Training Log Archive: mikeminium

Event: OCIN - TROL #9 Sharon Woods
 

Orange course at Sharon Woods. Fast course, with a sprint-like feel to it.

C • Orange then Green 2

Green course at Sharon Woods.

OCIN TROL 4-9 Sharon Woods3_Orange - Splits

OCIN TROL 4-9 Sharon Woods5_Green - Splits

Event: Cabin Fever Rogaine
 

more hauling dirt and setting brick pavers. finished with the pavers, but probably still need to move a few more loads of dirt to finish levelling alongside.

Misc. yard and garden: digging, hauling dirt, removing and re-setting brick pavers. Added enough dirt to increase and extend the slope away from the house and eliminate a puddling area a few feet out from the foundation. Imagine doing this kind of work on February 2 in Ohio! Normally the ground would be frozen solid.

Picked up a large bin-liner's worth of roadside trash from the edges of the forest and field along the road near my house. Amazing how many empty beer bottles and cans one finds, even in a state where having an open alcohol container in a vehicle is a pretty major offense. They are obviously consuming while driving, then discarding the evidence.

Brookville Lake Scenic Trail. Dusk. Running in shorts on Feb. 1. Saw several bats fluttering overhead and they actually appeared to be finding a few insects on which to feed. Cool.

Cool down.

Orange course at Indian Creek. Pretty clean run.

Picked up remaining controls at Indian Creek. Mix of walking and jogging.

Joyce Park bike path with Orunner. Then met Cedarcreek to hand off orienteering equipment for next Sunday's meet at Sharon Woods.

Well, I headed to Indian Creek with a van-load of kids. The goal was to either re-run your course from Saturday and improve your time, or to run the next higher course. As with all best-laid plans, things were bound to go awry.

Just as we pulled into the parking lot, Jim Cimprich pulled in. As we piled out of the van, he asked if he could help set up. There actually wasn't much to do. One of the kids set up a finish unit, another set up a start unit, and I ran about 50 meters down the road to place two final controls. Ready.

Jim took a green map and headed out. Caleb and Sam both decided to try orange, while Ethan and Brennan opted to re-run yellow. The kids were off, and I quickly changed into my O' shoes and headed over to the start. The kids had been gone maybe 3 to 5 minutes.

I was ready. I was psyched. I was going to run orange and I was going to pass their butts and hand them a real load of whup-ass. It was time to show these whippersnappers how fast this course could be run. I cleared. I checked. I reared back, and hit start, and took off like a bat out of a very hot place.

I hadn't even reached the edge of the field heading toward number one when I saw Caleb walking back toward me. He didn't look hurt but he did look dejected. I hollered "Are you ok?" He said "I lost my ..." (remainder lost to the wind as I blew by him). My brain flashed in overdrive. I could see he had his SI card, and he had his map, and he wasn't limping. What the freak had he lost? The competitive juices were surging, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I almost kept going. Almost. But the coaching instinct kicked in. I screeched to a stop.

I turned back. "You lost what?"

"I lost my phone"

I did not utter the thoughts that coursed through my mind as I looked at the baggy running pants with not-deep-enough pockets. "How far did you get?" "Are you sure its not in the car?"

He had gotten as far as control 2. We checked the van.

"Is the ringer on?"
"Yes"
"Ok, we'll go back and I'll try to call it while we're looking. What's your number?"
"I don't know."

Another unsaid utterance had to be stifled.

We got out my phone and called his dad. His dad tried to call the phone. We walked back and forth between the start and controls 1 and 2 with no luck.

Finally I suggested, "Why don't you go ahead and run the course? When the other kids get back, we'll get everybody to look while we call it repeatedly."

It seemed like a plan. Caleb took off for the woods.

Figuring there was now no way I'd be back before most of the kids, I went ahead and set up the computer to do results.

Brennan showed up "Number 9 is not there."

"I was just there; I saw it, It is there." (It was the already infamous number 2 on orange). I gave him some advice and sent him back after it.

Ethan showed up, ready to download. He'd finished the course in very good time. He had originally planned to go back out on orange, but decided he would rather go back down the hill and try to wrench the head off a bloated, stinking deer carcass. Well, it was an 8 point buck.

Brennan showed up again. He still had not found 9, but he'd completed the rest of the course. Caleb came back and said he was too worried about losing the phone to run.

So, the 4 of us headed into the woods to look for the phone again. I tried to call it a few times but kept getting "The person you are calling has not activated their voicemail". So the phone was not ringing and we were not finding. I suggested that since it wasn't receiving, maybe it was down the hill. Part way down, Caleb showed us a spot where he said he had fallen. We looked at the ground. We looked some more. And suddenly, there it was. Phone crisis solved.

Ethan and Brennan headed down the hill so that Ethan could show Brennan control 9 or 2 or whatever it was. Caleb decided to go back out and finish the course. Sam ran by, into the final loop of orange, waving as he passed. I decided that although time was short, I would have one more go at orange. I'd do the first few controls at least, and see how time was flying.

I flew the first 6 controls in 8 minutes, and headed past the parking lot, hoping to get more, figuring I had at least another 10 minutes before Caleb would return, but saw that all 4 kids were hanging out by the van. So, I pulled up short, called it quits, and headed over.

While we waited for Jim to return, I surprised Brennan by pulling a chocolate birthday cake out from its hiding place under the seat, and we all wished him a happy 13th and indulged in chocolate, washed down with gatorade.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. Jim returned; we grabbed the start, finish, and the couple controls by the road, and threw them in the van. I got the kids home without incident. And, needless to say, without a deer head trophy. Just another lazy afternoon for a coach of rambunctious juniors!

C • Just another lazy afternoon... 4