Race Evaluation
US Individual Champs, Day 2: Red-X
Nadim
| 1. | Started at 8:52am. At least it was warmer than day 1. I ran straight-ish and followed a reeentrant left of the line, most of the way to the road. Coming out high, I could clearly see the knoll ahead but I took a good bearing, climbed and spiked it. | ||||||
| 2. | +00:15 | Down the reentrant and across the road at the knoll, I ran straight. I came to the ridge a little to the right but could see it to correct. | |||||
| 3. | A little worried about it, I crossed the road and the first ridge then dropped along the stream to the junction. Following the other fork up, I stayed on the right side and cut up after crossing the gully/ditch. At the top, I only had to turn left to see the control. Wished they all worked this way. | ||||||
| 4. | +02:00 | Running back along the ridge, I meant to bear left and hit the Park HQ road. I followed the ridge too long, coming all the way to the Park Senic Rd. at the intersection. Straightening out the confusion took some time but I ran roads to the pond, attacked a little to the left, then corrected to the right after reading more carefully. | |||||
| 5. | I stayed left of the reentrant that paralleled the out of bounds campground. At the road, I cut right a bit to stay along the out-of-bounds again and went straight to the control. | ||||||
| 6. | Ran straight, first up the ridge, then down the flat side past the ditches to cross the stream. Going up the knoll, there was much more downfall than the map showed. I circled it to the right and spiked the control just as Christian was ready to leave. | ||||||
| 7. | I couldn't decide which way to go and looked at the map the whole way while I jogged down the ridge. At the bottom, I turned left toward the creek (in hindsight straight would have been better to use the trail and come-up the road). Going along it to the right, over the ridge, I crossed the creek at the bend near on-line. There was a trail and a bridge for a reentrant on the others side. I turned right on the trail, the went left slowly up the reentrant. I used the ride to go left a little, around the next reentrant, then cut right to cross the road. I hit the trail north of the odd U-shaped bend and continued on the trail north to avoid the green. Had I moved slower, I would have realized the green wasn't that bad but I played it safe. I cut right and a slight bend as the next reentrant became evident, contoured around to the right and dropped onto the "stoney" ground spiking the control. Yeah! | ||||||
| 8. | Straight out on bearing, I allowed myself to go left a bit for a more gradual climb and better footing. I came out near what seemed like an open area, just N of the Pyrite Mine Rd. Indecision cost me some time. At first I wasn't sure if it was the Pyrite Mine Rd. or the N. Orenda Rd. Running over to inspect the sign straightened that out and since I was there, I ran down the Pyrite Mine Rd. In hindsight, I should have gone north and used the stream. I ran until I reached a subtle bend, the cut left 90 degrees. After what seemed like 50M, I started a pace count. Guessing that I'd gone only 150M from the road, I hit the open area. At first, I mistook it for a small one to the N but after passing it and hitting the stream, I realized I'd come much farther. I turned right, saw some others and reached the bend just as Diana Todd was coming out. I'm not sure if she saw it because of our conversation afterward but I went up far enough to spike it very happily. | ||||||
| 9. | +03:00 | Going left to avoid the green, I again went much farther than I thought. I cut right and hit the road thinking it was the Pyrite Mine Rd. Instead it was the trail further NW. My memory of running this trail years ago was that it was much more trail-like. It had now become a road. I should have recognized it for the reentrants on my L but did not. I dropped from the top, to the small clearing. Thinking I was okay, I tried to follow a reentrant down but instead found myself climbing a ridge. Very confused, I fortunately came out after only 130M at the Pyrite Mine Rd. and the clearing I'd sought earlier. I followed the broad reentrant down from there to spike the last half of the leg. | |||||
| 10. | +01:00 | I went left to go around the green, again going further than I thought to get around it. I hit the old road which was only mapped as some narrow reentrants. Going along it, and thinking I was on the Pyrite Mine Rd. I realized it couldn't be in that bad a shape with all the fallen logs. I then cut left crossed the reentrant and contoured until the ridge ran out. I had to climb up from the E to get there. | |||||
| 11. | +05:30 | Back down the way I'd come, I crossed the marsh, then the creek, not pausing. I wanted to know where I'd crossed the creek so I went left to where I could see evidence of the junction w/o actually seeing it. I had to come up through some greenish areas before I hit the trail. I followed the trail past where it bent right. When the reentant on my left was clearly apparant and when I thought I'd gone along it long enough, I cut left. At first, I was suprised by an extra ridge that I hadn't seen on the map, but I came out just at the clearing as I'd planned. Going around clockwise, I attacked and missed low and to the left twice. I hunted all over and could even see the edge of the park once. Disappointed at faltering on my relatively good run so far, I came back toward the clearing for a third try. As I did, Marek Filicko came through on Blue. He too was low and I wasn't positive it was him since I didn't see his face. Marek was a vetter and I knew he probably knew where it was. I ran up only a couple of steps before I could see it. When picking-up this control after the meet, I'd learned about how the area had been re-mapped and also how many of the old roads in the area were shown with contours only. The map probalby still needs some work here. | |||||
| 12. | +00:30 | Chasing Marek, we ran up a reentrant. I passed him after a little while, hit the trail and decided to avoid climb by turning left. After only 40M, I knew exactly where I was at an intersection and a control used for the White course. Going straight from there, I rough compassed to the field. Had I been more careful, I would have taken a straighter route and seen that the climb across the reentrant wasn't bad--there were just form-lines. Leaving the field, I heard Marek coming up from my right, still in the woods. I got to the reentrant first, then turned left to go back up it to the control. Someone who looked like Christian was there and I shouted out his name to encourage him. I turned his head but later found out it wasn't him. | |||||
| 13. | Chasing, then passing another finisher, I had a nice sprint. | ||||||
| F. | Tired... but I remembered to congratulate Kissy on her great course. I was pleased with the run but dissapointed at #11. It wasn't until I'd gotten my map back that I'd seen just how many mistakes I'd made. |
Total Time Lost - 00:12:15