Storm the Escarpment

What a terrific weekend, we (The Hunger Dames) had September 13-14th at the Storm the Escarpment race in Milton, Ontario.  Having met these ladies just earlier in the year from meeting on Twitter, who knew we could have so much fun biking, running, obstacle coursing, and kayaking.

Thank you ladies for a wonderful weekend, oh and the bruises.

Warmed up and ready to rock. Michelle, Kelly, Carol and I stayed the night before in Milton and easily got to the start line.  What I really liked was the other participants.  They were so supportive of us 40+ chicks and we got lots of recognition of our cool name and shirts.





We set up a sweet camp with all our food, first aid, water, and a change of clothes. Kelly had brought a canvass cover and I brought a tarp, we were cool, dry, and looked like we knew what we were doing.







After a "find the flag" opening, 7 km bike, Kelly and I tackled the escarpment, one hell of a hill was waiting for us.  Not only did you have to run up the hill but you had to run down it too - killer on the quads both ways.






The bike route was totally doable and had a couple of tricky spots and with more confidence I could kill it next time.  Thank you Lennie for letting me borrow your bike, it was perfect.  Mine still has a mystery flat and his was really strong.  I felt great but needed more practice days.










After 8 hours, we completed 5 laps, 55+ km! and became great friends. I was exhausted and hurt from some obstacle course falls.

Not sure if I will do this race again.  You really need to be a terrific, fast, cross country runner in order to not let your team down.  Having great endurance is great but you must be quick.

I had not really trained this summer with our trips out east and west.  My knee has been bothering me and by the end of the day, I could hardly walk :( MRI next week.

A New Adventure Awaits - The Hunger Dames

Being in true CZ spirit I have decided to take another risk in my life and try adventure racing. 

Long story short, I got introduced to this wonderful person on Twitter, we met after the Boston Marathon bombing to participate in a memorial run, hit it off, and then next thing you know she has me roped into an amazing sports adventure race.

Kelly Ziegner, @kellyziegner lives in London, works for the United Way and is extremely funny and reflective (see her blog here http://3zigs.wordpress.com/.

Saturday, September 14th we are attempting to conquer Storm the 'Sarpment.  This race adventure will not be easy.  www.stormthescapment.ca It promises 8 hours of fun plus I am sure pain, tears, and a few bumps and bruises.

 The format is simple; run, bike, canoe.  Wait, not so simple.  The race is made up of 10km loops of a 3km trail run of an army obstacle course, the bike is 6km of "challenging" mountain biking, and the canoe is 1 km across a quarry.  That sounds simple right?  NOT, you must do that 10km loop as many times as you can in 8 hours.

Kelly has recruited 2 others to be on the team of 4; Michelle and Carol.  We will be broken into 2 pairs of 2.  While 1 pair is on the 10km course the other pair is resting, relaxing and I am sure repairing from their loop.  I will need to pick up my running pace because you must stay in your pair or you are disqualified.  I was hoping we could of just met at the canoe portion to not hold up my partner knowing that my cycling would have been stronger but alas, I will have to move my ass up the mountain quick.

We have big goals set.  Last year there were 4 women's teams entered and we plan on being in the top 3.  The average last year was 5 loops.  I am sure we can do 6 if we are well prepared.  Knowing Kelly, me and now meeting the other 2, I think we are pretty unstoppable.

This past weekend we met up to do some chatting and trail running practice.  Here we are after 45 minutes through the woods. 

The best part of our run was that we came up with our team name (apparently you can not enter without a name).  On Twitter we were calling ourselves #teamnameTBD but while out in the woods Carol said it felt like we were competing in the Hunger Games, I said we should use that for our name, Michelle said something funny and then Kelly had it...The Hunger Dames. 

Awesome or what?!!??

Lennie is working on the logo based on this...but we will use food/wine icons instead. 

(something the team has in common is food and booze)((that's why I liked them all right away)).

The jury is still out if I will complete the Chicago Marathon this year, just not feeling it, but I think the training for this will help no matter what I decide.  Cross training is fun and now that I have others to train with it is not so boring. 

What have I gotten myself into?  Have you done any adventure racing?  How was it?  Any tips?