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Up North Orienteering Race - 104 Days to go!

"Up North Orienteering" held a race today at Beaver Brook in Hollis NH. We decided to check it out and continue working on our orienteering skills. It was a tremendous learning experience for us - as individuals and as a team. We decided to go with the Green route, which was 5th on a difficulty rating of 1-7. The markers were in the most technical spots and the route distance was only slightly shorter than routes 6 and 7. Needless to say, we challenged ourselves right out of the gate by choosing this route. There were 12 markers total to find. By the end time we had 8.
Setting aside the disappointment that we ran out of time to find the last 4 markers, it was a phenomenal experience. It is difficult to believe that just two weeks ago we knew absolutely nothing about orienteering.
Today, we learned a lot about ourselves as a team. We are a great combination. A force to be reckoned with come March!
Rock on Pure Karma!!!

Vertical Dreams - 105 Days to go!

Today we took a beginner course in ropes. We learned the basics of tying knots, belaying, climbing etc. What a blast. There was some healthy competitiveness amongst team mates - and tons of laughs -all great stuff!

Training this weekend - 106 days to go

We have some great training lined up for this weekend.
Saturday we are signed up for a beginner ropes course at Vertical Dreams in Manchester.
Sunday we will be honing our orienteering skills at an Up North Orienteering event in Hollis.

November 11, 2009 Bushwacking with my boys! 115 days to go!

I spent a couple of hours "wandering" around Tucker Woods conservation land today with my boys. They are interested in learning about orienteering since they see a lot of excitement coming from me about the new stuff I am learning. It's hunting season so we were decked out in our orange. And I'll tell you what - "Look out for team Pure Karma because we are ALL OVER the orienteering discipline!!" Mark my words!

Practicing what we learned..

So, while Laura is off running a 1/2 marathon (slacker!), Karen and I decide to practice what we learned in orienteering class. Karen feels the need to master this (see why she's on this team?!)
Ok, I'm in Karen. We head to Tucker Brook Town Forest in Milford, NH where they have a permanent orienteering course set up.

Gear!!!!!

We basically need it all - Packs, snowshoes, skis, harnessess, headlamps, knives...holy cripe - the list is endless. We hit EMS and begin to make some progress.

This is Karen - It is true that I did some initial research and found the Frigid Infliction Adventure Race but I never imagined we would be signed, sealed and teamed up the very next day.

November 7, 2009 -- 119 days to go!

What a day today! We had our first orienteering experience. Spent 6 hours at Lynn Woods conservation land in Lynn, Ma. with maps and compasses - bushwacking our way from point A to point B!

November 3, 2009 123 Days to go!

I had a great conversation today with Chris Yager - the President of the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association (GMARA). He explained more about the race and emphasized how important the orienteering piece is.
That gives us our staring point for training. None of us have a clue how to use a compass (no GPS allowed!)
Karen is on it. She locates an orienteering class held this coming weekend in Massachusetts. We all register and set our sites on Saturday.

October 31, 2009 Team Pure Karma is on the map!

We registered today - a team of 3. The only all-female team. That's right!!!
18 weeks from today is the race. The training begins.

October 30, 2009

Ok, so Karen doesn't let the idea go (no surprise!)...A text comes in early the next morning while I'm still sipping my coffee at work. She tells me that she's done some research already and found that the Eco Challenge doesn't exist anymore. But there are tons of other races that exist in the "adventure racing" category...the mayhem begins......
We text back and forth about some of the things we are finding on line. Really exciting stuff to me. Something is stirred up inside me - I want to do this. I have to do this.

Let's be realistic though with location - We are in NH. We want one that is somewhat local - not in say, Nepal (at least not quite yet). Karen finds one in Vermont called "The Frigid Infliction". It is held on March 6th in the dead of Vermont winter. It is a 10 hour race, in teams of 2 or 3, encompassing several "disciplines" - orienteering, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, Tyrolean traversing, sledding, post holing.

There is a fire in my belly that tells me this is exactly the type of challenge I have been looking for.

I contact Laura Joyce, another friend of mine who is an avid runner and tell her about it. She is intrigued. I tell her "I am in. Are you?" With minimal hesitation, she's in as well.

I text Karen and let her know "No pressure, but we are registering for this tomorrow morning. I need to know if we registering as a team of 2 or 3."

October 29, 2009 The idea is born!

Karen and I were hanging out tonight. And I start talking about something I've wanted to do for years now - Adventure Racing....I tell her that many years ago (12 or more) I had connected with a team to train for the Eco Challenge, but that life circumstances got in the way and I never followed through with it. The desire to do an adventure race is something that has continued to live within me.