Discussion: The same thing happened to ...

The same thing happened to me once at Hawn, we ran along a double track for the start, talking, and all of a sudden Mark was gone, and I realized I hadn't been looking at the map carefully enough.

Coincidence or strategy? Hmmm? Thanks for the warning. :)

Well, you know Mark is the friendliest guy. And he's told me he likes to start races, O and otherwise, at a relaxed pace. But based on watching him 'disappear' leaving a control, I wouldn't be surprised if he has his sneaky side out in the woods.

I was just joking. But on a long road leg it is more difficult to stay focused and avoid distractions.

Simply inattentiveness on my part. And I think Mark was intending to take the same cutoff that I was. We certainly weren't working together on the nav, just running the same route choice.

While running with company is much more pleasant, I find I make more errors while 'running with someone'. I made a small mistake later when I thought Mark had punched and run at another control. On the approach I was 100% certain where the control was but I let his behavior influence mine. Mark was to my left, control to the right. Ran over to where he'd been and found..... no control. If I'd simply ignored him and gone another 20m to the right.