Our foray into adventure racing started back in 2021 while we were living in Charlotte, North Carolina. A badass cousin of mine and his equally badass wife — who regularly partook in ultra races — introduced us to the concept. Add in some peer pressure, a Netflix binge of World’s Toughest Race: Eco Challenge Fiji, and a new relationship with a guy (hi Ryan) who’s annoyingly good with a compass, and boom — we were signing up for our first race.

The U.S. National Whitewater Center was hosting the Long Creek Adventure Race, offering both four- and eight-hour divisions. We went for the four-hour option, thinking, “How hard could it be?” Spoiler: hard enough to hook us.

Fast forward to today: we’ve completed six adventure races, three in just the past year. Most of those involved questionable hydration strategies, a few route-planning blunders, and a whole lot of lessons. But we’ve kept showing up — sweaty, scrappy, and still very much amateurs.

This post kicks off our new Adventure Racing Series. It’ll track what we’ve learned, how we train, and what not to do (because we’ve probably done it). The big goal? Our first 24-hour race in April: the 24-hour Shenandoah Epic Adventure Race.

Join us as we prep, plot, and try to last 24 hours.