taking a walk on the other side

while i absolutely love racing, the fact remains i can't afford to do
everything i want. so instead of sitting on the sidelines lusting
impatiently, i get involved in other ways. i do really enjoy being
support crew - in the heat of the action, helping contribute to your
team's success directly (plus, you can usually get them to crew for you
sometime later, a very handy negotiation tool!) then i also like to be
involved with the race itself. volunteering for a TA or CP is great
(and earning race credit is what has thankfully kept me busy racing so
far this year), but getting your feet wet with the organization of the
race itself is exhilarating. i've always liked making things happen...
from high school & college groups, to the organizations i'm involved
with now.

so to have the opportunity to work with kevin / checkpoint adventures to
organize from scratch the inaugural Adventure24 adventure race
was quite exciting! while i helped him out for several months on course
consultation, sponsor ideas, and oh yeah, the logo itself, my main
responsibility was that of volunteer director, because face it, the
race really couldn't happen without them.

to be honest, i think i started a bit late in soliciting volunteers. i
wanted people to sign up to race first, then hit up the rest of the
community then. we had a great crew, until the week prior, when several
dropped out and a few more didn't show up to check in. that made things
a bit rough! luckily those that did show up were awesome about juggling
the positions.

now a redux of the weekend...
Friday: woke up early, packed the car, ran a few race errands for
kevin, packed the car some more (really an obscene amount of stuff
crammed in there!) then hit the road for Cherokee Nat'l Forest in SE
Tennessee! the drive went well and i got in at 1pm. kevin and i
unloaded a few things, then he handed me some maps & cps to put out and
off i went! i hopped on my bike and set out 2 points (on the
orienteering section). due to the on and off again rain, i got nice and
muddy (i reaallly need to replace those glasses i ran over a few months
ago. too much mud was flying up!). i got back to the 4H camp (that
served as race HQ and check in) a bit before 5, grabbed some zanfel and scrubbed
my legs down - at one point, going to CP13, i looked down at the poison ivy was
as tall as my knees! crap. i just wasn't looking. fingers crossed this stuff
works! then kicked back and checked in teams. that's something i like
about races, it's always like a big reunion...seeing lots of friends &
old buddies, as well as meeting new ones (this event was particularly
fabulous in the meet-new-awesome-people arena! ;-) After the pre-race
meeting (which went well.. teams didn't seem to have too many
questions), kevin, emily & i set out to place the last few CPS
(involved a midnight walk in the rain thru Tanasi!) then i curled up in
my sleeping bag on the stage of the rec hall and tried to grab a few
winks.

Saturday: woke up a LOT during the night. nerves?? then was up at 6:45
to help direct some of the med/rescue units to their proper location.
then i lazily went about the morning, setting up and organizing things.
the first few teams rolled into the area (served as TA 2, 3, and the
finish) around 10am, with others really not settling in till the mid
afternoon. i'm glad i brought my ipod & speakers! the rain drizzled
here and there, but in general wasn't an issue. daniel from adventure sports
magazine hung out a lot (and helped out too).. then john, the owner of
terrapin beer, rolled in with his family and 2 kegs of beer to keep us fueled.
(my vote is for the cream ale!) the rest of the day and night went smoothly.
teams seemed happy and jazzed about the course.

Sunday: at some point, that is really quite indistinguishable, it
became sunday. the first team (litespeed) finished sometime the
previous night, but due to an unfortunate penalty, they were not the
winners... bryan, james & lisa of ASM pulled off a close win over
racemetrics, with litespeed coming in third. somewhere around 2:30am
kevin took over TA duties and i was able to grab 2 hours of sleep. and
i actually fell asleep somehow, with the adrenaline leaving me for a
wee bit. then kevin woke me up; it was his turn to nap. :-( by this
time teams were steadily coming in and my post-race pancake cooking
duties kicked in. easy to make and yummmy! blueberry of course, with
fresh sliced bananas. (i stashed some maple syrup for me!)

the race ended at 7am, with the awards presentation at 8. then the
"fun" began. (or misery i should say). for some reason it didn't
actually click in that we, being just the 3 of us, had to stash
everything back into our cars (u haul next year for sure!!), clean up
the camp, then pick up all of the checkpoints. (note to self: recruit specific
volunteers for post-race duties!)all this on 2 hours of sleep! oh, then drive
back to town safely. HA! i was anxious to get out as i had a friend that raced
southern lights (24hr bike race) supposed to stay at my house that night. i
snagged some of the o-points and hit the road (no time for the zanfel.
unfortunately. the poison ivy is starting to pop out now, but luckily not too bad.
yet.) i left the race area around 2pm, once again muddy from riding the bike.
(was able to get a brief shower as i changed in the rain.) as i was headed out of
town, back to atl, my lack of sleep started catching up to me, so i
called my friends jim & carol in chattanooga to see if i could take a
nap & shower at their place (and return the road bike i had borrowed
for a bit). felt much better, but after an impromptu dinner (with one
of those new special friends i mentioned earlier), i decided it best to
stay in TN overnight and just head home the following morning, totally
refreshed.

so that's it. this is long enough. and i'm tired again. the race was a
success, i had a blast, and kevin and i are already thinking about next
year's!