Training Log Archive: the kempster

Just ran down the road until it turned into an ATV trail and down to the house and the barn that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. I had a great run the whole time, I was feeling like SUPERWOMAN!!!! Ok, not quite that good, but almost... :-)

Last race of the COC's and I finished off with a bang. I started out pretty well, wasn't really sure about 2 because I couldn't figure out where I was on the trail so then I didn't know when to cut in, but I found it alright. 3 was right in the middle of really nice running woods which was sweet. 4 I was worried about because 1: I was feeling really tired and my legs hurt, and 2: It was hard to follow along the trail. So again I wasn't sure about when to cut in but I did find it really well despite all of that. Once I got into the white, I could see it perfectly but then I had to wade out back to the trail through the raspberries. 5 was good, it was just by this thicket of trees that did not look friendly at all. Very green!!! 6 I found really easily and then 7 was right on the trail. I hesitated a bit on that one though because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see it, but you couldn't miss it. 8 was easy because it was in that awesome running woods but 9 I made about a 2min mistake because again, I didn't know where I cut in. I really should work on that, geese. On the way to 10, I had my power gel which helped I guess. The only problem was while I was following/tripping over this fence that went right past the control I fell in this swamp. Up to my elbows I was covered in muck. I was also holding my gel in my hand and that also got covered in mud along with my map and compass. Somehow, I must've gotten it on my face too, because once I'd gotten back, everybody thought that I'd been playing in the mud. :-) Anyways, found 11 fine and then I went off to find 12. Twice, I was running and then 2m ahead of me, this giant brown bird flew up and scared me to death. That's probably why I wasted 3mins trying to find the control. Ok, maybe not, but the field was really hard to wade through and I didn't want to go over to this depression that had an orange "flower" in it which actually ended up being the flag that showed where to put the control. Stupid stupid!!! 13 I spiked so badly!!! I was battling through the green when I come upon the trail. I hadn't thought of this route, but I think that it was the best one by far. Instead of wallowing around in the clearings and green, run along the trail to the bend and then cut in and trip over the control, just like that. Did well on 14, 15, 16, and 17, no mistakes there, a bit more mud, but that's it. 18 is in the middle of all of these depressions, so I tell myself "go carefully and don't mess it up," well of course I do because I got distracted when I got near the control and went past it. Only lost about 1min relocatin though. 19 and 20 were good although since it was near the end, I was reading my map as carefully as I should have so I missed the trail to 21 and almost came to the finish chute. Oops!!! Even though this race was longer than The Forks-of-the-credit race, it didn't feel as long. It felt actually shorter!!! Wasn't a perfect one, but I felt really good about it!!!

The usual loop and I felt actually pretty good for once...