McPherson Marathon: Adventure Race

Jon and his assistant (Sgt Gregory) participated in an Adventure Race Saturday. The race consisted of a 5k run, orienteering (more details later), 10k mountain bike ride, mystery even and canoe. The race started at 7:30 and I intended to sleep in and then come out later with Molly - that plan was not accepted by Molly who at 6:15 started crying bloody murder and looking all over the house for Jon. I guess she knew it was Saturday and he should be home, so I showered with her screaming and then loaded her into the car screaming and drove to the race, with her screaming and saw Jon start the race. Guess who turned all smiles when she saw her daddy??

EVENT 1 - The Run
Look fast because this is probably the last time they had the lead. Jon's goal when he came home from the briefing was to beat at least one team and preferably a girl. There were Special Forces, Green Beret and some other stud teams out there who probably do this kind of stuff in their sleep but the chaplain/assistant team were determined to show them all!!

EVENT 2 - Orienteering
This is like geocaching but with a map, protractor and compass (not GPS or modern technology). They were given 3 points on a map they had to find. One team had to start from the beginning of this twice b/c they couldn't get the points to add up. Let's just say I hope I am never lost in the woods with Jon and Sgt Gregory without a GPS b/c if we are dependent on their orienteering it could take a few hours. Without this section of the race they stood a chance but it took them 3 hours and miles and miles of walking - the fastest team finished the entire race in 2 hours 26 minutes. Don't worry though a few others teams were slower and one team even got so mad at each other after a few choice words with each other they quit the race. I am proud that the 2 of them didn't give up even though I am sure they were both a little frustrated at the length of time and miles it took to find their points. The picture above is them finally finishing!

EVENT 3 - Mountain Biking
From what I understand it was more hills and sand which was not quite the mountains they were thinking but they made some pretty good pace on this part of the race and made sure to keep the few teams behind them - well still behind them.

EVENT 4 - Mystery Event
One team member was blindfolded and lead by the other teammate to a ball pit where they had to find~

the 2 balls that were different from the rest. This event was a nice rest for each team. Most of them enjoyed catching their breath after the previous events.

EVENT 5 - The Canoe
They ran down to the beach got in a canoe and paddled out to the marker turned around came in and sprinted to the finish! A few teams flipped their boat but not Jon and Sgt Gregory they made it and after a few minutes they made it in a straight line even!