The thought of doing a race in the exact same location three years in a row may sound repetitive and unchallenging, but that couldn't be further from the truth. At least not when the race is located in such a gem of a park. The 2026 Shenandoah River Race was a whole new level of awesomeness, even on my third year of tackling it. I just can't get enough of the splashy Shenandoah and the addicting flowy trails of the Shenandoah River State Park. Add into that, racing with one of my favorite teammates, and you have an idea of why I happily keep coming back.
After an entire season away from home working at a summer camp, Annika's priorities shifted, as any 16 year old's would. The lure of a week at a beach house with friends won over the option to sweat, suffer, and stretch herself out on the trails with her momma. I was bummed, but I also remember being that age. I want her to want to do these races; never to be forced into doing them. So there I was. Teammateless. I've never done a race solo. It really doesn't sound like a good time to me.
Who could I convince to join me? Duh!! BECKY! Thankfully, she was all for this option. After racing together on a team for 5 days at the beginning of the summer, we knew we were teammate magic. We had both been itching for a chance to try racing on a team with just the two of us, and here was our chance. She agreed, the race director agreed, and it was set.
As fate would have it, about 2 days after the roster had been changed from "Wild and No Longer a Child" (Annika and my team name) to "Irritatingly Optimistic" (Becky and my team name) Annika's plans for the beach trip fell through. She was honest with me and said she still really didn't have a desire to race, but was totally bummed to have no plans for the weekend. I suggested she and Owen, my oldest son, come along for the trip and either volunteer for the race, or have their own non-race pace adventures out on the trails while I zoomed around with Becky. She and Owen agreed and we made plans to head out to Front Royal Virginia the next day.
We packed up the van, gave tight squeezy hugs to Chris and the boys, and were headed west by 11:30 on Friday morning. The ride over was full of silly shenanigans in the van as we sipped on iced coffees, milkshakes, and smoothies and crept our way through the chaos of DC yet again. I think google maps has it out for me and constantly sends me through the depths of that city far more often than the outer loop of 495. We pulled into our hotel by 3:30 and settled into our room for about an hour before heading back out for dinner and a quick trip into Walmart.
Race check in was at Down River Canoe Company on Friday evening, right on the banks of the Shenandoah. As soon as I saw Becky I gave her a huge hug and a few squeals of excitement. Nick was there as well with a big smile and hug. GRIT, owned by Nick and Jesse, had taken over the race from REV3 and were a spectacular company to continue the tradition.. Becky had signed up for the GRIT ambassador program and was fulfilling her duties by helping to hand out packets. The majority of racers had already been through, so she was able to sneak away for a spell so we could do some map planning together. We set up shop on coolers and cardboard boxes.
Within a few minutes we had a plan. A big plan. We were going to try to clear the course. It would be tight, and we had a few hard time goals set just in case things got sticky, but we really had feeling like it was possible. Nick bebopped over and agreed we could do it. I wasn't sure if he actually knew our capabilities, or if he was just being super encouraging, but his support in our decision was awesome. Mapping out a plan to clear a course is actually quite a bit easier than picking and choosing what points to grab. If you are getting them all, you just have to pick the most efficient route to all of them.
The sun was setting, and we were running out of daylight to look at the maps. All we had left to do was write in the clues, which we could do on our own at our hotel rooms. Annika and Owen had been out walking around the park while we were mapping, and came looking for me. They were ready to go back to the hotel, too. Jesse and Nick offered for them to clear some of the course the next day if they were interested. I thought it was a great idea, but I think Annika didn't want to feel any pressure to navigate. They were just looking forward to biking the fantastic trails and putzing in the river.
As we were leaving, Becky said something about navigating on the bike and it suddenly hit me that I had forgotten something in my hasty packing. For the second time, when packing for a race without my highly organized and always prepared husband, I had forgotten my ding dang bike board. I knew I had been cocky and not taking it seriously since this was "just a piddly 12 hour race and not a 5 day expedition race," but that had now bit me in the butt. Looks like Becky was the lead navigator for the bike leg! I would just have to be back up. We were in good hands either way.
