Give me a D! Give me an N! Give me an F!

So today was the Great Ames Adventure Race. Kori and I decided to do this as a two person team, as neither of us thought we were good enough at paddling to paddle alone. So in that configuration, we both did the 3 mile paddle/15 mile bike/5k and they averaged our time together.

Because both of us are obsessive souls, we got to the lake at 6am sharp, when check in officially started. We snagged what we thought was the best place in transition for our bikes. And we snagged a good spot in the boat lineup, so that we got to go in the third wave of five boats.

There were 130 something people registered, distributed between solo to four person teams. I checked the list at check in and saw that there were only three other two woman teams.

Hmmm, the odds are looking better than they did before... They only gave one prize in each division, so I noted the team numbers we needed to keep our eyes on.

The Paddle
One of the other two woman teams ended up starting in our wave. After we got lined up they sent us on our way. We spent the entire time trying to catch that boat, to no avail. They were never that far ahead of us, but we could never catch them, even after the guys dressed as Vikings accidentally rammed their boat. The Vikings apparently were too busy singing to steer straight.

I was up front "power" stroking and Kori manned the steering position. I'll admit that I need to work on my trust issues - I would always freak out when we got close to a buoy, since I thought we would miss it, but Kori hit every one like a pro.

We got passed by quite a few boats and passed maybe one person on the paddle. I think we might have some technique issues as we totally should have been able to chase down the two women ahead of us.

Oh well.

We got out, dragged our boat on shore and then ran for the transition area.

Time: ~35 minutes (I didn't check my watch the entire time so the times are based on what Kori told me)

The Bike
Kori transitioned like a pro, even with having to put on her new bike shoes, which she has had all of three days. I left transition a little behind her.

Those clipless pedals have made her a total speed demon. I was not very far behind her at all, but I didn't catch her until the top of the first hill.

We got to the top and Kori went to change into a harder gear and I heard the grinding. She dropped her chain the other night so I was thinking "Uh-oh!" but I kept going since I figured if they average out times, I should try to come in as fast as possible. So I left Kori, hoping she got her chain fixed up. After passing her, I quickly took down the two girls in our canoe wave.

The bike was good. I got passed by a fair amount of people, but no women, and I passed a fair amount of people myself. I kept leapfrogging with one guy with an ISU Cycling jersey on and that made me feel good that I could keep up with him (his team ended up winning the two man team category). I had ridden the route a couple of times, so I knew when to hold back a little and when to push. I wish my seat had been comfier as when we turned south into the wind, I had used up all the good will my seat was going to offer me and getting into aero hurt a lot. I think I got numb after a while.

The whole time I was a little worried about Kori and when I came back into transition I saw her sitting there next to her bike. I threw on my sneakers for the run; Kori ran with me and explained everything as I trotted along.

Time: ~53 minutes - 17 mph (~58 with the transitions - they didn't separate those times out)

The Run
So we started on our merry way. Like always, my legs just did their thing and I couldn't do anything about how fast they went. The ISU Cycling guy that I passed for the last time on the bike, just blew by me running about three minutes into my run.

Then Kori told me her story. Her chain dropped four times in the first two miles. At one of the intersections, one of the volunteers (who I know to be a knowledgeable cyclist in town) put it back on for her. She was determined to ride in the same gear the whole time if that is what it took. But her gears just locked. So she turned around and walked her bike back the two miles to the start.

In her socks, because of the bike shoes.

And all bloodied up on her knee, because as you can probably imagine, being preoccupied with her gears, she rolled to a stop and realized too late that she was clipped in still (everyone has to do that once, I think!)

I felt so bad for her! But anyways, she informed me that we were going to get a DNF, but that was okay. It did take a little of the competitive spirit out of me though. That 5k was pretty slow (except for the first mile, where my legs decided to run a 9:15 mile). There was a long big hill on it, which really wasn't as painful as it might seem (basically my legs were trashed by then already!) I got passed by several people, and passed no one, but what else is new? (thank goodness I pass a lot of people on the bike, or else my ego might be shattered :-))

Time: ~32 minutes

Total time: 2:05

Even though we DNFed, I had a fun time still. And great practice for our next adventure.

The winning two woman team (who started behind us) came in at 1:57, so we weren't even close (well, we were close enough that we totally plan on cutting 9 minutes off our time next year!)

I think I need a nap now.