Joy Through Movement
By Lexie Brown
Laura Linville and Lexie Brown on course at the Buff Betty Adventure Race.
What a gift it is to have the capacity to work hard and experience joy through movement.
This past weekend Laura Linville and I participated in Adventure Addicts Racing 9hr Buff Betty Adventure Race. We raced under Women of BR and had the absolute coolest jerseys. Pink with pockets for snacks, can it get any better? Thank you Broad Run Off Road, we got a million compliments on them!
Coming into the race, our team goals were to have fun and push ourselves—not all the way to the pain cave but we both have been training diligently so we wanted to explore our fitness a bit!!
We got our maps and made a game plan. The race started on foot, then paddle leaving the majority of the time for bike, with some embedded treks. As two strong navigators we were excited to start on foot, our happy place. We had a plan and were able to execute. It was a nice warmup to the day and fun to clear the first section. On to the paddle!!
Carrying the canoe down to the put-in was the most challenging part of the day but we did it. We got on the water and immediately were like, ‘well crap this is hard.’ The combination of wind, high tide and coastal flooding from the Nor'easter presented two non-paddlers with quiet the paddling challenge. Many of the checkpoints were under water and after a bit of zig-zagging and lots of laughing we found our groove! It was really fun to slingshot ourselves around all the turns and cheer for other racers who were doing amazing. Thanks to the flooding our creek was now a lake so we cut a few corners (as seen on GPS track link). As we finished the paddle, the wind was picking up, and I was very thankful to be done. It was easier to bring the canoe back up . Paddle cleared and on to the bike!
We aren't lollygaggers during transitions, but we did pop over to the car where I scarfed down a slice of pizza and we each ate a Fudge Round. It hit the spot—the hero of the day, hehe!
Our plan on the bike mostly had us doing a lot out and backs, ride, drop our bikes, get into a check point on foot and hustle back to get back riding. We avoided the single track where we could. It would have certainly been fun to ride but we wanted to be as efficient as possible with our time and energy. During the bike section there were windows of embedded trekking—clear the window and get bonus points. In a few of the windows we made some minor mistakes, but instead of standing or wandering to figure it out, we went to a known spot and re-attacked. It worked well for us and ultimately saved us time.
As the afternoon progressed, we kept an eye on the clock, and it was pretty evident that we were moving fast enough to clear everything. Counting down our last 10 checkpoints was fun. We bravely rode some single track to pick up a bike window and each checkpoint felt like a little celebration, one step closer to finishing. As we got to our last checkpoint we had a conversation about the only point we technically didn't punch. Well, we were in the right spot but with the combination of flooding and high tide it was not safe to get. Oh and it disappeared under water. We took a picture when were there, checked in per the pre-race brief and were told to move on. We speculated that now that it was low tide, maybe it was there now? At that point we had cleared the rest of the points and had over 80 minutes to ride in to finish. We made the decision to go in and if they told us to go back then so be it. Maybe we should have just checked it on the way back? I'm not sure. We finished the race at 7hrs 50min and were told, "Oh 27 is there now." Us: should we go get it? ...."I would..." We turned our bikes around and rode with intention, we knew we had two climbs. It took us about 9 minutes to get there and about 6 to come back.
Tired legs are strong legs!!! We weren't exactly thrilled to go back and get it, especially on one rocky, sandy up hill section. Laura got off her bike and ran it up hill. I stayed on my bike and it was the slowest climb. Our legs were burning and we were going to same speed. We were laughing so hard at the snails pace up the hill but we were doing it, relentlessly moving forward. That moment ended up being one of my favorite moments of the entire race.
Our bodies are amazing and can do so much more than our mind gives it credit for. I’m so proud of the day. I'm proud of our preparation. I'm proud of our podium pace; it was much more enjoyable than pain cave pace that comes when racing with my husband Justin ;-) Coming into the weekend fit and strong made the whole day even that much more enjoyable.
Final standings... 3rd in our category and 8th overall, being one of 10 teams/soloists who cleared the course. What a great day and weekend. The cherry on top was waking up the next morning and going on a 10-mile ride through the battlefields at Yorktown. It was a beautiful way to start the day. My body was tired, but movement fuels my soul and, of course, tired legs are strong legs!!!
