Race Evaluation
Hudson Highlander X:
bishop22
| 1. | Easy trail run (although I would have walked some of the hills if it wasn't so crowded). Stayed on trail as long as I could, saw line of folks leading to bag. | ||||||
| 2. | Stayed on the road all the way to the sharp bend then up between cliffs to where I could see others approaching. | ||||||
| 3. | +00:15 | Straight, drifted slightly right, but could see people punching. | |||||
| 4. | +03:30 | Had sharp stuff in my shoe leaving C3, so I emptied it, put it back on, and took off after the line of people that passed me, WITHOUT my compass. Went 20-30 steps and turned back, but could not find the place I had stopped. After about 2.5 minutes of looking, and concerned passersby inquiring about my problem, the very kind Sam Levitin offered his spare compass to me (thank you, Sam!). After a quick last look, I was back on my way. | |||||
| 5. | Had 3 cups of water while on the KOTH clock. I can't drink before punching after forgetting to punch last time I did that. Just climbed in the generally correct direction until could see first clearing in the distance. Ran the last stretch. | ||||||
| 6. | Heard lots of footsteps behind me on the trail. Had to step off to the side when the swamps didn't look quite as I had pictured, got some people back by going more directly to the control | ||||||
| 7. | +15:30 | Didn't stay with the pack - cut down from the bare rocks earlier and I misread which swamp was which coming down. Panic set in - I didn't want to lose contact with JJ, Peggy, etc. - and I blundered around instead of relocating. Saw people leaving the control, and still couldn't find it. | |||||
| 8. | +27:00 | It was very difficult to screw this one up as badly as I did. Stayed left of the hill and cliffs, didn't come around enough, and missed C8 to the left (stupid!) - without going through any of the open areas - and ran off the map, making it tough to relocate. Eventually found the stream and trail that led me back onto the map near C9, for a nice 13-contour climb back to C8. | |||||
| 9. | Well, at least I got to run back down the 13 contours. | ||||||
| 10. | Trail run went fine - caught a few people on the trail and at the aid station, depsite being quite slow on the climbs. | ||||||
| 11. | With Eric and Paul - followed trail from near swap, then played "which bare rock is which?" to the control. | ||||||
| 12. | Straight, then looped around right from (usually?) marshy area. | ||||||
| 13. | Punch was there, but no pins were in it. | ||||||
| 14. | Stopped and searched when we reached the partial open land - control was further east. | ||||||
| 15. | Went straight, everyone else was going right. Heard them fall behind, then I drifted too far right (distracted by someone else that was searching). By the time I had recovered, they had left the control. | ||||||
| 16. | Pack no longer visible - ran down to the stream and climbed the rocky reentrant to the trail - ran the trail and caught the pack. Left the trail when we got to the swamp, and finally found the hilltop, which wasn't as high as the one that it was SE of (nad hidden by). | ||||||
| 17. | Went small trail left to big trail and cut between the swamps. While crawling out the other side, my right quads and inside of my thigh started cramping something fierce. Had to wait a couple of minutes to relax and let things calm down. Ran to catch back up before control. | ||||||
| 18. | Walked trails quite a bit to the right - even the small ones were easy to follow as everything was blazed. At the end, jumped from the big trail to the small trail where they were closest (at dry stream x-ing), then contoured a bit from the sharp turn in the small trail. | ||||||
| 19. | Mostly crossed trails rather than taking them for first half of the leg. Then went up the wrong reentrant, thinking control would be to our left. I fall behind again. | ||||||
| 20. | Fairly straight, even scored direct hit on trail a little over halfway there. Left it to return to woods when it turned left. Aid station was a hugely welcome relief. | ||||||
| 21. | Group splintered a bit leaving the aid station - most before me, some after. Jogged most of this stretch with Paul, and we caught back up to some others. | ||||||
| 22. | I wanted to jog down to the road and trail and climb back up, but everyone else was going straight. I stopped with cramping again on this stretch (jogging trails would have been better than over-contracting the various muscles that were troubling me (quads, inside of thigh). Even my shins were cramping (yes, the front of my leg). People didn't round the bend to the control until I was close enough to witness it. | ||||||
| 23. | Quickly (relatively speaking) down to the trail / road clearing, then followed Sandy left of cliffs, past power line and onto control. | ||||||
| 24. | Water was warm at the last oasis, but at least it was wet. Hard to leave without stopping at the post-race party. | ||||||
| 25. | Across beach, up into woods. Wanted to go below first boulder field and above second, but had to give up the climb and fall in behind Sandy again. | ||||||
| 26. | The HVO guy wanted to contour around (and did), but Sandy and I jogged down, around and back up on the trail, which sent yus right at the flag. | ||||||
| 27. | Straight - almost done. | ||||||
| 28. | Had to pick and choose to the right avoiding as much green, and more importantly, as many rocks, as possible. Hit the marshy area and were home free. | ||||||
| F. | Down as quickly and painlessly as possible, then jogged it in. Almost 1/3 of the starters didn't finish, so being so slow isn't so bad. |
Total Time Lost - 00:46:15