Race Evaluation
2002 Billygoat Run:
Nadim
| 1. | 0-1 Thursday and Friday my back/hip felt awful when I tried to run. After a good night sleep on Friday, it felt better and encouraging. I didn't expect much however and thought if I finished that it would be good. I took 2 aspirin in the morning and 2 more just before the race to keep inflamation down. I had no specific plan to follow anyone. I just went w/the pack. Climbing the hill on the trail, I steadily and w/o trying was passing. Before I knew it I was in the top pack of 5-6 going for #1. We took the trails all the way to the reentrant just before the junction. Coming down the reentrant, we then contoured around, getting there before the group of more experienced runners coming from the south. | ||||||
| 2. |
Bad route choice Did not plan ahead Ran too fast +01:30 | 1-2 Passing the other group going the other way to #1, I followed the same group of guys. I wasn't in touch w/the map. We were far to the west but when we hit the trail, we came back across the ride to the road junction. Eddie B. and ___ came in and led the rest of the way. I slowed, thinking the pace too fast for me to sustain. | |||||
| 3. |
Did not check features en route | 2-3 Still following the pack, I kept Ted Good in sight. I was still not in contact w/the map and worse, I wasn't looking ahead to see which control to skip. I could see Eddie going too far left toward the bald rock. By the time I got there he and the rest of the pack corrected going right. | |||||
| 4. |
Did not check features en route | 3-4 Again running just to keep contact, I didn't read where I was. We all walked up the hill. In the process, we had drifted far left. We looked past a trail bend and saw the marsh below us. Ted corrected first and I followed. I wasn't confident running downhill due to my back and fell behind. Peggy and others who skipped #3 came in around the same time. | |||||
| 5. | 4-5 Going straight, I was sluggish, probably just feeling out-of-shape from injuries/little practice. | ||||||
| 6. | 5-6 Glad to have others here, I was very out-of-contact w/the map. I just chased the stream of people. Near the end, I recognized some obvious rocks and got there w/o trouble. | ||||||
| 7. | 6-7 I had started to lose contact. The guys ahead of me were headed straight toward the marsh. Because I had been so out of contact w/the map and was not confident, I felt staying in contact w/them was more important. Going down the hill, I caught and passed some people. I ran the road, then hopped-up onto the ride. I didn't see the trail option and instead went far east to follow the stone wall up. Upon getting there, I saw the running not to be very good so I just walked up steeply straight planning on catching at the wall intersection. Near the end I read the large SE knoll and followed another younder guy in red around to the control. I felt better having navigated some. | ||||||
| 8. |
Could not relocate Not thinking clearly Lacked confidence | 7-8 I think Peggy came into #7 as I was leaving. Here's where things get hazy. I ran down the hill chasing the guy in red. My guess is that I punched after he did however I can't remember doing it. I took a split and according to results, I punched. | |||||
| 9. |
Could not relocate Not thinking clearly Lacked confidence +02:30 | 8-9 Probably somewhere just after #8 (or before), going downhill I hopped too short catching my foot on a rock or branch. There wasn't any time to correct and I braced my left shoulder as I slammed into a tree. It probably saved me from a worse fall. Distracted by the collision and in some pain, I guess I lost track that I had punched at #8. I again focused on the guy ahead of me. When we reached the stream and he crossed 3 times, I figured he was confused. I had long ago lost track of where I was. I could see a trail ahead and thought there should not be one near #8. The other guy must have planned to take the trail to #9. I turned around thinking I needed to punch #8 still. I saw a stone wall but didn't know where I was. When Peggy came through I figured it was safer to skip #8 and follow her to #9 rather than waste a lot of time finding #8. I chased and caught her in the nicest woods of the course. Going across the ridge with deadfall, I had no idea where I was but she got us there just behind some others. | |||||
| 10. | 9-10 Following Peggy we turned right on the big trail, then left on the smaller one. We turned right off the trail at a stream and followed a reentrant. My senses were coming back and I read our position better when Peggy paused. Wanting to be useful, I announced I thought it was up to the left and Peggy confirmed. I ran ahead to save her a step and was happy it was there. | ||||||
