Orienteer 15:51:24 [3] 42.92 mi (22:10 / mi) +6911ft 19:14 / mi
shoes: Hoka Mafate M7.5
POCAR w Jeff, David, rocky33, Sami11, and "the" Garrison.
first leg, 1000 - 1330ish
got the first 9ish CPs, plotted fast, and got out of Dodge. all pre-race promises of walking the entire thing were broken immediately. we started climbing the first and only hill. it was steep. with David and The Garrison on the maps, there was little to worry about, so we just trotted thru the beautiful woods, enjoying warm temps and great nav. got to the first Fire/Water stop around 1130, no extra challenges there, so we left and Garrison leaped over the iron gate. "He's got like 6 inches on all of us" "And he's taller too" to much laughter. about 10 miles in my feet started getting hot spots on the arches, my own fault for choosing shoes without much mileage on them. but we rolled into the next TA (Race HQ on map) with a 1min lead on The Sedges.
Erl helped me duct tape my feet while everyone else plotted the next 9ish CPs and stocked food/water.
second/south leg 1330ish - 1930ish
we got the south leg next and The Sedges got the north leg so we were alone in the woods again. the tape seemed to help but i wasn't great at any sort of contouring - much better at straight up/down and of course flat. Erl looked after me while the other 4 blazed the path ahead. let me tell you - if you are ever struggling in a race, Erl is who you want on your team. he kept me moving pretty well and also was drug dealer...errr...pharmacist for the rest of the team. there was some on-course plotting as well, just a little bit confusing (A or B? pick one) but we worked thru it. then one of the CPs (clue: cenentary) just didn't make any sense where it was plotted, but The G and David figured it out, the coordinates were in the wrong box, we guessed at the right box and it was right. magical. just before we put lights on, Jeff showed off his pooping skills with a packed musket.
rolled back into TA without any news on The Sedges so we were super stoked to have a lead. i re-taped my feet again. and petted the puppy. and ate all of David's oreos.
third/north leg 1930ish - 0200ish
on paper the leg looked to be 7 CPs and 3-4hrs so we were all happy to get er done. then we got to Fire/Water north and crushed the Spiderweb Orgy challenge in exchange for a prize...8 extra CPs in square formation, each ~1km from Fire/Water. joy. lots of off-trail stuff here and probably the worst woods of the day (honestly, not that bad, but still kinda annoying). we were worried about running out of food. i was slowing down due to feet issues, so Jeff and Erl divvied up my stuff and i ran packless from mile 35ish on. tough pill to swallow but teamwork always. we played the "how many seconds until Rachel starts running again" game every time we hit a trail to amuse ourselves. Erl hauled me up many inclines, but still the same (and only) hill as the beginning. it started raining lightly. had a few nav bobbles with the final 2 CPs, but we got to see the Fragile Flowers on course which was awesome (but we felt bad for their hurting teammate). finally rolled into TA, pretty sure that The Sedges had beaten us, but they had sickness issues of their own so we were first!
despite annoying foot/skin issues, i was really happy with how the rest of me felt - strong and none of my normal hamstring/hip soreness. yay deadlifts! Mafates didn't aggravate bursitis, so just gotta get arches figured out, and get some gaiters, and they will be golden for Sea2Sea i think. can't say enough how fun it is to race with this crew, so grateful for their skill, athleticism, and general good humor. lettuce roll. special thx to Erl for hanging out in the back of the bus with me.
interesting notes - before POCAR, my 2015 time-on-feet totals were 27mi run and 11mi hike. so 42mi in the woods was a stretch but really proved to me that my base is still there. also this put Jeff over 100mi running for the week. super sonic sona stud!
food revelations:
uncrustables (for The Garrison)
olives (for EK and Erl)
OCHO bars (everyone)
Erl's special gum (for Jeff)
and your standard fare of tortilla chips, chocolate sandwich cookies, Nutter Butters, Nutty Bars, Epic bars, PRObars, PowerBar cola gummies, turkey sandwiches, Snickers, Cheetos, pepperoni, Boost, etc