After a year of really wanting to try one and never being able to work things out, I finally got to do my first AR last week.

It was the most fun and most miserable experience I've had rolled into one.

I've posted a full race report here.

And pictures from the race are here (sadly I didn't get in any of them, but you get the point).

But this is the gist:
It was a 7-hour AR that comprised of a short orienteering section, 10 mile mountain bike, 8 miles of canoeing and a longer orienteering section.

The temp was 17 degrees and we had 2-3" of snowfall throughout the day.

I was on a two-person female team. We had never raced together before and it was my teammates third race. I was thankful she had some experience.

I loved the orienteering and mountain biking section. We had problems with the first section but made up a surprising amount of ground during the mountain bike. I thought we had passed only 7 teams, but after looking at the final results discovered we had passed nearly 20!

The canoe was hell. What can I say. I had waterproof gear on, but my gloves weren't insulated. My hands were so cold I couldn't grip the paddle.

We rocked the last orienteering section and managed to take home 3rd place!!!!! Out of 15 women's teams! YAY! I was shocked. We hadn't thought we'd place, we were just hoping to not come in last. It ended up that we work really well together and we're both strong athletes that know how to canoe

I'm really looking forward to making a reappearance next year. I think I've found a new love