North Country Endurance Challenge

I had heard about this event last year (2012) , just before the weekend of the race. It sounded fun… but maybe a little too much for me at that point. I had been back from TransRockies for about a month and was preparing for the Adventure Race Nationals in NY  with the Untamed New England team (and by preparing I mean that I actually started running). The North Country Endurance Challenge may have been a good experience then… but it was a great experience this year!

The race consists of paddling, mountain biking, and trail running. It’s a supported race, with each leg being ‘only’ about an hour or so long.

The start line.

One of the most important details for this event is a solid support crew. With 8 legs, there are 8 places throughout the course to potentially suck up time in transition areas and drop gear. Keep in mind, however, this IS NOT how you want to advertise for the position when searching for a support crew. These people are hard to find!!! Being a supporter means you have to give up a Friday afternoon, that Friday night, and ALL day Saturday. I was asking someone to get up at 4:30AM on Saturday and follow me around northern NH. Would I be able to spend time with this person/ these people? No. I’d really only see them for brief moments as I checked in and quickly checked out of the transition areas. But it’s SUCH an important role; you can’t do this race without someone reliable and enthusiastic.

When you have something important happening in your life, who do you ask to be there?

Your MOM, of course!

I also had another amazing woman- a friend of mine from high school, Emily Kimball. She’s an all-star! We reconnected after years of not being in touch. She was training for her first marathon in Park City, Utah. I was fortunate to be able to join her on a long run through Evan’s Notch a few weeks prior to this race. Emily is awesome! If there was someone who could calm my mom’s nerves and help take charge of this ‘support crew’ task, it was her.

The race went by quickly. A paddle, followed by a short run to the bike leg. A bike to a run transition (where we had some major course flagging issues and people got lost), back to to a bike transition. This is where I arrived to the transition area only to find out I had somehow passed the large group of people who had taken off running ahead of me. (Everyone had missed a turn and over run that section of the course!!) The bike leg was followed by a mountain run.

That part of the course was awesome! A long slog up a ski trail, followed by a twisty descend to the last bike leg. That last bike was long and lonely and seemed to go on forever. There were times I questioned if I was in the right place (in the middle of nowhere) and wondered how far behind me everyone else was. I rode down 4X4 trails and endless dirt roads following one blue flag at a time.

With every pedal rotation I knew I was closer to the finish. I popped out at the last TA (with my mom and Emily cheering like crazy). As I slowed on my bike they tried to make me eat. I stuffed down a few bites and continued onto the finish. I was the first woman to cross the finish line… it was a great feeling (plus I won $1000)!

            A super fun event in a great community…. with a GREAT support crew. xo.