The race had a 5 hour course and a 12 hour course. Uncharacteristically, the 5 hour was starting first at 8:30 and we wouldn't be shooting off until 9, though we had a short bus ride to our start line. With such a late start time, and with our maps already marked and plans set, I only needed to be to the site by 8:15 for the race briefing. I planned to get there by 7:45 just to be safe and have a chance to stage my gear in Becky's Jeep since Annika and Owen would be using our van as their chariot though out the day. Getting two teenagers out the door at 7:30 reminded me why I'm so happy we homeschool and that I don't have to fight them with this task 5 days a week. Becky sent me a message at 7:50 asking if we were up yet. We were, and we were on our way, finally!
I parked on the far side of the field and hauled by bike, paddle gear, and a few bags over to Becky's car, and then handed the keys over to Annika and gave both her and Owen hugs and wishes for a fun and safe day. Becky and I got ourselves together and walked over to the GRIT arch for the briefing. Jesse gave out a few pointers, suggestions, and encouragement to the field of racers. Directly after that, the 5 hour racers shot off on their adventure and we were shuffled over to awaiting buses for transportation to our off site start location.
After a quick 10 minute bus ride, we pulled into a small clearing in the woods on the shoreline of the Shenandoah. There were just a few canoes and a whole fleet of bright yellow kayaks. As expected, soloists would have the kayaks, and any team with 3 members would take a canoe, but also take a kayak rather than have to have their third person perched uncomfortably on the center rung of the canoe. Still, it dawned on me that there wasn't a very large field of racers for this course. There were only 24 teams in total with 10 of those being soloists. Women weren't very well represented either. Out of 38 racers, only 7 were ladies. I love it when ladies are well represented, but its also kinda cool when there is just a smattering of us in a race. It's like we're the minority and have to band together. Becky and I say hi to everyone we meet out on the trails, but we're always especially excited to see other women being awesome out there.
Becky and I filed into line to grab a canoe and hefted it down to the river's edge. The prologue for the race was to paddle upstream, against the current, to the one and only mandatory point on the course, located a little over a kilometer away. Everyone lined up along the shoreline in their boats and waited for the go ahead from Jesse. He did a countdown and set us off at precisely 8:59am. Full of adrenaline and fire, Becky and I shot out, paddling hard. We may have even had the lead for a moment, but eventually fell into 4th-ish place, ping ponging with a few other teams. We had a strong pace going, but not too strong to strike up a conversation with Jeremy from Broad Run Off Road. He was taking the course on as a soloist. I always enjoy talking to him and took the chance to ask how his team was getting along with the plans for hosting Nationals next year. He didn't give away any secrets, but made us all the more excited for that race next October.
We were the 5th team to punch CP 10 (obviously, the CPs were not listed in any order) and we turned back down stream to begin our 12 mile paddle back to the state park. We had agreed our paddle pace on the prologue was pushing it, and that we would back off once we got past the start, but we kinda kept it going. We kept it going so well that we remained with the front of the pack for the entirety of the paddle. The lead boat was never out of our sight!
Soon after we passed the start line, we came to the renowned Compton Rapids. With the foreknowledge to stay river right, we glided through with big smiles on our faces and just a little more water in our boat from the fun little hydraulics and rapids. It was such a great way to start that long haul of a paddle. The clouds were hiding the sun for most of the trip, but eventually they gave way and we started to bake in the late morning light. When we got to CP 11 which was tucked back on the side of a small peninsula, I paused to slather on some sunblock and shove an oatmeal cream pie in my face. Becky waded out through the shallow water to hit the CP, and I had the canoe pointed back downstream, ready to launch as soon as she plopped back in her seat. Other teams had the clever idea to leave their boats on the far side of the peninsula and trek back and forth through the stinging nettles, which appeared to save them some time. The nettle encounters made me happy with our decision to paddle around though. And within less than a mile we were back in our 4th place position. The next 2 CPs were directly on the river edge and required zero navigation savvy.
While we were certainly not lily paddling, we weren't red lining it either. It was just a solid, strong pace. Admittedly though, we did have a slight advantage over the heavier and lower sitting male boats. I'm no size 2, not even close, but Becky and my combined weight was much lighter than the guys, so we were able to nearly glide over many of the rocks and shallows that were beaching the guys. Also, we were reading the river pretty dang well and choosing clean lines to take. That combination helped us to pull out at the take out in 4th place, clearing all the paddle points without a hitch.
