Island Racing

So the reason we did a 48 hour turnaround in Vegas was because we had to get back to the Island for some local events that are too good to be missed. The Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) was up in Cumberland Saturday, after-party Sat night up at Mount Washington and then the Ramble Mountain Bike marathon event was in Parksville Sunday. I was doing the double which ended up being about 10 hours of training and left me almost crippled.

I have been on an adventure racing hiatus for the past couple years but Norm convinced me to partner up with him at 8pm the night before the MOMAR race. With 1 paddle this summer (3 last year), minimal running and zero navigation we would not be back to our winning ways so we decided to go for the spirit award. Norm pulled out his golden box of 80s workout gear (a birthday present from Stefan and Ceri whose mom used to sell fitness gear). And team Frontrunners Fitness was born.

Wendy and Norm stretching Geo style after the MOMAR race. It turns out with 2.5 hours of hilly trail running (~30mins of that because of "misnavigation") we needed a lot more than stretching to recover. photo by Lisa Ludwig

Unfortuantely we only got an honourable mention as "Team Haggis" outdid us in the spirit department. 4 gals dressed up as Jimmy 1, Jimmy 2, Jimmy 3 and Jimmy 4 with kilts, orange matted wigs and matching plaid hats. I just about killed myself on the mountain bike portion of the race as my split shorts kept getting caught on my saddle. I am not sure how they managed riding trails that were in BC Bike Race in kilts?? At the after party Norm decide to pay tribute to the 20+ MOMAR races he has done in the last 9 years. He put on every Tshirt he had from every race and now I have a pretty good idea of what he will look like if he gets fat.

Fat Norm (with 20 MOMAR T-shirts on) caught loading up at the after-party dessert table. photo by Lisa Ludwig

I am not sure how I managed to get up the next morning and go to Parksville to race the Ramble marathon event. I could barely walk. But it was worth it. Bluebird day to race on some sweet singletrack and hang out with friends in the sun for burger and beer after the race. Ahh Island Life. Good times. Fat Norm never made it....