for hours. My teammates were fading a little, but not from lack of fitness. I think it was from nutrition- the forgotten discipline. (not to mention, all I had to do was keep up- they had to navigate and use their brains!!!!) I reminded them to eat and to pick up the pace. My focus in long events is usually good through the end, and I think my ability to maintain focus is a racing strength for me. I was staying right up there with my teammates, feeling chatty, and ready to work.

This section went by too quickly. Before we knew it, it was over. We made one critical mistake when working near another team and missed a checkpoint...just as 2nd place found it. We had them beat, but wasted several minutes going out of the way. They beat us by just a couple of minutes....the time it takes you to walk a hundred feet out of the way, have a pointless conversation, or take a poor line.

But, we did finish with 3rd OA (shared with our friends, the Lab Rats, who took 1stOA masters)- a fantastic result due to the amazing orienteering from my teammates. With the last checkpoint as an exception, they had created such a clean race, we couldn't help but place near the top. And to do so well having a little extra baggage called ME...newbie partner that doesn't mountain bike as a teammate. They rock. I was also excited to see that they competed head to head with the Lab Rats, an extremely good local team. My teammates are getting good...oh yes!!!!

Because we basically found the last 2 check points with the Lab Rats right on us, we decided to finish the race together as a nice group of friends. They were entered as a master's team, so we knew we weren't competing against each other. It was so funny to see how much bigger their 3rdOA trophy was compared to our 3rdOA trophy. Now that is a funny tie!

We finished in 7:49ish...not the 12 hours I had expected. Hey, wasn't this race advertised as a 12 hour race? I want my other 4 hours!!!!!! I was feeling really good and ready to go run all of those tons of miles I thought we would be running. I was extremely pleased to see that my endurance is still very high.

We were about 2-5 minutes from 2nd and and 25 minutes or so from 1st....which happened when we were gapped after the canoe trouble. I am no adventure race expert, but this sounded like a good race by my team.

Afterwards...beer, pizza, awards, and then home. I am no worse for the wear today, except that I am pretty sure I am not supposed to have a smashed pubic bone, and my body hurts where I took all of the mountain bike falls.

Charlie takes a nap after the race in the parking lot :)

Olaf eats Chef Boyardee for recovery or a treat? Ick!!!!!!

Raid The Rock was my first time to:
1. use a headlamp
2. hike at night
3. climb a mountain at night
4. rappel
5. run through a mud race
6. mountain bike a long distance
7. race with a team
8. see a checkpoint
9. ride a mountain bike clipped in
10. and complete an adventure race!