We gathered our gear and were so surprised to be told to leave our canoe right where we beached. The 5 hour racers would be hopping in shortly. Fantastic! We climbed the short hill to the bridge that led back to the main TA and started walking across. We heard another team come trotting up behind us and pass us. Oh no no no. We weren't going to loose our lead on the field that easily. We picked up our pace and began a comfortable AR shuffle as I called out "Thanks for setting that standard for us, guys!"
One final paddle point was located further down stream, but racers were given the option to punch it on foot rather than have to paddle back upstream after getting it in the boat. I don't think a single team went for it in the boats, us included. We jogged about a kilometer down a riverside trail and dropped down to the water's edge to officially punch our last paddle point.
While we were climbing back out of the river, Jeremy caught back up with us. He complimented us on our paddle speed stating "You guys are some powerful paddlers! I was honestly trying to keep up with you and was struggling to!" Flattery will get you no where. Just kidding. We were beaming for the entire kilometer run back to the TA. We grabbed our gear that we had dropped at the trailhead and I bee-lined for the portapotties. We hit the check-in tent and punched the transition CP before heading over and swapping out our water shoes and visors for dry socks, kicks and helmets. Within minutes we were on our bikes and heading off into the park.
The flow of the bike leg could be approached one of two ways. You could either stick to the river's edge along the Bluebell trail and get all the low points before climbing your way up into the higher trails and points, or start out screaming up a super steep trail and getting all the elevation and muscle abusing out of the way. We chose to abuse our muscles first and end the leg with a fast, level ride back to the TA. That first trail came upon us quicker than expected and we lost all our momentum to even try to ride it up. We pushed for the first 50 feet of elevation before the trail leveled out ever so slightly.
Becky took the lead and we tore through the trails, whooping and smiling with every flowy turn and twist in the trail. We ticked off CP after CP, rarely passing any other teams along the way. With such a small field of racers, and such a great trail system, we felt like we had the run of the park. Eventually, we met back up with Jeremy and cruised along with him for just a short distance between two points before letting him scoot off at a bit of a faster speed.
The park was separated in two sections by a lone paved road that was nearly completely off limits for racers. There was only a small sliver where we could cross over, and that was only into the woods, not a trail. Bushwhacking is challenging. Bike whacking is cumbersome. Bike whacking down a steep slope is just ridiculous. But when the options are that or riding an additional 2K and an additional 100 feet of elevation loss and gain, it makes the choice easy. We held onto our bikes as we descended a steep reentrant, using the brakes and bike as almost a stabilizer for the descent. It actually went much smoother than we thought it would.
We popped out onto our intended trail and met up with a whole cackle of racers near CP 57. I've never known Nick to hide his CPs, but 57 was a cheap shot. Tucked behind a low rootstock, nearly on the ground, the CP had thrown a few teams for a loop before it was discovered by someone who gave a heads up to the rest of us. We all probably would have found it on our own, but it saved the rest of us a few minutes of frustrated searching. We continued on our planned route further and further up the trails. Where you would expect a slight breeze or at least SOME air movement, it seemed like the air up on Allen's Mountain was as still and hot as a sauna.
We were out in the highest and furthest reaches of the course and coming to the point where we needed to make a time stamp decision. We had told ourselves if we weren't to a specific trail intersection by 3:30, we would have to drop 2 bike points located nice and low, but still further from the TA. We checked our time and nearly squealed with delight when we realized we were almost an hour ahead of that time cut off. We knew we were doing well, but that was such a shot of excitement to know we were really crushing even our own estimates!
By this time we were consistently ping ponging with a few other teams. All of which were all male teams. We offered to let them pass us when they would catch up with us on the trail, but we were repeatedly told to keep going and that they didn't think they would maintain a lead on us for long. I'm not anywhere near an amazing mountain biker, but it proved to me that I am able to hold my own and deserve a place out on the course.
We eventually dropped back down to the lowest trails and painlessly picked off the final 6 CPs of the bike leg along the river. On our final half kilometer of the trail we ran into our buddies on team Wildstyle and cheered them on. Directly after seeing them, I noticed a black rubber hose stretching across the trail and wondered in my head why on earth that was just laying so out of place. As I approached it at the super zippy speed we were cruising along at, I began to notice the rubber hose was slithering. By the time I realized I was getting ready to plow over a large black snake it was too late to veer off my trajectory. I shot right over it's back, my feet retracted as high up into my neck as I could get them, as it recoiled and sprang out in defense mode at my rear tire. The entire time this was going down I held an octave of scream that would probably impress an opera singer. I bet it was a sight to behold.
