2008 Training Schedule!- Updated March 28th

April 5-6 (Saturday and Sunday)- High Profile Adventure Camp

April 12th (Saturday) - Peoria Orienteering Course at Jubilee College State Park

April 27th (Sunday) - Chicago Orienteering Course at Palos North

May 11th (Sunday) - 5 hour training session - details to be arranged by John

May 18th (Sunday) - CAARA Paddling clinic on the Vermillion River. We are co-hosting.

May 25th (Sunday) - 5 hour training session - details to be arranged by Cortny
June 1st (Sunday) - 6 hour training session - details to be arranged by Chad
June 8th (Sunday) -6 hour training session - details to be arranged by John
June 15th (Sunday) -light session if we feel it's needed for GOOMNA, perhaps just an organizational meeting.

June 21th (Saturday)- The GOOMNA - 10 hour Adventure Race

July 6th (Sunday) - prepare for Potluck with integrated training
July 13th (Sunday) - prepare for Potluck with integrated training

July 19th-20th (Saturday and Sunday) - POTLUCK 2-Day - We host this weekend.

July 26th-27th (Saturday night to Sunday) - 10 to 12 hour "Ass-kicker Training Session" starts late night on 26th.
August 3rd (Sunday) - very light session if we feel it's needed for Sweaty Otter. Perhaps just organizational meeting.

August 8-10th (Friday Night through Sunday)- Sweaty Otter 24 hour Adventure Race

August 17th (Sunday) - 6 hour training session - details to be arranged by Cortny
August 23rd-24th (Saturday night to Sunday) - 10 to 12 hour "Ass-kicker Training Session" starts late night on 23rd.
August 31st (Sunday) - very light session if we feel it's needed for Thunder Rolls. Perhaps just organizational meeting.

Septemper 5-7th (Friday through Sunday)- The Thunder Rolls (12 hour version)

September 28th (Sunday) - Pumpkin Pie Ride (30, 50, or 60 miler)

New Training Schedule for SKMC!

August 5th - Single-track riding at Jubilee State Park (Peoria). Meet at park at Noon.

August 12th - Ride to Starved Rock with hike to Illini Canyon. Meet at Chad and Cortny's at 10am.

August 19th - Weekend off or make-up date.

August 25th - Saturday Night - NIGHT Orienteering with Chicago Club. Details to come.

Sept. 2nd - Paddle training on Lake DePue or Lake Senachwine. Meet at lake? We will try and have the canoe(s) we'll be using. Time to be announced.

Sept. 9th - Weekend off. Girls in a wedding.

Sept. 16th - Sunday - Tentative date for TEAM POLeR/CAARA Ropes clinic with Tom Grow

Sept. 22nd - Saturday - NATIONAL O-DAY with Peoria Club. We'll run the toughest course.

Sept. 29th - Saturday - LAST DAY TO REGISTER FOR SKMC

Sept. 30th - Sunday - Singletrack riding and hiking. Location and time to be announced. John's Choice

Oct. 6-7th - Weekend off pre-race. Rest those legs.

Oct. 12th - Friday - Check-in for race.

Oct. 13th - Saturday - SKMC 10-12 hour race

GOOMNA in the news!

http://www.bnd.com/sports/story/69004.html

GOOMNA 2007

OK, a little background. Cortny couldn't make it to this race. She had to work. Secondly, Code had gotten up at 2:30 to be at my house by 3am. I had gotten up at 3am to great him. We drove straight to the race, each of us with just a handfull of sleep hours.

The race took place in Highland, IL...which is a 4 hour drive from Spring Valley.

Code and I arrive and set-up our area. Each team had a designated area of about 15 feet by 15 feet to stash all thier gear at the starting park. Most teams are setting up neat canopies, and laying out tarps. Code and I just make a pile out of our gear and organize it best we can.

At the pre-race meeting we learn that one member of the team will start by doing a 1 to 1.5 mile run to a pool, dive in, find a clue sheet on the bottom, and run the distance back. Since Cortny is our best runner, Code and I just stare at each other till I finally say "OK, I'll do it."

