Adventure Racing

Never even heard about this sport called adventure racing until a bunch of friends started doing it. They've done a couple now, but nothing as intense as the one they did this weekend - a 24 hour race full of trekking, mountain biking, paddling, rappelling, and orienteering. It started at midnight Friday night and went until midnight Saturday night.

A friend and I went to go pick up the 2 teams of 3 each that we knew Saturday evening. The winning team did the 24 hour race in 13 hours and 17 minutes. Teams straggled in the entire time that we were there and the stories were just amazing. (As were the stars that we got to see while waiting.) One team got stalked by a mountain lion while they were orienteering in the dark. One of the points they had to find was in a field of stinging nettles. They paddled past tug boats and barges to find islands in the middle of the Mississippi River. One of our guys fell in a sink hole bigger than him when the edge of the bank gave way underneath him. Two got their hands stuck in the rope rappelling into a natural amphitheater.

The best stories come from the drive home. One of the teams refused to let me drive them home, so I rode back with the other team. They insisted that they were fine, and they seemed to be fine. At the time. On the way home, sleep deprivation hit and the hallucinations started. They saw owls sitting outside their window on the interstate, went 40 mph on the freeway, and stopped more than a half block back from stoplights in town. This morning, every single one of the said, "I don't know why we didn't let you drive."

Next time, I'm driving home, even if I have to fight them for the keys.