Dirt Diva

"Not all those who wander are lost"
- Tolkien-
I believe we all should get out of our usual routine and try something exciting and new once in awhile. That's exactly what I did this weekend. Instead of doing a running event I did a Rogaine Orienteering 24 hour event. Yes, we did get to run some to get to our check points faster. We covered around 45 miles.
I must saying it's way harder than running a hundred mile race.
You must find as many check points as you can in 24 hours. You want to try and get as many as the high point ones as you can since since the race is scored by how many points you have.
I was on a team made up of all adventure racers who were amazing(that will be my next sport ) Donato was the one who got our team together. It was Donato, me, Andrew, Jon & Cindi.
The course was challenging either straight up a hill or straight down. The weather got cold and it rained a lot but no one complained. We all just worked together.
I thought I did pretty good . I only had one melt down in the middle of the night climbing up a very steep mountain with drop offs. One sleep and you would be hurt or could die. I just freaked myself out but made it through with the help of my teammate Andrew who just made sure I didn't slip to my death.
We only had one aid station out there.We went to once at dark to get our warm gear and food, and a second time in the morning to change and eat. We had two places we got water from out on the course and of course the aid station. It's not like an ultra where you have aid and support. You are self supported out in an orienteering event. Everyone shares their food and clothing with each other. I really like the whole team atmosphere, everyone helping each other get to the end ;-))))
We won the U.S Rogaine 24 national championship title for first place mixed team. We came in 5th overall. How cool is that for my first big event ;-)))

I am so happy I was part of such an amazing group of racers and hope to do more events like this in my future.
You only live once so you need to get out and live ;-)))