I'm not the best runner on pavement, and I really shouldn't push it to hard on pavement with my tendancy for shin-splints...severe shin-splints. So, a 1 to 1.5 mile SPRINT down a paved road was a bad idea. I did OK on the way there (I didn't get last place), but as I emerged from the pool, I felt the pain and couldn't run back. My shins were on fire and I really was finding it hard to walk. I decided to walk back and this made it seem like we'd be WAY behind. I couldn't even see the next to last team.

The decision to walk back was smart though. I walked off the pain, checked the clue sheet, and was mentally ready as I walked into the park to greet Code. Code was standing ready and holding my backpack and stuff. 10 second transition.

We immediately started walking, and left two teams in our class behind us as they still were trying to figure out what gear to take.

I should mention the race was divided into 3 classes. Those that would bike first, those that would canoe first, and us that would trek first.

As we approached the first checkpoint, we could see three teams in our class that were in front of us. We over took all three by Checkpoint 3. They were all either lost or they were totally confused by the orienteering section.

We were walking quickly. They were running...but like chickens with thier heads cut off. LOL.

Unfortunately, after we overtook them, they just followed us, and we couldn't lose them.

As we took CP3 and headed back to start the bike, the three teams near us sprinted back to the park to get on bike.

Code and I walked. Checked our maps calmly. I refolded the map and got my gear ready for the bike. So, we walked into the park, put on our helmets, and headed out on our bikes. 15 second transition. We headed out in front of 2 of the 3 teams that sprinted to beat us. They were still fumbling with gear.

Less then a mile later, we biked past the other team in our class that had beaten us out of the park. Bike is our strength.

AGAIN, this team just chose to follow us and use me as thier navigator. They were pretty obvious about it. Still, I enjoyed that they were following ME.

They followed us through the more difficlut CPs and then over took us as we headed to an easy CP. We'd not catch them again.

We were slowing. It was HOT! ...and I mean HOT HOT HOT! Plus, we were tired and it was starting to show. Our pace dropped from about 15MPH to about 12-13 MPH. We were managing about 11MPH as we headed onto the single-track trail. (see pictures below...this is right now in the story...the vehicle you see us riding toward is at the entry to the single track).

As we entered the single track trail, we were hit from a cool breeze from the neighboring lake. Optomistically, we smiled and commented that the cool breeze would be nice for the next 5 miles. Unfortunately, the cool breeze was a one time event. We soon found that the humidity of the lake and the wind stoppage from the trees were causing an oven effect and it was a good 10-15 degrees hotter in the woods. That means it was well over 100 degrees.

This was pretty technical single-track. We had to get off our bikes and push them on too many occations to count. I was getting dizzy from the heat, and Code was worse. Still, nobody was catching us.

At about the 2 mile point on the trail we caught a team. I didn't recognize them, and asked were they were at in the race. They told us they were in Class "B"...the class that had started on bike. We had just caught a team that had started on the bike.

About a quarter mile later, we caught and passed another team from Class "B"...bike starters.

The checkpoint in these woods was a rope-pull (travese) across a small section of the lake. You got a tiny (I mean tiny) innertube to stay afloat with. I asked Code if he wanted to do it...but he stared at me like I was crazy. Only one team member had to do it...so I did it. I thought the lake would cool me off....but the water was warm (almost hot).

The 2.5 miles out of the woods was the worst section for me. It was truely terrible. I was so dizzy at one point that I had to walk my bike for a long section. Code did not mind the rest either. Both of us really wanted to drop dead...it would have been easier.

It should be noted that we were beating the teams behind us...even making distance on them. They were suffering worse. I can't begin to recall how many times I turned to Code and said "How are we not getting caught and beat?". The answer is that we were actually doing pretty good compared to the teams behind us.

We biked another huge distance to a manned checkpoint. We rested probably 15 minutes. I changed socks. Code just layed there. At this point we had biked about 36-37 miles. Still, even after 15 minutes of rest, nobody caught us.

We headed out with 7 more miles to go till the canoe. We were managing 7-8MPH...6 up hills.

...and just like that it turned from sunny and super hot to a cold downpour.

The rain was coming down as hard as I can ever remember rain coming down. It was stinging my arms and legs. The rain drops hit so hard they would splash up from the road below. I was shivering from cold. This was good.

