Training Log Archive: glewis

NYARA Trilogy with Noah. A perfect day of memories with my favorite little man!

Noah was sad about having the family race postponed again, so I promised him to find a race that we could make a weekend out of. This ended up working out perfectly for our schedule. We packed up the car right after school on Friday and drove north of Albany where we camped in a primitive lot overnight. The NYARA crew was there and was incredibly kind and loving towards Noah - he was extremely excited.

I let him sleep in a hair on Saturday morning and we ended up cutting it close before the race started. Once we arrived at Grafton Lakes State Park we had only 45 minutes and needed to drive back out to drop off our bikes, inflate our packraft (we asked permission to use it as opposed to sit on top kayaks), eat breakfast, use the bathroom (which were all locked), and get ready to race. We lined up at 7:58, but I hadn't look at the map beyond the opening trek and paddle.

Noah took off with enthusiasm, jumping over rocks and running down the trail. We had ~2km to go to the paddle put in and I was carrying all of our gear with me. Noah enjoyed finding the CPs right on trail while also reminding me that a team was sneaking up from behind and that we should run faster. In response I reminded him how long 6 hours was.

We transitioned to paddling quickly. Noah was very intrigued by the rogue set of maps that was left floating in the water by another team. It took a little while for me to get comfortable with my pack in the boat; I ended up wearing it while paddling. Dan Foster came alongside and we chatted for a short bit before he motored away. Noah got a bit chilly from the water splashing on him; he had forgotten to put on his hat so he had to borrow mine to keep the water off of his head. The paddle had 2 portages between 3 ponds, with 1 point in each pond. He was getting chillier each portage, more so after he stepped into a pond getting out. Still, he kept his head up and was happy to take out at the end, with only a few teams behind us still.

I got him some more food and water as I checked out the maps for the bike. There was a loop of optionals (no thank you) and a group of mandatories. To get to the mandatories we had to do some bike pushing (hills are big on a 16" bike), but eventually got to the highway that we had to cross. I was a bit nervous riding along it for ~100m, but we did it safely. Once across, he was a trooper pushing his bike up a muddy hill to find our first bike point. He had to do some more walking down steep hills and around muddy and rocky sections of doubletrack, but never complained despite a few falls. The tears that were shed dried up quickly. M10 required a trek out into a penisnula that was masquerading as an island. I carried Noah over the wet spots. It was a bit chilly and they would have been up to his chest! From here we rode towards M11, but ended up dropping our bikes and trekking to it on foot to do a long out and back into a roaring stream. He did so well, happy and smiling despite the challenge. There was a small fall and the need for a band-aid, but he was fine afterwards. He also struck up a conversation with another racer, a boy about 10ish. Noah felt very important talking to him. He also enjoyed talking to all of the racers - everyone cheered him on happily and was so supportive. When get returned to our bike we ran into 4050/NYARA, and Noah struck up a conversation with Shari - she is too kind! We then biked around and dropped again to walk up a steep hill to M12. Noah was again fantastic about it, but getting heavier as I carried him over the wet spots.

As we returned to our bikes we only had 2 hours left. Noah had been eating and drinking constantly but was justifiably tired. Only now did I start carrying his bike for him on the uphills, but I often found him running(!) to keep moving quickly. The ride back was hard for him, but we finally returned to our car with about 75 minutes remaining. While I checked out the trekking map for the first time Noah ate his long-awaited turkey and cheese sandwich. Many teams had made the poor choice to get the optional bike points, and there was a chance that our little team could beat them if they got back late.

The trek was slow and Noah was tired, but we had fun eating our sandwiches and holding hands while walking. Noah had fun with a stick that he used to cut down trees and power lines. He had a nice talk with Olga when they ran past us too. We only had time for 3 points (4 would have gotten us ahead of a number of teams), but we enjoyed the woods and the brief rainstorm. He had just enough energy to run the passport in to the finish line with 5 minutes left.

We got cleaned up and played on the playground before heading home. Great thanks to NYARA for the whole affair, including a challenging race, post race prizes and pizza, and a neverending supply of happiness and support directed towards Noah. Noah took a nice nap in the car on the way home.

So proud of him - he is such a wonderful little man. This was a weekend of terrific memories that neither of us will ever forget!

C • Congrats, Noah! 4

Core. Kind of tough today.

Medium paddle.

Hot and humid run interrupted by a rain shower halfway through. Started fast and held that pace for a while, but struggled on the hills today.

Non-descriptive paddle. A bit tired after a busy weekend working outside.