We came storming into the TA and screeched to a stop at the TA tent where we were all smiles and beaming with pride that we had cleared the course so far. Jesse and Nick gave us fist bumps, high fives, and poured even more encouragement on us. We were on such a beautiful adrenaline high! We transitioned quickly and noticed Annika and Owen pulling in to the parking area in our big monster van. We cut through the parking lot, climbed through a fence and met up with them on the trail. They had had a great day so far, playing out on the trails and going back to the hotel for a little chill time and a quick walk to Starbucks for a bougie lunch. I poured out our excitement and elation at our unfolding race to them as we passed a baggie of Cheetos back and forth. Soon enough, Becky and I had to turn off from the trail and begin our attack on the final leg of the race.
We started out with the plan to hop into a reentrant that would lead us to CP 20, but quickly pivoted on our plan, returned to the trail, and shot up a far less vegetated hillside. The incline was steep and it pulled out the little remaining reserves I had after our hard fought bike leg. By the time we got to the top of the trail, I felt discouragingly drained. We agreed that we would have to pace ourselves on this leg and slow down when we felt like we needed a breather. Being on a team that places experience above results is such a blessing. I honestly think its the way we felt comfortable enough to hold back and pace ourselves that kept us going so strong for so long. We never redlined, but we never stopped. It was a perfect clutch of pushing and pulling back.
To bag CP 20, we tried something I have never pulled out of my toolbox of navigational tricks. Mainly because I've never really known about it. Contouring was totally new to me, but it made sense for this CP. We were at the correct elevation for the CP, just on the far side of a few variably sized reentrants. Becky explained that if we hugged the reentrants, keeping the same elevation, it SHOULD lead us directly to our CP. Hot dang. We dropped DIRECTLY on top of our goal. Like to the point where I, again, felt like we were working with some sort of sorcery. When we had first shot off the trail, another racer came cruising past us and headed off in a direct azimuth from the trail intersection just ahead of us. We had the momentary thought to do the same, but I said, "Let's do our own thing and see how it goes." I'm so glad we did. Because we never saw him again anywhere near the CP. Go us!
Enjoying the confidence boost, we kept trucking along the trails to our next CP located in another reentrant about a kilometer away. Along the way, Annika and Owen passed by us on their bikes, still enjoying the flowy trails and winding paths of the park while the low rumbles of thunder began in the distance. I was ready for the forecasted storm to get there already. We were so stinking hot, even with temps only hovering in the low 80's. I had been mentally prepared to be racing in the pouring rain all day, but we had really only seen a few ominous clouds in the far distance.
We kept up the dead on navigation for the next 2 CPs. As we were heading out from CP 24, we heard a male team say to one another "those girls are bushwhacking out from here to the next CP!" Ok, so number 1: we're legit navigators, and can hold our own with the guys, but thanks for being impressed. But even more importantly: they called us GIRLS! Ha! Being in our 40's, its not often that we're labeled as such a youthful term, so we were again beaming with elation at being defined as something other than middle aged or even the dreaded "old." We did have a good chuckle at it as we shot through the woods to two trails over.
After hitting our next CP, again straight on without a hitch, we ran into another female, finally! It was Allie! I had met her at my hotel the evening before and struck up a conversation with her after I noticed her wearing a Spring Bloom Adventure Race shirt. The three of us palled around for the next kilometer or so, over trails and through some dense bushwhacking. Once we found our selves back on a real trail with an ascertained position, she said she needed to pause to get her maps together for a moment and that she would see us around on the course. I think our less than easy route had given her the idea that hanging with us wouldn't be all sunshine and lollypops. But we had enjoyed chatting and suffering together for a while.
Once we crossed back over the off limits road, or as we came to call it, the "no no" road, we were faced with the same steep descent into the reentrant we had conquered with our bikes in tow just a few short hours ago. We decided to just plow down the decline and drop right into the dry creek bed as directly as possible. Luckily, we found a well traveled path that led us directly to the trail we were hoping to find. We climbed back up Allens Mountain for the second time that day and were able to hit CPs 29 and 31 perfectly. At CP 31 we had another hard time stop set, this time for 8pm. I think we arrived around 7, which sounds like a huge time cushion, be we figured we still had at least a 1.5 hour trek back to the TA from the furthest point on the flats. And, we had at least another kilometer of steep trail between us and there. It was looking good, but barely. We had originally planned to bushwhack through some steep no man's land, but decided staying on trails and running the downhills would be faster.
