Castaic Lake Race

How many different ways can you express the word "hot"? en fuego, scorching, flaming, feverish, torrid, fierce, fiery, fire, summery, sweltering, thermogenic. I think I'll stop there, but AFRICA HOT about describes it.

8 a.m start. We started off the run in LAST place because I forgot some mandatory gear in the transition area and had to go back for it. 1.5 mile run to the boats where we caught up a little bit to bottom 2/3's of the pack. From there it was a short kayak to the hike section where we had to grab 4 check points on foot. We made up a bunch of time there because we didn't bother to plot the hike too carefully. We decided to gamble and followed other teams. From the 4 CPs it was about 150 cliff decent to about a 75 yard swim across a lagoon. The water was about 55 degrees, very refreshing.

Back into the boats for 5-7 mile paddle. There was a bouldering section, up a canyon to get 1 check point. We had to dismount the boat and boulder on up a creek canyon. By this time we got back to the middle of the pack. Another few miles in the kayak and a run back to the transition area and we were in the top 1/3 again. Hey, we were very fast on the kayak - something to be said about owning a fast boat and having to big guys motor it.

We're about 4 hours in to the race and we were feeling pretty good. We're ahead of 2/3s of the field. It's about noon.

The next section was a long bike leg. "Great!", we think "one of our strengths", but it was not to be. The next 7 check points was about 18 miles of hell. I won't write much about it other than, 1) there was NO shade for 95% of the bike section, 2) it was very hilly 3) it was about 110-114 degrees. This took a toll on our time, along with one pain in the ass check point that cost us about about 45 minutes. We see about 3 teams drop out from heat exhaustion, life guards were out on the trail providing aid (water and sunscreen) to some struggling teams. We did not turn down the help.

We get back to the transition area to find that we have 2 more things to do, basically a hand paddle in an inflatable boat to get a last coordinate on foot.
With a sigh of hesitation we figure we've gone this far, we might as well complete the race. Ends up we were in the top 2/3's (technically not last because of some scoring errors), but 1/3 of the teams DNF'd (did not finish).

Hindsight: Not too happy about the last place finish necessarily, but while we were out there it was all about survival. The conditions were less than optimal with the heat and I would say a bit dangerous side, but everyone made it through or dropped out as their ability dictated - no ambulances that I heard of.

Next race - Central Coast Adventure Challenge in San Luis Obispo. I recovered pretty quickly and am training again for this one. I teamed up with Nuke as a 3 person co-ed, but we're going as My Kind of Party. This race is supposed to be pretty awesome, with great scenery. Looking forward to it.