We did our best impressions of Forest Gump talking about rain..."Sideways Rain. Straight Rain. Even rain from below."

It's these monsoon rains that would energize us through to CP 13 (the final bike checkpoint). At CP 13 we were told the race was being called off due to lightning and dangerous conditons on the lake.

Code and I were kind of happy and kind of sad. We weren't sure if we'd have been able to manage the canoe section (especially in the wind and rain)...although we'd have tried. We wanted to quit, and yet we didn't want to quit.

We will go back there next year and finish that race.

GOOMNA 2007

The few pictures we have so far. Hey, it's a lot more then the three we got at Madison!

Hannon/Morris Families Rock Peoria!

So what if it was only the Yellow course? We were a group of 6...including a 6 year old, a 4 year old, and an 8 month old.

Lets' face it, if you look over these results, we rocked everyone!

I don't recall seeing anyone else doing the O-course with small children on their backs...LOL.

Mad Dash Splash (Part 3) (We got Ice Cream)

Cortny lead us through the Metro trek with relative ease. We saw a couple other teams on this short section but due to our deciding to swim a previous section (being two check points behind) and one of the questions we had to answer along our metro trek, in what year was the Chocolate Shoppe established? A couple of teams managed to pass us during this section. Two of them while we were standing in line waiting for our ice cream. Now let me take a moment and say; normally we would not be stopping for ice cream in a 10-12 hour race, but considering how our day had gone thus far I may have possibly quit right there if we didn’t. It made the rest of that section breeze by and to be honest the rest of the race as well.

After our metro trek we were given our mystery event, this being a Sudoku puzzle. Now personally I’ve never done one of these puzzles and if I’m correct neither had Chad or Cortny. Again Cortny dove right in (like my swimming reference?) and was making short work of the puzzle, with minor assistance from Chad and myself thrown in here and there. I think it was the high from the ice cream if you ask me. Once complete, we hit the bikes again for a course around Lake Monona.
At our next check point we handed over our puzzle and Cortny had been spot on…again I’d like the thank Cortny for completing most of that puzzle (it was the ice cream). We raced back to where we had started, managing to finish ahead of two other teams (not officially because we weren’t really suppose to swim that one little section or drown our passport book).
After the finish, we had a great meal…I believe it was ice cream and something else (I could be wrong here, but its what I remember) anyway it was really good. I think we’d all say that it was sure an adventure and not at all the one we had in mind. We will be back next year (should we buy wet suits before then?). And I must say I have a six-pack waiting for two fishermen from Madison if I ever manage to see them again under drier circumstances.

Mad Dash Splash (Part 2)

I'll take the story over from here from Cortny...

Cortny on the floor and me on my knees definately made paddling better. Oddly, the only pictures we have so far were taken on the calmest part of the lakes (a bay), and make it look like an easy paddle. I wish we had some pictures of the white water splashing up into Code's face in Lake Monona...and then puddling in the back of the canoe under my weight.

If you look at the picture though, you can see I am on my knees, and I still make that canoe look small....and the oars short. That was our biggest problem.

We were eventually told that some teams refused to do the second part of the paddling, and they portaged the canoe instead for almost a mile.

Anyway, out of the canoes we went and on to bikes. The fun really began. We started passing teams now, and that was cool. It really gets you energized to pass teams. I think we had a bout 20 miles of biking done when we came to the Orienteering section....and we had put about 4 teams behind us on the way to it.

The O-course was great. It seemed to have control points for every level. CP's 1 and 2 were as easy as it could get, yet some (like 8) were a search. Still, we rocked the course and put another couple teams behind us in the process. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to complete it.

The next bike section was good, but I could tell this was where the "Natives" to Madison would be outshining us. We were still stopping to check maps, but the next 2-3 CP's were in well-known Madison locations. It was difficult to keep up and still navigate. The "Natives" knew where they were going.

Additionally, I had mis-plotted a CP and took us 4 blocks out of way. Luckily the passport with the coordinates was still readable for us to fix my mistake (This would not be true later. Our "passport" was mostly trashed.)

