Laughlin Air Force Base Adventure Race

Over 60 teams competed today in a triathlon of sorts. It is called the Adventure Race - here at Laughlin - and people from other bases come to compete in it. It started early in the morning and the last team finished the race over 6 hours later. They start out riding bikes from the base all the way to Lake Amistad (it's around a 27 mile bike-ride). The teams consist either of 4 people or 8 people. The 4-man teams are called Extreme Teams because they can't sub anyone out. The 8-man teams always have 4 people doing the event, but have certain points in the course of the event where they can substitute someone if they want. The 4-man teams are hardcore, but will probably never win the race overall. They do have a category for the fastest Extreme Team though. Anyway, after biking, they run a little over 6 miles with three substitution points available. After that, they row on Lake Amistad in a 4-man inflatable raft. I'm not sure how far they row, but it takes about 45 min or so (I think) for a FAST team to row the course. This year, they threw in some non-athletic events - for what reason, I don't know - so after the run you had to do a water balloon launch (not one of the teams successfully completed it) and then after the bike riding 2 of the team members had to complete a Sudoku puzzle before they could move on. After the rafting, the team got out of the boat, all met together (if it was an 8-man team) and ran up a tiny trail from the lake to the finish line.

With all that being said, my husband was in this race representing his squadron. I've been heckling him because he flies so much he hardly has time to work out. I didn't even take my camera because I'm a dork like that usually, plus I didn't think there would be much to take a picture of if they finished only "okay." Well, STUPID ME - his team WON!!!!! I'm so happy for him because if he's anything like me, 2nd place is the first loser. I know, I know, they say winning isn't what's important, just that you tried your best, but I'm a typical type-A personality. That's why the Air Force Academy was so hard - everyone there is type-A!!! :) So here I am, regretting that I didn't have my camera with me and that we live in such a tiny little town that the local paper won't have anything about it in an article for me to at least have that picture. I guess I'll have to wait for the base paper to come out on Thursday evening this week. I'm sure it will be on the front page of that. They say that Laughlin's Adventure Race is the best one out there - and now other bases are trying them too. Peter's teams have always done okay, placing as high as around 5th one of the three years he's done it (he skipped last year or it would have been all four that the race as existed), so I really didn't expect much. Some of the teams really train for this race. Peter's team just did what they could - they work too much for the most part to have much time to train. I'm sure most of the Active Duty teams were that way too.

So, that's where we were all day today and why I didn't get any stamping done. I was busy watching Peter win out of 60 teams and we're super proud. Take care until Monday - have a great weekend!