Yesterday was the first race in the Girl Scout Trefoil Fitness Challenge—The Tough Cookie Adventurer race. I was expecting it to be like a tough mudder. I was so wrong.
We arrived early, about 8 am. The race was supposed to start at 9. The lines were already long, and we got in the wrong one. (Missing signage was one of the few bumps in the road.) We received several emails that said the gates would close at 8:45, and there was a pre-race meeting at 8:30. Because of the long lines, the meeting wasn't until 9. The race didn't start until 9:30.
We were one team but were registered as two. There was five of us—Angel and her teen, and me and my 15-year-old niece and nephew. Each team needed a registered Girl Scout, so my nephew was on Angels team, my niece on mine.
They gave us a packet with clues. Clues? The map had minimal information. What the heck? Even things like the huge pool were not on it. It was bare bones. I should have taken a picture. After the meeting, they ask if anyone has questions. My hand goes up. "Are the trails marked?" First he didn't answer the question. But finally he got around to it. "No", the trails are not marked in any way. Apparently an adventure race teaches you navigation. Part of the challenge was to figure it out.
Shit. I could do that at Mosey Wood. I might even be able to do it at Wood Haven. But I have never step foot into Camp Laughing Waters. We are screwed.
We did the bike route first. There were orienteering flags with punches for both the bike and the foot trails. (Oh, and we had 2 hours. Period. If we were late there was a one flag penalty for each MINUTE late.) We kept finding foot flags. Angel found the first bike one. Finally we found a few and did two of the challenges for their age group. Somehow the teen got a splinter and required the first aid tent.
We turned in our bike passport and picked up the foot one, and headed out again. We did better this time because we had already found lots of them in the first round. We had about 45 minutes. The kids really wanted to do the creek challenges so we worked out way to the creek.
Dang the water was cold. My neice fell in going for the third flag. We could tell where the flags were. There was a lifeguard nearby. (One of many ways we could tell this was a GS event.)
Angel got out of the water before they were done finding the flags. She was cold. We're heading back and I hear her yell "15 minutes!". I yelled that we were on our way. About 10 seconds later she yelled "10 Minutes". The kids were getting out of the water. The bank of the crekwas slippery. Angel and I agreed that the kids needed to run like they have never run before to get the passports back to the finish line.
When I got out of the creek they were already gone. We got close to the finish line and they were waiting. They made it with two minutes to spare.
We changed and ate lunch before the afternoon activities started. We had planned on the rock wall, gaga, and archery. We started with Gaga. It's a dodge-ball-like-game played in an octagonal pit. You use you hands, not your feet. If you get hit below the knees you are out. My two had never played before. My nephew was a pro by the end.
We decided not to do archery. They had to walk even farther to do it and they were over walking. We went back to do the rock wall.
My kids had never done a rock wall before—my nephew complained the harness was uncomfortable. With rock climbing uncomfortable is good. It means you probably are wearing it correctly. The teen went up first. She's an old pro because she does it at camp. My niece had never done it. The teen kept yelling instructions up to her. She made it to the top and rang the bell. Then came down and took off her harness. She wasn't doing that again. My nephew raced the teen to the top. He won going up, but she won coming down.
Miles/Steps: 6
Bathrooms: I-3.5 The latrines were no latrines. There was indoor plumbing in the units!
Weather: mid-70s, breezy
Extras: My nephew fell asleep in the car coming home. His hand was on his phone screen. The movement of the car made his hand move and play the game. The girls wer hysterical. His players kept rmming into a wall. At one point he was upside down.
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