Over the next 30 minutes we jogged down, trekked up, and ran down multiple trails before finally leveling out back near the river. Crossing paths with a four person male team, they asked if we were heading out to CP 28. When we told them it was our plan they said they were scrapping it because they didn't think they had enough time. We told them we had to live up to our team name and were going for it as we ran off ahead of them. We took a right and headed over to the very furthest out point for the leg which was nestled in a small reentrant and hanging from a wee little sapling. After punching that point, although we still had five more CPs and approximately a 5K between us and the finish line, it felt like we had it in the bag. We agreed to walk at the briskest pace our legs could carry us, reserving any running for the final stretch to the finish if time got away from us.
The snake I had hit earlier on my bike had sent out his brother to avenge his honor. I almost stepped right on yet another "random black rubber tube" in the trail, but caught myself at just the last second and jumped to the side. I'm not usually overwhelmed at those dang nope ropes, but i let out a scream akin to a horror movie bimbo. Becky joined in the scream, really not knowing what caused me to flip out, but crying out in solidarity none the less! Once we got ourselves together, we belly laughed at our damsel in distress reactions. Who did we think we were? Because we were some bad @$$ mammer jammers. Not fail, flighty, fairies!
By the time we hit CP 23, we knew we were going to clear the course. Barring any major catastrophe in the last mile or so, we even had a time cushion. Unreal. The sun was almost completely set, and there were still low rumbles of thunder and the occasional flash of distant lightening. Refusing to stop for any reason, we dug through our packs and dawned our headlamps without slowing down. As we neared the final CP, we were aiming our headlamps into the woods when we simultaneously caught the flash of the reflective patch on the flag. We both screamed out "THERE IT IS!!" And with that, our final checkpoint was punched and we cleared the entire course. We high fived, giggled, yipped and jumped with excitement!
Everything in us was itching to run at this point, the finish was right there!! We walked faster and faster until it just didn't make sense to walk anymore and we started jogging. By the time we crawled through the fence and the crowd around the finish saw our headlamps, we started running. And by the time the cheers and hoots and hollars started up, we were nearly sprinting. We crossed under the arch together, Becky tagged the finish, and we screamed out "WE DID IT!!" as we jumped up and down hugging each other. The time clock showed 11:26. We had made it with all the points with more than 30 minutes left on the clock. What, what?!!
We made our way to the tent and handed over our e-punch and tracker while we poured out our excitement and joy onto other racers, race staff, and Nick and Jesse. We each grabbed a slice of pizza and a soda and stood around talking with all our AR comrades. As luck would have it, within a few minutes of finishing, the rain finally began to fall. Annika and Owen pulled in to the parking lot at precisely 8:30, just like I had asked them to do. I wanted to tell them how we did, and pack up as much of my gear before everything was drenched. I hauled everything over and gave them an update on our race. They were excited enough to be honestly pumped for us, but not enough to leave the dry van and come out into the rain for the awards. Totally cool.
I walked back over to Becky and we were told the awards would be done in a pole barn just beyond the tent. The rain began to pour as we walked in, and we found a spot to chat with friends. We chatted for a few minutes before awards began. With a small field of racers, it didn't take long to hand out all the accolades. Being as Becky and I were the only 2 person female team, we got 1st in our division. Cool. Third year in a row for me! I was more interested in how we did overall for this one. After a few thanks and hints about upcoming races Jesse and Nick were organizing, I scurried up to the podium and asked two super sweet young volunteers if they could tell me how Becky and I did in the whole line up. Eventually they were able to tell us they "thought" we had earned our way to 6th overall! Nice!
The day was absolutely awesome. Becky and I agreed we had pushed when we could, avoided any misery, made some fantastic memories, navigated like bosses, and really enjoyed the race to the max. We couldn't have asked for a better experience. I have been so blessed with plenty of awesome teammates throughout the few years I've been doing this AR business. Some have pushed me to be a better athlete, some have pushed me to be a better navigator, some have pushed me to be a better person. Becky and I pushed each other to do all the above, and we did it while really enjoying ourselves. Honestly, what more could we ask for?
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