OMAR 24 Hour

Team Mountain Goat Adventures

This year Lisa, Susie, Marcus, and I teamed up in the Coed division for the Oak Mountain 24 Hour Adventure Race.  This was a great opportunity to see how the 3 of us would work together, as we are gunning for Adventure Race Nationals in Bend, Oregon in October.  Kristi McBride is our 4th team mate, but was unable to make it down South ... I think she is still under 4 feet of snow! Marcus Barton joined as our 4th team member.  I like how Susie, in our text threads, determined that he would be The Mule.

I just recently had hand surgery for "trigger finger," but I had recovered well from that and did not think it would affect my racing.  However, on the final day of my Florida vacation/family reunion (Wednesday the 18th), I slipped and fell in the shower/tub.  The left side of my tail bone and all those ligament/tendon attachments took a solid blow.  If not broken, definitely bruised.  Running through the woods and pedaling technical trail was going to be a bit of a challenge, with my broken a$$.

To start off the race, we "spun the wheel" to decide which discipline we would start first.  None of us wanted to paddle first, so we made Lisa spin the wheel.  Welp! Guess what we got to do first ... paddle!

PADDLE #1    4.6 miles    1:12    6 CP's

We were given the location of the first CP.  At each control was a map of the next CP, which Marcus the Punch Monkey marked.  Susie and I settled in a good stroke rhythm.  Not 15 minutes into the paddle and I think we were all glad we started with this discipline.  Our team was out front and it was kinda funny looking back and seeing all the other teams following us like ducklings.

PADDLE BOARD    1 mile    30 minutes    2 CP's

None of us had paddle boarded in the past 5 years, unless you count Lisa who did the paddle board section at OMAR last year.  But since she was nav'ing, Marcus volunteered.  We transitioned and ate a bite, and got his gear ready while he was paddling.

TREK #1    9.5 miles    3:04    10 CP's

Lisa started out pretty fast.  She may have not thought it was "all out," but Susie and I beg to differ.  I blame it on Oso, the German Shepherd she is fostering.  Lisa took up running again, to train Oso as well as to drain his huge stockpile of energy. Unfortunately, Lisa managed to find an 18 inch hole.  She wrecked hard, rolling her ankle in the process.  After muttering a few choice words, she bounced back up and continued on her blistering pace.

Four of the first five CP's had us climbing up multiple hill tops.  And it was getting hot!  While the heat had no effect on me and surprisingly Lisa, too, it was oppressive for Susie.  The speed, combined with the heat, had Susie's heartrate hitting that of a hummingbird's. By the time we hit Peavine Road on our way to CP 7, she was starting to struggle.  Marcus offered to take her pack, but she refused as she needed to drink.  (For future races, I think each one of us needs to carry a flask of hydration, along with our bladders.)

CP 3

Susie was able to grab hold of Marcus' pack which allowed a little "tow" up the road. As we began our descent down a hiking trail to grab CP 8, it was high noon.  The spring foilage had not come out in full force, so the sun was blazing down upon us.  Slip sliding down pine straw, Marcus began talking about his Dad, B.B., born and raised in Alabama and his pig named Snowball.  With a melodic Southern drawl, like molasses rollin' off your tongue, he told the story of how B.B. and Snowball would sled ride on dem der banana boxes.  You know why we used doz boxes?  Cuz' them were waxed!  And Snowball would squeal all the way down the hill. B.B. loved his Snowball.  I asked Marcus what ever became of her?  To which he replied ... bacon!

 

CP 9 Peavine Falls

Trekking up to Peavine Falls, both Marcus and I did our best to help Susie.  She was deep into the pain cave of heat exhaustion: elevated HR, profuse sweating, nausea, and extreme fatigue. I tried to get her to cool off in a couple of creeks we crossed.  She finally let Marcus carry her pack, once I filtered some water for us.  She pulled out a soft flask, which I filled and she dumped a baggie of electrolytes into. As we made our way to the final CP, I just tried to keep her morale up, but I wasn't doing a very good job.  She kept saying to me that she was going to quit once we got done with the trek.  

As we hit the TA, we all jumped in trying to get her to forge on.  I think it was a combination of taking a 15 minute breather, handing her LMNT packs like it was candy, and Lisa reminding her that we as a team would be unofficial in the final results.  I am super proud of Susie's perseverance and sacrifice.  Adventure racing is difficult even when you are feeling good, but to feel like absolute 💩, knowing you are probably gonna continue to feel this way for a significant amount of time, shows just how tough she was.

BIKE #1    17 miles    3:44    11 CP's

We took it easy on this leg, especially since it was at the hottest part of the day.  Susie slowly came around.  How I know is that when I asked her how she was doing, her replies became a little more chipper each time.