We then arrived at the "Metro-Trek" section of the race, on the U of W campus, right on the shore of Lake Mendota.

I'll leave the rest of the story for Code to tell...

Mad Dash Pictures!

Mad Dash Splash!

Well, despite my reservations, we survived the Madison Mad Dash. Let's just say it's been a long, lazy winter, but we began training again early this spring and it paid off. We finished the Mad Dash, our first race of the season, in eleven hours. It was a twelve hour cutoff, and the best team finished in about 6 1/2 hours. Obviously, we knew that was out of the question for us, but we aimed to finish. And finish we did, despite all the odds.

Team check-in - 4:45 to 5:30 AM. Start time - 6:00AM.
We arrived at Olin Park, along the shores of Lake Monona, around 5:00 to a chilly temperature of about 45 degrees. Thankfully, we had all dressed in layers and knew that it was supposed to eventually warm up to about 70 sometime during the race, but at 5:00 in the morning, 45 is pretty cold. Anyway, after team unpacking and double-checking of gear, start time was upon us. Shortly before 6:00, all 23 teams huddled around Leo for last minute rules and instructions to suddenly be given the starting gun, and everyone ran off in different directions. Since it was a three person, co-ed race, there were three marked points around the start with a different map at each point. Each team member was to run to one of these locations to retrieve a map and regather at the starting line. Chad ran the shortest distance to retrieve our large, topo map of the Madison area, Code ran the farthest (thanks again Code!) to retrieve our more detailed map of the city with all of the bikeways mapped out (this proved a necessity, seeing how Madison has over 100 miles of bike paths), and I ran a short sprint to retrieve our passport down by the lakeshore. Our passport had our UTM coordinates for all of the checkpoints, so once I got back to Chad, we started plotting the points on the topo map he had. After Code returned from his 2-3 mile run to the bike map, we were pretty much on our way. Unfortunately, we were at the back of the pack at this time - second to last!

From the start, we had a three mile run/hike with all of our paddling gear to CP 1, where we were to retrieve our canoe. We reached the CP at the same time as the final team, but we got off into the water first and headed out onto Lake Wingra in what I still believe was the wobbliest canoe on the face of the Earth. Lake Wingra is a fairly small lake, and we could see the path that the teams ahead of us were taking to CP 2 and then CP 3 around the lake. It was a pretty windy day, though, and the only direction we could seem to paddle in was to the dead center of the lake. One of the optional gear items was a third seat for the canoe, so we brought along our trusy stool that works great as a third seat. About 1 1/2 minutes into our paddle, though, I think we all realized what a bad idea this was. The height I was sitting at in the canoe totally threw off our balance, and Chad's 6'4" height in the back was only making matters worse. Our canoe was a freaking weeble-wobble. After about 5 minutes of sea sickness, Chad says, "Cort, I think you might want to get off your seat and just kneel on the floor." I reply, "No, I'm fine!" but in reality, I'm thinking, "Yeah, that might be a good idea." Thirty seconds later, Chad readjusts in the back, which sends me off kilter on my stool, and the next thing I remember thinking is "Oh my God! We are NOT going in the lake!!!" SPLASH! After a Wisconsin spring thaw, the temperature of lake water is slightly above freezing. We hit the water, and instantly none of us could talk. Our teeth were chattering, we were freaking out, and our canoe was sinking. We had finally put the adventure into our adventure racing. The final team was right behind us, and when they reached us they were totally friendly. They asked if we wanted them to call for help, but our stubborn heads say "No, we should be OK." STUPID! After attempting to swim a good 100-200 yards with a sinking canoe, two fisherman came and rescued us. They tied our canoe to their boat and towed us in. All I remember of this is Code laughing hysterically. I swear, he's got one sick sense of humor. After getting back to shore and becoming nearly hypotermic, two race volunteers generously offered us a towel and dry shirts. Thanks again! That's the only thing that got me back into that boat. After about ten miserable minutes on land (temperature about 50 degrees) and me thinking that my teammates were NEVER getting me back into the boat from hell, we were paddling to CP 4. I have to say, though, without our third seat, which is now sitting at the bottom of Lake Wingra, we had much better balance, and the rest of the paddling section was a piece of cake.