Adventure Racing is like giving birth...

I had gone from "never again" to "next time we should..." in the space of about 14 hours.

I think it was my team mate, Andy who asked if I would do another race at the latter end of the Beast of Ballyhoura.  I was at a low ebb at the time and said unequivocally, "No, never again."

However, Adventure Racing, it seems, is like giving birth. You forget the pain and the misery, the indignity and the discomfort, by the time you get to the celebration meal.  What you have in the end is a feeling of euphoria and power and "I did that!  I really did that!" ringing through your brain in a clarion call of victory.  And this feeling last for weeks!

 One of the funniest sights I have seen is just over 100 people hobbling like old men crossing hot coals, their limbs and joints seizing up as they waddled and limped down to the local pub in the village where the Beast of Ballyhoura race had its HQ. Actually, that is pretty comparable to the hobbling nature of the post-partum woman!

I was part of that select band, people who had finished the race and was making my way, gingerly on seizing up legs,  along with my team mates, to the celebration meal.  Despite my tender feet and tired legs the post-race endorphins were kicking in and without realising, I was starting to think strategy for another race.

  No wait a minute, I wasn't doing another race, was I?...Or was I?

As I sat scoffing the post-race meal, I suddenly heard myself starting a sentence with, "Next time we should-"

There was a burst of laughter from my team mates and they said, "I thought you weren't ever doing this again."  Ah well maybe I was thinking about it.(Just like I was never ever having another baby after the first one....I went onto have 3 more)

I fact I had already thought about it a lot.  I had considered how we could work better in transition and how I would really like to get stronger, fitter and better at cycling.  I had thought about food and how much extra clothes should be stored in the box... And all the while, we were reliving every detail of the race.

About an hour after dinner we went on to have a donner kebab from the local takeaway because we were suddenly starving. This post-race hunger lasted about a week.) Then we headed across to the community centre for the prize giving.  I was still on a high but After 40 hours plus awake, it's no surprise that I nodded off.  I am still not sure who won...

Ross prodded me awake and we hobbled back up to our tent.  I could think of no good reason to take my clothes off and put on pajamas and so crept into my sleeping bag fully clothed and lay on my back with my arms folded.  I wok up in exactly that position 6 hours later and discovered that the post-race excitement was still very much in evidence.

It was Monday and it was my birthday.  What a way to spend the day.  We were driving home from the race, back to Surrey.  Can I just say that I highly recommend spending your birthday in a state of post-race euphoria, quaffing coke after coke (wow-never been quite so thirsty) and going through a blow by blow account of the race with your team mates. It was spectacularly brilliant. We kept repeating little phrases to each other that made us all hoot with laughter,  reliving triumphs and disasters.  I think it is this post race euphoric haze which induced in me the desire to do it all again and caused me to say more than once, "next time we should..."

Never again...don't be daft.  I can't wait to do it again and I know what we need to do next time to improve it all.....