Pick One Race as Your Favorite

If you were forced to pick just one race as a favorite, which would it be? Simple task? Good for you if you immediately had a race come to mind! I'd love to hear what they are in the comments. Its really not a simple task if you factor in all variables. I imagined if I was allowed to race just one race a year, what would it be and I had an awful time deciding! First, I had to break the races I've done into categories since they all differ with varied types of training leading up to the race (yes, Rick made me realize there's really something wrong in my head doing all this - but I used to do these different types of races for "training" purposes):

• Mountain bike - cross country
• Mountain bike - endurance -individual
• Mountain bike - endurance Team (12 and 24 hours races)
• Xterra
• Triathlon - road - sprint or olympic distance
• Off road triathlon - sprint or olympic distance
• Running -5K
• Running - 10K
• Trail running - 5K
• Trail running - 10K
• Cyclocross
• Ironcross (it simply ain't nothing like a "real" cyclocross race so it gets its own category)
• Kayaking
• Adventure Racing - all lengths
• Adventure Tris (i.e. Chili Challenge)
• Off road Duathlon

It was kinda of easy to pick a favorite within all the above categories, but the goal is ONE favorite. So...onward to the analysis. Here are the other factors to consider:

• Training - how long, how hard, availability of training needs (i.e., access to a swimming pool). What does the training do for my physique?
• Team vs Individual race
• The Fun Factor
• Road vs off-road
• Appropriate Age Groups - I really hate racing out of my age group. I'll settle for MASTER women if that's all I can get.
• Travel time to races
• Cost!

Ok...all factors are laid on the table. Elimination time:

• Xterra and triathlon races were first to go - (WHAT?!) - they are far, expensive (sometimes needing an overnight stay) , my swimming sucks, and the pool is not always accessible.
• XC Mountain bike next to go. I just always sucked at it!
• Endurance Mtn Bike and Ironcross - no age group breaks for women! (although the Wilderness 101 has a MASTER women of over 50 which is enticing).
• Running and duathlons were eliminated - I'm not a runner! and I pee my pants too much.
• Road tris and races were eliminted - my preference is off-road
• Cyclocross was eliminated - it just hurts too much.

So what did that leave? Adventure Racing! It's looking like the winner will be the CAP CITY ADVENTURE CHALLENGE. Its close to home, has all three sports I love, is team-oriented which are FUN, has a MASTER women division, and training in all three sports is not boring at all.

And the runner up was the Chili Challenge. It got second because its an individual race and the bike section is on road.

So there you have it - my favorite is the Cap City Adventure Challenge.