Defending Champions...

To this day, I am unsure how Kerry and I became friends. But we are, and I think we are the perfect balance for each other. The one thing, however, is that Kerry scares the living $#(% out of me. This somehow makes her the perfect adventure race partner. :)

Yesterday was our second showing at the Women's Adventure Race. Kerry posted a great recap of our pre-race craziness (which included me doing the practiceman Saturday, Kerry drinking a lot, forgetting our life jackets, not inflating our floats, etc...) Once we finally arrived to the site, we did a tiny warm-up, and I'll be honest - my legs were dead. D-E-A-D. The signs were not looking good. Kerry tried to convince me that we were just racing for fun... but I knew better. With Kerry, it is all business. I shuddered to think what would happen if I didn't perform.

Anyway, having done this race before definitely helps. I'll spare the details, but basically we ran to a secret location, grabbed our third teammate (a rubber chicken!!!) and went to work on various obstacles throughout a 3 mile hilly course, through the woods at the YMCA. Obstacles included: handcuffing ourselves together, three legged race, disc golf with the chicken, croquette with the chicken, ball tosses, obstacle courses and the very dreaded water section.

The water section. UGH. Midway through this race, after barreling down a pretty steep hill, we have to pick up our lifejackets and flotation devices, run to the lake and swim across it. Most smart people use inflatable kayaks or rafts. Kerry & me? We used rafts and swim paddles. Let me just say, again, that Erin + Inflatable Objects = NO GO. I had to eventually latch on to Kerry so she could paddle me to the water exit. Pa-the-tic.

I should mention that all the while, we were battling it out with this badass mother+daughter Austin Flyer team. We beat them last year, but this year they were ready to kick our butts. The girl may have been only 9 or 10, but she was a force. Anyway, I was nearly certain they were going to beat us, but somehow we edged them out at the very end and took first overall. The Grease Monkey Girls prevailed... and Erin was saved from a serious beating from Kerry. Phew!

Here are some pics:

Kerry hand pumping our rafts minute before the race. Yes, we are still in the car. Doh.
Our high tech flotation devices. Good idea... very poor execution by me.
Modeling our YOUTH lifejackets. I'm still unsure how I got this thing snapped. Let's just say taking it off was equally challenging.
Getting my head in the game... (not really, but do i look like it?!)
Superstar Kerry- Queen of the Water. (She deserved a Good Dickens! Ha!)

Defending Champions! Yay!!Another good year. I was hoping that our repeat win would earn me a hall pass for next year, but Kerry was already planning our 2009 Plan of Attack on the way to the car. Thanks Kerry. Seriously.