Most of the points on this bike were right on the trail or just off trail but within sight.  I struggled a bit on the more techy trail or whenever there were steep pitches.  My tailbone and all the little soft tissue connections would light up in pain whenever I had to apply the torque. So I walked a fair amount.

BIKE #2    17 miles    3:01    5 CP's

We made it back to TA#1 around 4:30 pm and had a quick transition.  Back on the bike we were now headed to TA#1, picking up CP's along the way. We climbed back up Peavine Road for the 3rd time (1 trekking, 2 biking).  Susie was definitely in a better headspace now and was slowly beginning to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix.  

CP30 was a small waterfall off trail.  Here we began the bike whack from hell.  After nabbing the point we began pushing our steeds up a 30% pitch for 0.2 miles to reach a trail.  2/3 of the way up, I made it to the top first, dropped my bike, and headed back down to help Susie.  Grabbing her bike, I began pushing it up, when I heard Lisa cry out in pain.  Once I got to the top with Susie's bike, both Marcus and Susie arrived shortly thereafter, with Lisa's bike. Apparently Lisa's agony was due to GI issues, which was quickly alleviated with a sudden back door evacuation.

Time out while we waited for Lisa to unload a load.

On to Queen's Ridge, we nabbed this point by dropping our bikes at the first switchback and hoofing it up to the ridgline. Halfway up the climb, Marcus had to turn back around, as he had forgotten the tracker. The final point on this bike was on Longleaf Trail.  As we approached the CP, Susie asked me if this was an out and back.  But what I heard her ask was if we found it, to which I replied yes.  So as Marcus punched the CP, I turned my head around and Susie was gone.  I yelled for her, she responded, as she had already climbed back up those 2 steep switchbacks.  I felt bad about that, knowing that she wasted energy, and immediately apologized. (Payback is a bitch 😈)

We put on our lights and headed down Belcher's Byway to TA#1.

TREK #2    7 Miles    3:00    7 CP's

Marcus's wife, Trista, was here, and let us know that we had a 2 hour lead on 2nd place.  That made my night!  After a 19 minute transition, we headed back up Belcher's Byway. Lisa led the way and we followed like little duckling's.  Her walking speed, however, was so stinkin' fast that the 3 of us had to Airborne shuffle to keep up. After nabbing CP33, we began the bushwhack to CP35, along a creek.  This area had been hit by a tornado in the past.  This whole section was a combination of multiple blowdowns and patches of thick 4-5 feet tall pine tree saplings. 

Marcus was the caboose through this section and the caboose suddenly disappeared. We hollered ... no response.  We hollered again and then finally saw his headlamp.  Apparently his backpack had gotten stuck on a limb as he was crawling under a downed tree.  To free himself he had to cut off to cut off his arm.  Not really, but he had to take his pack off, and then untangle it from the tree.

After a "nothing but net" nab of CP35, Lisa's nav skills continued to shine as we collected the remaining CP's, all off trail.  It was nothing short of magic!  And remember, this was at night!

Marcus coming out of creek CP 37

PADDLE #2   5 miles    1:35    3 CP's

The hardest part of this leg was the freakin' portage.  Jeff's canoes, I swear, are made out of lead, because carrying that across the road from Lunker Lake to Oak Mountain Lake and then back again, after we got CP 40, was awful! A 150 meter portage each way.  Here is where Susie got me back from the earlier incident on Longleaf Trail.  As we were getting out of the canoe for the first portage, Susie yanked the canoe out from underneath me as I was getting out.  Kerplunk I went into the lake, up to my chest!   Susie said that she thought I was gonna stay in the boat until she pulled it up on shore a bit ... 😜😜😜.  Karma's a bitch! After that final portage, heading back to the TA, I was so glad the paddle was almost over.  Despite a night time temperature of 60 degrees, being wet, I was starting to shiver.

BIKE #3    12.5 miles    1:50    6 CP's

After a 16 minute transition, we were on the final leg. All these CP's were the same as previous ones from the earlier legs.  We were making good time now, as we could smell the finish.  All of our discomforts were immaterial now.  We rode under the finishing banner at 2:43 am, competing the course in 17:35, with only 37 minutes of stopped time.  We were the overall winning team.

The Triple G Award (Grit, Gristle, and Gumption) goes to Susie.  She fought through adversity to make it to the finish.  She had a phenomenal "2nd half" rally, which kept us on a blistering pace through the night.

The Chris Forne Navigator Award goes to Lisa.  I have been able to watch her skills progress over the last 3 years.  This race she was dialed and we did not dilly-dally trying to find CP's. She also gets the most poops in a 24 hour period award.

The Mighty Mule Award goes to Marcus.  He did all the "extra" tasks with no questions asked.  I also must say that his comedic character, even when poking the bear (the bear being Lisa), kept our minds upbeat and our smile muscles engaged.

I had an absolute blast with this team.  I think this race was a great start to our build up to USARA Adventure Race Nationals this fall.