| 11. | 10-11 We took the trails to #11. As I slowed and tried to read, Peggy looked back perhaps doubtful about leaving me. Since it was a race and she was defending her title, she should have. I caught up on the trail however. Brad was leaving as we got there. | ||||||
| 12. | 11-12 I drank a cup of yellow stuff and shoved 2 figs in my mouth. They soaked-up the yellow stuff... mmmm. On the grade, I wanted to go faster than Peggy and thought I could at least be useful by leading to a control for a change. As I ran ahead figuring Peggy could see me still, I caught sight of Brad as he was punching. | ||||||
| 13. | +02:15 | 12-13 Thinking about a route, Peggy caught-up and I lost sight of Brad. Leading on the trails, I went far south of straight, intending to follow the stream up and announced this to Peggy. No sooner had I done this than had Peggy disappeared behind me. Thinking about what mistake I had made, I followed the wrong stream up to the ride at a trail intersection. Knowing instantly where I was, I came back to it passing the same guy in red(?) from #8/9. He hadn't seen it but did as I homed-in. | |||||
| 14. | 13-14 Following the guy in red on the left side around the lake on trails, we cut up and hit the road at the hairpin bend. Peggy and Brad had come around from the other side, having gone too far. I followed on the trail but knew exactly where I was as the guy in red and I opened-up space on Brad and Peggy. Leaving from the bend, we attacked, splitting and going opposite directions at the knoll, but both getting there about the same time. | ||||||
| 15. |
Bad compass work Confused parallel features +01:30 | 14-15 The guy in red took a straighter route that went over the ridge. I went slightly right to stay in the reentrant. Going down the hill, I lost sight of him and corrected my angle too far left. At the creek, I realized it and turned around, seeing the guy in red run past on my way back. | |||||
| 16. | +02:00 | 15-16 I followed the reentrant down the hill and didn't set a good bearing. Crossing the creek and hitting the trail, I turned left looking for a trail to my right. Instead, I found myself at an intersection with a trail to my left that crossed the creek again (this was almost half-way to #17). Knowing where I was, I used the marshes to curl back around. Though not pretty, I was happy that I could navigate my way across this terrain. This would have been the one to skip but I didn't remember punching #8. | |||||
| 17. | 16-17 Peggy and Brad caught me as I tried to reorient myself. My brain wasn't working and Peggy picked-up the lead. I followed to the trail, then I ran ahead. Cutting-off at at a bend, I planned to go between ridges to the road but deadfall made me climb out and cross to the next small valley. Peggy followed but Brad didn't. More deadfall caused me to cross again. I was losing Peggy. As I came out to the road rather suddenly, JJ Cote sprinted into the scene with a couple others who had skipped #16. They headed straight up the knoll so I followed and punched. | ||||||
| 18. | +00:40 | 17-18 Excited by all the sudden fury of people, I passed the group on the road. I was going to go around the knoll but doubted myself as JJ pulled-up short behind me and started to go over the knoll. I climbed the knoll too, still ahead of JJ. As another guy caught-up going down the other side, we hit the reentrant w/the control. | |||||
| 19. | 18-19 The 2 of us left #18 almost hitting the road perpendicularly. JJ took a better angle and got ahead. I caught and passed him on the road but paused to check a recreational control. I should have looked at my map better. At the big road crossing, I cut sharply to make the narrow gate. JJ yelled-out from behind and I thought I might have cut him off but later he explained that he was running w/o his glasses and hadn't seen the cable blocking the road until I had made my sharp cut. I punched first. | ||||||
| F. |
Not thinking clearly | 19-F Knowing I had a lead on JJ and not wanting to pull my back more in an all-out sprint, I ran just enough to stay ahead. I could hear JJ closing-in so I picked it up at the end, edging him out. I was pleased that I finished and had a better finish than last year. I didn't like not being in contact w/the map. I need to practice areas like this to gain confidence and increase route selection speed. I didn't realize that I hadn't skipped any controls (thought I skipped #8) until I looked at my splits on Sunday night. Trees will do strange things to your head. |
Total Time Lost - 00:10:25