Nocturnal August 8-9 2009

This would be my first time racing with May-Li, who is by all accounts an incredible athlete (and also great motivator, especially late in the race. The race started at 1:30 PM with a 1.5 K run out and back to spread out the pack before starting into the trek/paddle/trek section. This little jaunt in the full Florida sun would essentially start the process of 90+ degree heat slowly sapping the strength of even the strongest teams.

CP1 was a simple control and we chose to go straight across the field from CP1 - CP2 (I marked our route in purple) as it was pretty much wide open. Once arriving at the boats, we learned quickly the paddle section would be a push/paddle/swim as the copious deadfalls made the race a game of bumper canoes. May-Li and I were pushing pretty hard at this point and the hopping, pushing, lifting of the boat was taking its toll on our bodies in the heat (as we would find out later). We chose to drop the boat at the TA after CP5 and run/swim to CP6 which proved to be a great strategy. Since we did not have to return to the Boat TA, we punched east out to the field where we spotted the fenceline along the township range line - we were able to travel due east to the trail south of CP7 and follow that trail directly in (marked in purple). Because of the heat we were electing not to run and to conserve our energy for the night portions of the race. From CP7 we headed to the road, and back to the TA, and were still first in, even with our low pace strategy.


The bike legs in this race looked and were quite long, though they did not appear to be a huge navigation challenge. We picked off CP8, CP9, CP10, and CP11 easily on our way to the Tiple N ranch TA. All were near distinct feaures and pretty easy to find - but the biking in the heat was causing some pain.

The next section (trek) was the most challenging. We left the TA with Team SAL Miami, heading in opposite directions. We elected to go after CP12 first as it appeared to be the most challenging and we had a good bit of light left. It was strightforward, simply continue west as the Orange Blaze trail headed south. As we headed for CP13 - we realized the trail along the creek was quite the challenge to follow - so we punched out to the open field and were able to follow game trails using the small road to guide us to the attack point (creek/trail intersection) for CP13. We crossed paths with Team SAL Miami heading out from CP13 - they had opted to go in reverse order, they were moving fast (we weren't). CP13 was a challenging find in the dark as you had to get pretty much on top of it to locate it. CP14 was straightforward, and we chose to use the open field bushwhack again (instead of the trail). Leaving 14 I elected to take us due north to the road (we were stumbling a lot - and figured we could move well on the road) - and then dropped down to CP15 which was straightforward. As we headed for CP15 we ran across Team Miami again heading out on bikes - they had flown through this section, we were still not moving too fast - but the cooler night air was helping bring us back around.

The next few were pretty easy, though we overshot the bearing CP18 - and ended up in some really thick nasty stuff - (I'm not a real fan of CP's that are not on some actual feature). As we got to CP20 - we realized the bike back across to Florida Forever and the TA would be a leg burner.CP20 to CP21 was a real slog, CP21 to CP22 was worse (with some waist deep wading). We chose to bike back around to CP23 and attack from the trail to the south. Fatigue clouded my navigation at this point and I shot us way too far west. We came to another trail, realized our mistake, determined where we were - and then took a due east from the trail bends (as shown in purple) and nailed it - though the slow walk through that section cost us some real time (30 minutes). From CP23 (we were seeing lots of Sport teams wandering around on bikes in the darkness - since by this time they were well into their race) we punched back to the TA on slow but rideable trails.

At the TA - we headed to the zip line, we were still in kind of a zombie state, but zippig through the cool night air was a great rest and a lot of fun. This zip line was probably the best I have done - they really have a great system with the 2 towers and you can get some real speed on it.

We then decided to do the Sport run (walk mostly for us) - and that was a really fun course with a couple creek crossings (it was still hot so the water was nice). As we came off ECP5 on the Sport trek - we decided to jog back and hope we had time for one more control on the bike course. We hit the TA at 7 AM and decided to snag CP6 (paddle control) - which we were able to bike to. My legs really did not want to pound through the muddy trail down to Sport Control CP6 (about 1.5K) - May-Li had gotten a second wind and was charging, so I sucked it up and pushed hard. It only took us 8 minutes to reach the control and another 8 back - so we finisehd with time to spare (though not much).

In the end Team Shake A Leg Miami took first, May-Li and I took second (team Off the Map), and Katie and crew (Mim's the Word) took third. I met a lot of new racers - and there were quite a few first timers in both events (Sport and Elite). Hopefully we'll see them all return. A lot of them looked tired and beat. I always get a kick out of talking to Ironman triathletes - who after completing their first long AR, and being asked how they compare usually respond "Holy S***". There is a great satisfaction in pushing yourself hard, applying your wits, and navigation skills, and challenging nature that you get from this sport.