Holly’s Blog

Now that the official results are posted …overall I actually finished #66 of 87 total racers. The results are:

Ranking Name Bib # Age Rank Run Pace Rank T1 & Bike Pace Rank T2 & Run Pace Total Time

I finished 1st in my category in the Fontainebleau Off-Road Duathlon! Granted, there was only one other lady in the 20-29 age bracket… but that’s beside the point! It was a greuling course! 2 miles running, 8 miles biking, and 2 more miles of running… all in 1 hour 26 minutes! Another plaque for the trophy wall! The fastest guy out there finished in 1 hour, 1 minute flat! quite impressive! The fastest lady, who, yes, was older than me! (30-39) finished in one hour 17 minutes! But watch out next spring!!! I’m just warming up this year!

I was actually grateful to be towards the back of the pack of racers (there were around 80, with only 8 ladies total) because some of this race really was “off-road” and at least by the time I got to the really rough places a trail had sort of been beaten through. we ran in loose sand on the beach, over roots, through the woods, through fields, bamboo thickets, over your ankle deep (don’t stop or you’ll lose your shoes) mud, swamps (you really can’t do a good job of looking out for the snakes or alligators  when you are running through clumps of marsh grass 4 feet high!), roads and FINALLY to the finish line!!! (if you look at the picture close you’ll see that my feet and legs are completely black with mud!) Adventure racing is a blast!

I’ve been too busy working during the week and being a “weekend warrior” to bother to write about it this summer! Seriously… this has been a great year… all in all. Discovering mountain biking and adventure racing has been a blast! A recap on our last race: we had two goals going into the race… #1. To complete the race (this time) #2. Not to come in last   I am happy to report that we accomplished BOTH goals! I don’t have to report however the details of how close we were to finishing last… hmmm… guess I just did though. Anyway… I’m going to try another race this saturday, this one is a solo entry mountain biking/running duathon. Ought to be interesting if nothing else to see if I’m able to push myself when all alone! Pray the alligators don’t get me!!!

Is everyone happy now… I’ve actually posted.

Event: Mountain Bike Race

Approximate distance: 1 lap = 5 miles

Lap time: 34:50

Temperature outdoors: 96 degrees

Humidity 99%

Heat Index: felt like 100 degrees (perhaps celsius!)

Insects: mosquitos actually tried to carry off one rider who stopped for too long on the “Dagobah/Swamp Trail” Seriously… you can’t stop out there… no amount of Deet keeps off the swarms.

Mud: present in multiple locations, enough to make spectacular flings.

Water: generally tends to be on a least one side of you at all times… at least I suppose it was there… you couldn’t really see any for all of the green scum on top.

Roots: ha, you haven’t seen roots till you’ve ridden these trails (and I use “ridden” lightly… sometimes it is more of  a rough heave and a “jounce” over and over and over them… oh, my aching quads!)

Women: besides myself, one wife there for moral support, for a grand total of 2

Fun Scale: 8… would have been SOOOOO much better if #1. I knew ANYONE there. #2. I wasn’t the only girl racing. #3. it hadn’t been SOOO hot and humid!!! #4. It had not been on a Sunday morning around church time! #5. If I had some cheerleaders there!

Rankings: #1 in Womens First Timer ( I was  the ONLY one!!! stiff competition for that!!! HA!) #2 in First Timer category (men and  women) The plaques are on my wall already!
Fastest lap time out there was 24:16, first timers did 1 lap, beginners 2, and sport did 4… no one raced “expert” 5 laps. A 15ish year old boy did a lap in 25:10, put me to shame!

I LOVE ADVENTURE RACING!!!!!

Granted… our #1 goal in the next race is to complete it… but that’s a long story… we were on the last leg of the race and simply ran out of time! It was Spectacular though… Some parts were just pure FUN… some, granted, were pure torture!!! All in all, my worst fear has come true… I think I’m addicted!!! I have to send out a HUGE thank you to my teammates… ya’ll were absolutely WONDERFUL to work with… we never had a single quarrel along the long, treacherous way. The real fun was who you were competing with.

Ok, also as a side note I have a new-found LOVE for the compass… those little things are mind-boggling effective. I had So much fun navigating today!!!

So… I’ve been too excited to sleep!!! I went to bed right before 11 last night and promptly woke up at 1245… wide awake! I finally gave up and started getting all of my stuff ready and cleaning my apartment. It’s sad when you are washing dishes at 3 am… something’w definitely wrong with that. anyway… in 5 hours I will be on the “Great Adventure”!

Now that I no longer update, I suppose I can just post in relative anonymity for a while now until someone, in extreme boredom and (questionable) loyalty, checks this abandoned blog of mine.

Ok, now to the good stuff!!!

I’m SOOO excited… my plane tickets to Nepal are finally booked and my Adventure Race is this Saturday!!! Can’t complain! This Adventure Race is going to be SOOO hilarious… I just can’t wait! I just hope everyone makes it out in one piece and still friends!

That’s all for now…

BTW… next on my list of “To Do Things (that everyone has given up on me every doing)”

Upload songs to my ipod

So… I just finished the registration for the Adventure Race myself and two other ladies are going to be doing May 10th. The most difficult part of this whole process… besides trying to FIND 3 other people who were as crazy as me, and to decide on a mountain bike to buy, and to get in touch with Kandi!!!…. was to decide on our team name. With the decision left up to me I came up with some options yesterday… here are some of them:

The Y-Nots!

The Rock-ettes

The Overcomers

Red Hot Oompa-Loompas

Spitting Llamas

The Tree Frogs

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Snap, Crackle, Pop

3 Times A Lady

After discussing the options with several people… having Danny Allen sing “three times a lady” for me, visions of tattoos and leather from Amber, giggles from Bekah, and the input of the Hill clan… I decided upon “the Rice Krispie Treats”. (Credit goes to Bob for this one) We are now officially: Snap, Crackle and Pop, respectively. A close runner up was The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, followed by Three Times a Lady, with The Y-Nots! getting honorable mention.!

Details to follow at a later date!

It’s SOOOO beautiful outdoors!!! The sun’s shining, the grass is growing, the flowers are blooming, its the “false spring” in the middle of winter. You gotta love Louisiana, where we don’t have winter, just unpredictable periods of cold weather. I wasn’t made for urban life! Here’s some of the flowers in the yard:

Gloria, by Watermark

I wish I could crash like the waves
Or turn like the autumn leaves
In effort to praise You

I wish I could smell like the forest
The fragrance lifting a mighty chorus
In effort to praise You
In effort to praise You

Chorus:
But I’m such a limited creature
And my word can only paint so many pictures
But somewhere I think I read that I am

Treasured over all creation
So I know that I must try

I wish I could roll like the thunder
To leave the earth below in wonder
In effort to praise You

I wish I could fall like the summer rain
And every drop would sing Your name
In effort to praise You
In effort to praise You

Repeat chorus

Gloria, glory in the highest
Forever I will hide myself in Thee (2x)

Every breath that I breathe
Every moment in my history

Is an effort to praise You
An effort to praise You

Glory in the highest
Forever I will hide myself in Thee

Oh, Gloria
Glory in excelsis deo

Gloria, gloria, gloria
Gloria, gloria, gloria