Race Evaluation
Boulder Dash: Blue day 1
jfredrickson
| 1. | I took a second at the start to get a good look at the leg because I saw it was a tough choice between going north or south. I decided to go north because it had a nice trail run into the control area. I was able to get a good look over the course while I was on the trail, and I was feeling great, so I picked up some good speed. I ran the trail all the way to the T-junction on the line into control 1. I then contoured to the spur just before the little pond, and cut up the reentrant north of the pond and into the control. | ||||||
| 2. | I just basically took a bearing out to the trail. I got a little confused when I ran into the unmapped fields north of control 1, but it didn't really break my concentration since I had just come out of a control and was sure of where I was, so I knew the fields were unmapped. I hit the trail just above the line into 2, and ran over the spur keeping the hill top to my left. I thne just picked up the boulders on the hillside and dropped into the control. | ||||||
| 3. | I ran just north of the little pond and straight out to the trail on the line. I cut straight into the woods on the line, and hit the little reentrant on the south-west of the control. I was a bit suprised to find a little lake where I was expecting a depression, but I figure it had to be right, and given all the rain it wasn't too out of the ordinary. | ||||||
| 4. | I cut due north to the trail, and ran it to where it intersected with the line to the control. I got a bit confused in the vagure terrain, but I knew I had to hit the edge of the hill, so I cut down a bit and stumbled across the control. | ||||||
| 5. | +00:10 | I cut straight out along the line from 4, and started to climb the hill as it came up. I hit the boulder just to the right of the line, and then the little reentrant just after it. From there I just basically took a bearing in, but I hit the spur just to the left of the control rather than going around it, so I probably lost about 10 seconds there just from not paying enough attention going into the control. | |||||
| 6. | I was a little worried about this leg when I had looked at it before, so I was real careful after I came off the hill to notice the little hill between the two marshes. I knew that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the marshes because the whole thing would be one big marsh, so it was important to hit that little hill. From there I took a bearing across the blank green space, and saw the hill from a bit of a distance. The control was right on the far side where I expected it to be. | ||||||
| 7. | +00:40 | This was just a simple long trail run, and frankly I am not sure why they didn't make more of an effort to break it up, but I took advantage of the opportunity to look ahead, and I picked up the pace as much as I could. I took the trail all the way around until I hit the boulder just off of it to the north of the control. I then cut in and saw two boulders together which I thought were the ones right next to the control, but they must have been the one single mapped boulder on the northeast edge of the control circle. I ran up that hill thinking I was going to hit the control, and saw Clem running down to the left. Clem was obviously running into the control, but I wasn't sure, so I went back down to relocate, and realized I must be too far north still. I ran a little south on the hill side and saw the control. I probably lost about 40 seconds here. | |||||
| 8. | 8 was just another pointless trail run, and there wasn't even that much of an option as the trail to the east of the line went way too high and added too much climb. I ran the trail along the lake all the way to the point where the stream hit it just before control 8. I figured the stream would be visible from the trail even though it wasn't mapped that far, and I turned out to be right, so I atacked from there and just climbed up the hill into the control. I saw Clem leaving the control as I was coming in, but I wasn't close enough to run with him on the next leg. | ||||||
| 9. | I looked at the trail again on this one, but saw that it dropped down way too much before the control, and would be a bad option. This left a straight contour through some pretty vague terrain, but it looked easy enough to pick up some features just before the control as long as I contoured well, so I wasn't afraid to hold the fast pace. I caught Clem just as I was coming into the flat area before the control, and he looked a little unsure of himself. I saw the long hilll with that the control was on, and crossed over to the right side and down into the control on the foot of the cliff. | ||||||
| 10. | I had passed Clem at this point, but I was sure he was right behind me, so I took off down the hill from 9 pretty fast. I had thought about taking the road around to avoid the stream as I was sure it would be pretty full, but decided against it because it was too far around. I hit the stream where it was still a bit swampy around it, and cut up north to cross just above the swampy area. The stream wasn't too bad, but I got soaked over my knees, and my socks felt pretty heavy after that. I pushed up the hill to the trail, and saw the field on my left. It was a pretty easy shot in on the side of the control, and I could see it from a good distance. | ||||||
| 11. | +01:30 | I stopped at the control to get a quick drink and decided to take off my socks because they were too heavy. I lost about 90 seconds taking off my socks and trying to tie my shoes again with cold hands. Clem passed me after about 30 seconds, so I was a good minute behind him by the time I started out again. I took a bearing on the line the way Clem had gone out, and was suprrised to see him ahead of me when I came to the flat area at the end of the rock wall. I just followed him up and over the hill, and almost caught him by the time we reached the control. | |||||
