So the race started at 5 am at the day park for the Waterbury reservoir, but we had to be there for meeting at 4:25 so we could get our maps and stuff. So we set the alarm for 3:45 since we were right down the street from the park and dragged ourselves out of bed. We were warned that Jason would be difficult to get going in the morning, but other than not hearing the alarm and needing to be shaken he got moving fine. :)
Not surprisingly the first leg of the race was canoeing (though I had some thoughts they'd make us swim) so we were instructed to pick up some paddles and attach our glow sticks. I realized at this point that I wasn't as organized as I thought I was as I was trying to get food in my belly and attach glow sticks. When we got our race papers I was just able to get myself together and to the starting line. I think Jason and Dana weren't feeling like I was, but I think most of it was caused because I wanted a moment to look at the maps.
When the race started we ran with the pack of teams down to the canoes and found one. Jason went to the front, myself middle and Dana took the rear. We had to canoe most of the distance to the other end of the reservoir. I feel we did pretty good on this part for non of us having practiced it. Dana was getting frustrated since keeping the canoe going straight seemed to be an impossible task and the rear kept wanting to come around. (We heard from other racers after the race that we weren't alone in that.) When we eventually made it to the docking point Jason went to jump out to walk the canoe in the last bit. Unfortunately the water wasn't as shallow has he thought it was and he went under the water. On the plus side he didn't try holding on to the canoe and tip us over. :)
After that excitement we checked in at the checkpoint, found a place for our PFDs and paddles and began hoofing it to the next checkpoint. We started following a trail into the woods, but then opted to cut through a field and up a hill. We found a trail at the top which we followed up to a road which was the one leading to the next check point, so we followed it there. After a little break we picked up our bikes and hit the road.
This is where we learned the negative side of renting bikes. Both Jason and Dana had their chains come off a couple times and Dana found that the handle bars weren't tight. Fortunately we were on a good trail and, while it was annoying, it wasn't the broken pedal that another team's rental bike gave them. Also another team was willing to loan Dana the tools so he could tighten it and at least get rid of that worry. So after this fairly short biking stint we reached the next checkpoint.
From here we took a long hike, off trails, through the woods. The first checkpoint was straight up a ravine which was a little bit of trouble because the ravine was pretty shallow. So while we had moments of thinking we might need to be more east then we were we stuck it through and didn't have much trouble.
The next point was at the Eastern end of a ridge to the Northeast of us, so we aimed for the leading edge of the ridge and traveled along it to the far end. We ended up meeting up with three other teams and basically we all moved East together until we found the checkpoint.
From there we followed along the North side of the ridge going West for a while before turning more North to catch a river and follow it to the next checkpoint. We got a little lucky on this one because we figured we still had a little bit further to go, but after going through some nettles Dana wanted to catch the water and cool his legs off. It so happens that the checkpoint was right there waiting for us. We again met up with three other teams at this check point. One team, The Ragamuffins, was a repeat. We also learned to dislike the hat one of them was wearing because it was orange and white, just like the orienteering flags that marked the checkpoints. Since we kept winding up near them there were several times we got excited until he moved.
For the final checkpoint of this section we had to continue West up to the top of another hill. The hill was pretty steep and it might have been good for us to try going around, but we didn't. We found The Ragamuffins waiting for us there. Dana and Jason may say such things that I cleared the hill top off, but everyone had already started moving - honest! From here we were making our way South to catch a trail back to our bikes. As we were traveling I began to suspect we were drifting too far West. Dana and I chatted about it and, since we were still walking together eventually talked with one of the members of The Ragamuffins. So at this point we split company and we went more East and they stayed going the way they were. (After the race we found out that they adjusted their course because of that conversation, but did a better job of it since they got to the bikes before us.) So we eventually made it back to the trail, but we must have overshot one section of it because we needed to use a river to guide us in instead of catching the trail.
When we got back to our bikes we had to get to a checkpoint that was basically on the other side of a circle of paths from us. After feeling we had just walked down a somewhat steep path we chose to bike down hill and come up to the checkpoint. If we had looked at how steep it was going up to the checkpoint we wouldn't have made that choice. Unfortunately we didn't notice that until we were most of the way there. That hill really hurt! Dana and I were taking breaks on each culvert and I was realizing I needed to get some energy back in my system. Finding the checkpoint was a breeze and unfortunately I had completely forgotten about the bonus checkpoint (though we probably wouldn't have tried for it after that hill even if we did think of it). Dana took the hill much quicker than Jason and I did and I admittedly was concerned that he might have missed a turn and plunged off into the woods. We caught up to him at the base of the hill on our way back to the main trail and the next couple checkpoints.
Now we had to bike a fair distance, going North past where we dropped the canoes off and where we originally picked up our bikes. We picked up a paved road that we followed East for a couple miles looking for a path off to the North so that we could get the next checkpoint. Here we ran into a couple issues: 1) Jason had used up his water, 2) we weren't seeing the trail on the map that lead to the checkpoint, and 3) we were starting to have to be concerned with our time since there was a 5 pm hard cutoff to the race. We ended up spending a lot of time trying to find the path across and kept coming back to the same spot where we felt it should exist according to the map, but it didn't. We finally decided to cross and bushwhack up a hill. When Dana got to the top and saw it drop back down and continue back up it broke us. We went back to the road and chose to skip the two checkpoints and bike back to where we could get some water.
After resting for a bit and thinking that part over I realized the biggest mistake was forgetting that you can't trust trails on a map. If had trusted the terrain instead of the road we would've crossed a lot sooner and used a ravine to get us to where we needed to be. We also should've just gotten Jason some water out of a stream and purified it. Knowing that we were supposed to get additional instructions and that we had spent too much time trying to figure out how to get to the next checkpoint I suggested that it might be better for us to skip those two and see to help us make the 5 pm cutoff and maybe pick up anything else in the additional instructions.
So we pulled into the checkpoint to leave our bikes, get some water, and walk back to where we left our canoes. A storm had moved into the area making a more interesting time of what had, up to this point, been fantastic weather. We got to the canoes and with the storm still a good ways out we did the swimming leg which involved swimming across the lake (I'd say about a hundred feet or so, but I'm terrible with judging distances), finding a check point and swimming back. After we got out of the water things were held up a bit until the storm cell had passed. We then got our additional instructions and found a canoe to paddle back in.
The additional instructions involved 8 rogaine points that were scattered along the edge of the lake. We briefly entertained ideas of getting a couple, but I was honestly running out of steam and I still had some delusions that making the 5 pm deadline might make a difference. Or at least that's what I was telling myself to get myself to finish the paddling and get to the finish line. We ended up finishing at 4:58 pm. :)
So while we didn't break any records we had a good time. This was the first race for Dana and Jason and my first in 5 years (with 8 hours being my previous two races). We made a couple mistakes, but nothing that I feel was obvious - more things that we would learn with more experience. I'm more inclined to find my way back to the volunteering side of the races and I think Jason right now is more interested in focusing on weight lifting and more intense, but shorter energy demands. Dana, however, was quickly talking about next year. I'll admit if he's in for it, I won't say no - I'm a sucker like that. :)
