by Jess Evans
October 9, 2018
The first weekend of November is approaching fast and you all know what that means! It is time for THE FIG. Everyone loves The FIG. The back drop is the Red River Gorge in Eastern Kentucky. The race is a 12-hour adventure race. And the time of year is when fall colors are slowly fading into winter. The hillsides are all red and gold with breathe taking beauty.
If you have been reading these blog posts since March, you have read the story of my first Fig. (Let The Adventures Begin). Since I started racing in 2009, I raced The FIG nearly every year until 2017. In September of 2017, I moved to Colorado and missed it for the first time in years (and Jim missed that one too).
I started racing The FIG as a solo female because I did not know anyone in adventure racing. I was not confident, and I was sure I was not good at navigating, but I loved being out in the woods, and I loved the people racing around me.
Once I started racing on teams, the true spirit of adventure racing was revealed to me. It takes a team to really make the sport what it is. I found that it was necessary for us to work closely and openly with each other to get the entire team to each checkpoint, through 12 hours of racing, and to the finish line. Once at the finish line, team placement slowly began to take shape. Teams never know where they place until the finish. Sometimes I felt we did horrible and ended up on the podium. Other times I thought we nailed it, but realized we still didn’t reach our mark.
I think The FIG has a lot of fond memories for many adventure racers from the mid-west. It is the longest running adventure race in Kentucky. It has had a loyal following for years. If you live in the mid-west or are just visiting, and you are an adventure racing, you can’t miss The FIG. Register by Oct 28.