| 12. | I wanted to be careful on this next control as it looked like it could be trouble, but Clem was pushing the pace so I decided to stay with him. The main reentrant before the control was pretty distinct, as was the hill just after it, so it turned out to be a pretty easy control despite the green. | ||||||
| 13. | I punched just after Clem, and followed him right out to the trail. We ran it to the trail junction and he went straight, but I decided to go left. I cut that first little switchback in the trail, and then cut off the trail right away as I picked it up again. I started to use my magnifying glass to get a better look at this control, and it definitely helped as it was pretty detailed. I picked up the depression on the left of the line, and then saw clem coming in from the right. I took the lead though and ran over the hill, across the reentrant and cut up the next little hillside onto a thick little hilltop, but there was no control there. Clem followed me in, but told him it wasn't in there and headed north to check another hilltop and saw the control. I gave him a shout as I went in to let him know that I had found it. | ||||||
| 14. | I used my magnifying glass primarily on this leg because it was so detailed. I was careful when I hit the rocky area in the middle of the leg to pick up the little hill on the edge of the circle. From three it was an easy shot across the form-line reentrant and into the control. | ||||||
| 15. |
Did not check features en route +03:30 | I was feeling pretty confident in this technical area by this point, so I took off to 15 at a pretty good pace so that I could stay ahead of Clem. I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't that sure of myself as I got out into the middle of the leg, and as I came up to about the right distance and dropped down into an empty depression, I knew that I had messed up a bit. The problem was that I wasn't sure if I was to the right or left of the control. I took a quick look to the right, but that didn't look good, so I decided to start bailing to the hillside on the left and hope to pick up the control on the way. Clem was just ahead of my in this endeavor, so we both ran out to wher ethe hill started dropping off to the traill. We found a control on a hill top on the way, just afterward I saw Jeff Osborn. I figured he must be looking for that control, so I took a quick peak at his map to figure out where that control was. I then pointed it out to him and ran into my control which happened to be right next to his. Clem wasn't as sneaky as me though and had disappeared somewhere to the south, and that was the last I saw of him. | |||||
| 16. | +00:30 | I learned my lesson on 15, so I played it safe on 16 and cut out to the trail immediately and ran it around on it. I wanted to cut off it where the line intersected it, but I got a bit confused on the trail and ended up running it too far. When I finally cut off the trail I wasn't sure where I was, but I figure I would hit the next trail right away and be able to relocate. I did hit the next trail, and it was all the way to the right where it was making that crazy bend. I relocated right away and cut up the hill to the little pass between the two cliffs. From there it was just up and over the spur, across a little reentrant and another little spur and into the control on the other side. I probably lost about 30 seconds by running so far out of my way on the trail. | |||||
| 17. | +00:30 | I had taken a good look at 17 earlier in the race and decided that the only viable option was to take the bridge to the south. This meant a fast trail run downhill the same way I had come to number 1. I felt great physically at this point, so I just cruised down that trail. I stopped along the trail to tie my shoes and lost another 30 seconds there. After crossing the bridge I took the trail to the T-junction and was planning on taking the little trail straight on the other side, but it appeared to be under the marsh, so I stopped to re-analyze the leg. I decided to take the trail left and cut up to the field after crossing the stream. I hit the field a bit high, and then cut down to the trail that cuts through the thin green on the other side of the field, and followed this trail all the way around the edge of the big green patch and out to the road. I then ran that trail up the hill on the other side of the road to the corner of the stone wall. From there I climbed up to the top of the hill and followed it down to the control. | |||||
| 18. | I was feeling great even after climbing up that hill, so I kept pushing the pace that I had started to set on 17 before that big hill. I hit the trail and ran it around the bend and then cut off it down to the marshy area which led me right into the control. | ||||||
| 19. | I was feeling really great, so I kept the fast pace up, and took 19 on the fly. I picked up the hilltop after crossing the trail, and crossed the saddle and spiked the control on the other side of the spur. | ||||||
| 20. | I blasted down the hill out of 19 to the road and cross it and cut down to the trail. I ran the trail at full speed to where it took a precarious bend and crossed a little stream. I saw the hilltop just after that and cut around it to the right and down into the control. | ||||||
| 21. | I was moving so fast at this point I didn't even see the trail as an option, but I don't think it would have been any faster. I cut straight out of 20 and crossed the stream. I ran alongside the stream all the way to the field. | ||||||
| F. | Just a nice easy run up the field. |
Total Time Lost - 00:06:50