Rogaine 3:02:00 [3] 7.5 mi (24:16 / mi)
shoes: Salomon XA Pro - Light Blue
The final section included 15 points on foot, spread over roughly 10 miles. We estimated that it would take about 3 hours and thought that if we ran it cleanly, we could potentially clear it. We learned later that RD's Cliff and Kate also estimated 3 hours. It turned out to be much slower.
It was close to 90 degrees and humid by this point, so while we knew it might not have been the best use of our time, we decided to do the loop counter-clockwise, heading first toward the Swim checkpoint (conveniently, on the pond right behind the cabin where we'd spent the night before the race). We made good time getting to the dock, where we dropped our packs, picked up PFD's, and jumped into the water to the cheers of a fantastic crew of volunteers. The point was plotted on an island 200+ meters from the shoreline, and we swam efficiently there and back. A SCUBA instructor, a longtime competitive swimmer, and a former triathlete -- the point was designed for us.
From there, we continued north to CP22 just off a marsh. We found the flag smoothly but the punch and code was missing. A quick call to Cliff confirmed we were in the right place, so we continued on, no real time lost. Next up was CP23, the furthest point from TA and the most remote. It was plotted on a 10-foot knoll in a relatively featureless area, save for a sizeable waterway that cut across the course, east to west (ish).
We attacked-- and reattacked and reattacked and reattacked. We spent close to an hour looking for this point, and never found it. We probably should have moved on earlier, but we got stubborn and then we got demoralized, and then other teams started searching... and finally, we gave up and continued on without it. Turned out that no one got the point. Brent and Kate spent about an hour after the race talking about it and trying to work through what happened. I think we ultimately just weren't far enough north, but there were dozens of unmapped trails on the topo, and it was near-impossible to figure out what was what. Everyone agreed that a park map for the section would have helped.
By that point, we had 90 minutes left on the clock and weren't quite sure where we were on that map. Brent navigated smoothly to what we thought was the next point, and sure enough there was a flag there. Except that the coding didn't line up. We reasoned that maybe it was just a typo (AB instead of AR) so we punched and continued on -- it ended up being a point from the three-hour course, in roughly the same area. Our fault for making assumptions.
With an hour to go, we were pushing the pace but not totally trusting the map and the trails. We managed to nab a few more points on our way back toward the finish, but didn't make it to the southern-most points. Our final CP was on the west side of a small pond, with a trail ringing it. We arrived at the SE corner with 7 minutes on the clock and took off at a near-sprint. We nabbed the point and were within 300 meters of the finish line when Pete nicked his toe on a rock and went flying. We looked back as he was sprawled out across the trail, but a second later he jumped up with a huge smile on his face. "I'm okay, guys! Let's go!"
We gunned it to the finish, coming in at 4:57pm. Three minutes to spare.
We ended up with 23 checkpoints, second to Rev3, with 27, in the premiere division and either 3rd or 4th overall (we were announced as 4th but that was because they forgot to credit #22 without the punch. Not sure if that changed the placement). Rev3 went clockwise on the foot section and left 7 points out there.
Overall, a great first race by Strong Machine, and a lot of fun strategy decisions to keep us on our toes. Eagerly awaiting the second edition next summer!
I was also pleased with my own fitness, going into Itera. The pace felt comfortable and sustainable the whole day, and I was able to kick up a few gears the final hour, when we needed to boogie.