Running warm up/down (Street & Trail) 3:13 [2] 0.29 mi (11:05 / mi) +8m 10:14 / mi
Letchworth State Park, NY, from the assembly areas to the start area. With some uncertain directions, we'd arrived a little later than hoped for so I was rushed getting ready. However, I got there with almost 7 minutes to my call-up.
Orienteering (Foot) 55:24 [3] 3.79 mi (14:37 / mi) +264m 12:01 / mi
Rochester Orienteering Club, Falls Classic - Letchworth State Park (West), Day 2. While disappointing to mispunch, I did take away some good things.
S-1 - I ran the trails calmly, then dropped down the earth bank--it wasn't bad and I spiked the control.
1-2 - This was as steep climb. I got confused about how high I'd been. Seeing others coming up the spur to my right, I wondered if I'd passed the control, when it was far too early. I cut back to the right for the benefit of certainty, so that I wouldn't have to climb again if I was passing the control. I lost 30-45 seconds doing this before going on to hit the control.
2-3 - I went straight and was doing fine until just short of the control. I cut right toward the rough open areas. I looked to the road for evidence of where I was and realized I needed to go way left. I lost about a minute.
3-4 - I ran the trail, over the knoll, then after aiming off, along the edge of the drop-off. I spiked it.
4-5 - I didn't plan ahead a lot. I crossed the first reentrant thinking I was on the second. Then after crossing the trail, I realized I'd climbed unnecessarily. I continued on and dropped quickly. At the bottom I only used the trail a short way before cutting in and reading my way there. I didn't lose time navigating, but I lamented not going around the steep hill.
5-6 - I was catching and then passed a younger guy. I just didn't see the higher route past the building. I used the parking lot to guage my distance and height.
6-7 - I ran straight but I was slow climbing. I thought it'd be one reentrant earlier, but I didn't lose any time when I found it in the next.
7-8 - I angled left a bit and crossed the creek. Cutting back right, I was on target but not seeing it ahead in the reentrant, I cut over to the one to my right. A control was there. I punched but it was the wrong one. I recovered quickly but still lost about 45 seconds.
8-9 - I went over the top and through the start. Taking trails, I rounded the lake and cut through some open forest to get on trails. After climbing enough, I left one trail at a bend and crossed a reentrant. I hadn't read an intermittent trail in between where I was coming from, and to the trail I was going to. Seeing the trail on the ground, I cut left for a short way, then doubled-back and corrected. Once on the right trail I got there quickly.
9-10 - I saw Kim Jepsen from QOC drinking. With not a lot of the course left, I decided not to drink. I ran on bearing, then down the reentrant. Getting around the deadfall, I spiked it with Kim right behind me.
10-11 - I got out quickly and Kim was trailing. Kim took a slightly lower route and got ahead. I think I punched first but Kim was right there w/me.
11-12 - I rushed out too quickly and didn't see the trail route. I ran up the hill and across deadfall. Kim passed me staying more to the left, but he missed the trail too. I got across the gravel lot and because my route was straighter, I almost got to the control ahead of Kim, making-up ground at the end.
12-13 - This is where I mispunched. Things were going great. After crossing a big trail in the forest, I could see across a large flattish reentrant and felt I had a good bearing. Unfortunately, I and Kim got drawn to another control on a knoll. I punched and ran out. Kim was behind me and took the time to check the code--something I'd been doing earlier. I didn't stick with that discipline in the heat of racing Kim. I was probably only 60m from the actual control and it'd have been easy/fast for me to have gone there. The whole time I was with Kim, I figured he was running Red, the course he usually runs for local QOC events. I didn't think much of him not being close any more since I thought he had a different control to go to.
13-14 - I ran out of the wrong control and got on the trails in the field. I missed seeing an intersection and wondered why I my trail was getting so close to the large building. I went with it. It was only slightly longer. At the end, I could see the control 150m away.
14-15-F - I rushed out of #14, down the hill and onto the trail. I had it in my head that there were 14 controls. Not looking closely enough, I also didn't see the control circle touching the finish circle. I ran past control #15 and into the chute. After stopping, I got something to drink. Kim came by a little bit later and explained what had happened.
I felt the difference between day 2 and the first day was that I rushed too much on day 2. If I'd have been calmer, I could have avoided several errors and might not have mispunched. Otherwise, my navigation was okay.