Heather's Yapcrap

Lightning Strikes 8 hour AR 3/24/13 Camp Benson, Mt. Carroll, IL Team: Eyes of the World 4th place - 3 Person Coed Nationals Qualifiers David Yang, Don Bart, & Heather Kluch Professional Photos By: John Morris Photography Pre Race Shenannigans  Not only was this an 8 hour adventure race, it was an adventure weekend. We pulled into Camp Benson Friday afternoon to check in and setup bunk in our toasty warm cabin. We requested a group of racers we already knew to slumber party it up with us, but not everyone arrived that night. Some racers were just coming for the race and not the entire camp, so they didn't end up arriving until Saturday afternoon. Our Saturday was our play day. Since it was way too cold and their was ice fishing on the Mississippi River, Gerry Voelliger (race director) put a halt to the paddle lesson since it might be a little difficult to paddle through a layer of ice. Since we didn't have to paddle, we got to spend 3 hours o...

  I'd like to give everyone a little history about myself. I'm pretty much an open book so I'll share a lot about my life just for the fact that I've been through a lot, have overcome a lot, and hopefully I can inspire or help others get through similar situations. My whole life has been an ongoing battle with myself. To give you a very brief history so this doesn't turn into a total sob story, I was a victim of child abuse, so growing up I was taught that I wasn't good enough, that I would never amount to anything, and my confidence level was in the toilet for a good chunk of my life. The thought "If my own father didn't like me, then why would anyone else?", constantly haunted my mind. I was made fun of for being too skinny, I wasn't very social, I didn't trust anyone, and it took me a very long time to come out of my shell and really live life to the fullest. I didn't have a ton of friends and was very negative about everything. ...

Planet Adventure  Night Winter Trail Half Marathon 1/26/13 http://www.planetadventurerace.com/ Eagle Creek Park, IN Racers: Eric Olsen, Heather Kluch We hard about this race while doing an Indiana Rogaine a few weeks ago. We ran into two adventure racing friends that told us about it, and they happened to be the race director and a race organizer. Normally I wouldn't drive this far for a half marathon but since it was a trail run (a challenge), it was at night (more of a challenge), everything was frozen (even more of a challenge), and we were offered a place to crash afterwards, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity! It's Saturday, the race starts at 6:10pm but we figure to leave early just in case. As we're driving down, I'm having doubts about racing. My leg isn't feeling normal. A couple days before the race I decided to do a crossfit type workout, and I think I pulled something while doing squats. My hammies and my left buttcheek are s...

FRIGID 6 hour rogaine 1/20/13 361° Adventures http://www.361adventures.com/ Team Eyes of the World Racers: Eric Olsen, Heather Kluch We decided to head down to Brown County, Indiana the day before the race since it was about a 4.5 hour drive. Luckily April and Ellie Hernann were nice enough to let us tag along with them and sleep at the cabin they rented which was at the race start. It's always nice to not have to drive to the race start in the morning! April and Ellie bring a new racer along with them (their dog, Rosie) and after many farty stanks wafting in my face, we finally arrive to the cabin. The cabin is pretty sweet, it sleeps 8 and has a fridge and a microwave, and the room is so toasty warm, I didn't even want to leave to use the bathroom but peeing in a garbage can would probably be disgusting. We hang out, eat delicious cheese and cookies that April baked, and finally call it a night.  We wake up the next morning to a much colder day, and d...

Chicago Area Orienteering Club Waterfall Glen SW Madnaess #2 Orienteering Race CAOC Website 1/13/13 Racers: Eric Olsen, Heather Kluch, Don Bart After working for 13 hours straight last night, on my feet all day with barely anything to eat, and then getting only 5 hours of sleep, my first thought when I woke up this morning was, "Why am I getting up to do this race?" So then I thought about how awesome I feel after doing one of these events, the sense of accomplishment and a good workout, and I also thought about the last one where I blew my teammate Don off because I was so tired, so I couldn't do that to him again. He knows Jiu Jitsu and he could kick my ass! Now that's motivation! Well I'm happy I did show up! I got to see some racers that I didn't expect to be there, and some other racers who I haven't seen in forever. One thing about adventure racing, it's a very tight knit community. Once you start racing and race often, you get...

Written by: Jennifer Caponi The Tri-City Challenge may not have been my brightest idea. I registered Heather Kluch (aka Chuck Norris or she is compared to Chuck Norris, or can kick his butt...whatever...you get the point  Heather Kluch=badass) and I in the competitive doubles division.  The race consisted of: 1) a 5 mile kayak (thanks Chuck White) paddle on the Fox River from Yorkville to Silver Springs State Park in Plano.  What?? I paddle a boat on average of once every 8 years?  No problem!  How hard can it be?  Keep in mind that in the 8 hour adventure race that I did with Rich McCaleb in May, he had to inform me that I was holding my paddle upside down. D'oh! 2) a 13.5 mile bike ride (we were on mountain bikes) from Plano to Sandwich.  No problem.  I have been riding hard 1-2x per week for a few months, the last few weeks with some roadies, so I am feeling pretty strong and confident. 3) a 5k run in Sandwich which ended at...