Mad Otter 6-Hour Adventure Race

The morning started with an early 45 minute drive for me, and I met Jeanette at the pavilion about an hour before the race began. Our team was "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee" and we checked in early so we could study the maps and plan our strategy. There was a trail race and there were 3 orienteering courses. The trail race was worth a lot of points so we were definitely doing that (about 6 miles), and then we would do the mandatory orange course and see where we were before deciding what to do next. 

Racing flats, laid out the night before the race
Ordered some compasses for the big day! (And future days!)



Checking in!
Ready to race! Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
After the trail race, we did the orange course. We sat down and planned our route, and then got going. We moved quickly and had a great time finding the checkpoints. We got our strategy down - I would use the map and compass and have Jeanette confirm where we thought we were and where we thought we needed to go, and then we would head there and she would check in at the checkpoint when we found it. She had the fingerstick.

Jeanette was in charge of running all the way to the checkpoints to check in

We had trouble with checkpoint #4. On the orange course, you had to do the checkpoints in order and we spent a good 20+ minutes trying to find #4. Later, we learned that #4 had accidentally not been placed. We were glad we moved on - one of our goals was to find the slide in the woods! 
I had some childcare issues to resolve while running - since Mike was out of town and I had five different families helping me for the day so I could do this race.
Jeanette going down the slide in the woods. It only counts if you make noise!
Ah, to be a kid again! So fun!
After we completed the orange course, we sat down and mapped out some ideas for the rogaine. We could pick any checkpoints for this, and the order didn't matter. We looked at the number of points we would get for each, and tried to map a route that would cover a decent area in the few hours we had remaining. We knew we had picked a few hard ones and made contingency plans for those. 

Running to a chekpoint
Cooling off while crossing the creek



Looking for a checkpoint on the other side of the river (taken by race photographer); we never found this checkpoint, but I did get to experience stinging nettles for the first time! Ouch!
When do you get to run up a creek between a bunch of horses while on an adventure race? So cool!
At the end!
We couldn't find that checkpoint near the river that we were looking for, and ended up wasting some time there. On the way back, I lost track of which trail we were on - a mistake that cost us for sure and we were penalized for being late. We ended up having to climb straight up a ridiculous steep thorn-filled awful mountain-hill. I wanted to give up, it was such a hard climb. But we didn't. We got back and everyone cheered even though we were late and then we placed 3rd for women's teams. 

This was a very fun race. Definitely the type of adventure that is up my alley, and I can't wait to do another one! I loved learning that Jeanette and I made such an awesome adventure team!

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