Out of the water and just suited up for the long haul. We got our bearings and set off, or better stated, UP. The only way out of a gorge is to walk your way out. From the get go we set our trekking golden rule: Run flats and downhills, hike hills. There's no reason to spike the heart rate at this point. We knew other teams would run and we decided that this was based on one of two things a) they were uber-fit/well-trained for this race or b) they had no idea how long this pig was and the emotions of getting out of the water/transition got the better of them.
I felt really good that Charlie set this precedent because I know I'm not the strongest runner in the group. It was only during this section that I realized that I'm also a slow hiker. I started pacing myself with Z-man who had a strong gait. I pretty much just focused on his movement, which gave me less things to worry about.
It's this mental checklist that I kept tabs on the whole race. The less things on my plate to worry about the better in tune with my body's signals I'd be.
We set a pretty strong pace from the get go. We even decided to shave some more time off by scrambling up a pretty steep hill. What these guys didn't know is that this was one of my fears. I hate heights and this was definitely outside my comfort range. The rest scrambled up with ease. I on the otherhand took more deliberate (slow - if you wanna be an ass) movements to get to the top. As I climbed over the last ledge my bottle of Perpetuem flew out of my pack and down the hill.
Dammit. My nutritional plan has been compromised and we've only been at it for 2 hours. Mick was kind enough to do a search and rescue, but to no avail. I decided that we should cut the loss and move ahead. I did pack enough food to get me through something like this. It just wasn't my plan "A".
We hiked for an hour and a half without much confusion. We did get to a neighborhood and got temporarily misguided, but eventually found our way to the town park which was CP2 (12:40 pm). They gave us 4 questions which had to be answered in the town of Fayettesville. We had an upperhand, in that we spent most of our first night running around town looking for a strobe. So we thought we knew where most of these clues were located.
We ran into town and our first clue was to find the statue and figure out who it was. Mick, landed that response and while he was doing that we were waiting for him at an intersection. We sat there looking around the square and noticed an older gentleman and asked if he could help us with some of the questions. As it was, he helped us answer the remaining questions. If it were not for him we would've probably missed a question that a majority of the racers didn't get on the first shot.
'What bank does the mayor send most of his time in?" Easy, the bank that's right next to town hall. Wrong. The town hall was the old Bank of Fayette, which we would've never guessed without the guidance from our old friend who pointed out that the mayor never hangs out at the other bank. There in front of us, in big honkin' letters on the town hall, read "BANK OF FAYETTE". We listened to some of his stories, answered some of his questions, shook his hand and went back to CP2 to check in. We got back at 1:11. Teams were bitching about not having the right answer, stating that their answer had to be right. Unfortunately, they were barking at the wrong dog, the race director.
CP3 and CP4 was a bunch of walking, a lot of elevation change and the place where I decided that I needed to keep my own pace. These guys were fast hikers and I just am not. No need to test the "speed" waters on race day. I filed this under, "Things I need to train for next time". Thankfully our group chemistry was second to none: we all had our strengths, but maintained a sense of comaraderie and humor which was the cornerstone to an enjoyable and competitive race.
After 3 hours and 46 minutes of trekking, I was very happy to see my bike back at the Cunard put-out location. The hike back down into the gorge was dificult on the knees and feet because the road was covered in gravel and the grade was somewhat steep. My big toe is still recovering from the pressure. We checked in at 4:57.
There's more...
For those who want to jump ahead, here's the result sheet with our checkpoint times.
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