Race Evaluation
Hudson Highlander: XI
Charlie
| 1. | Struggling along behind Peggy and Glen, among others. | ||||||
| 2. | Still with Peggy and Glen in sight. By the time I got down the hill I had tweaked my right ankle twice and bruised my left foot on the rocks. | ||||||
| 3. | Stopped to get a rock out of my shoe near the water stop, and saw a train pass by, including Rick and Susie, Tracy Olafsen and Valeriy, among others. After the water (which was way too cold!) Valeriy was faintly visible in the distance, but I found this control pretty easy, seeing the spur developing from a fair ways off. Arrived there just in front of a person who turned out to be Tracey Robertson. | ||||||
| 4. | +08:00 | Fell hard tweaking my knee shortly after leaving the control, and got up slowly. Distracted, wandered off due east and got by the big marsh, forcing me to attack from the north through giant laurel and blueberry forests, with much lost time. Got there around the same time as Tracey R, and found it by looking where other runners had come from. | |||||
| 5. | Behind Peter Polivka and Ralf Becker part of the way. Don't remember who got there first. | ||||||
| 6. | Behind Peter going up the hill and following a route on or just R of the line through the whitest parts. Peter was moving faster, and only visible from time to time.Crossed the stream and hit the trail near the bend. Reading things pretty well on the way up the hill and popped out in the reentrant just below the saddle with the control. I saw Peter off in the distance, apparently having overrun. Paul Beckwith was at the control ahead of me. | ||||||
| 7. | Pretty much due S to the trail. Paul a ways in front and disappearing. Shortly after the water stop, Peter came charging back and disappeared quickly. Trail section very hard on my feet. | ||||||
| 8. | +02:00 | Basically fine, except I cut off trail a little early thinking I could push through the laurel and got hung up for a bit. Also stopped one line too low in a place that looked right, but then looked up and saw it. Paul B was there. | |||||
| 9. | With Paul along the trail, and finding myself pretty distracted by his friendly chatter. Saw Joe, Jennifer S and others heading back from 11 to 12. Cut in at the top of Grape Swamp Mtn and along the ridge, hustling to get away from Paul so I could think again. | ||||||
| 10. | Still hustling to maintain a little distance. | ||||||
| 11. | Drifted a bit left, but corrected OK. Saw Valeriy coming in as I left. | ||||||
| 12. | Valeriy caught me about halfway back to the trail, and led the way. As we approached the area of the control could see Paul R and Tim Good at the top. | ||||||
| 13. | Fought my way to the trail. Followed it on its intricate path through the green and then caught and passed Tim and Paul R, with Valeriy behind me. Led the group in. | ||||||
| 14. | +03:00 | Left briskly around to the left of the cliffs and hustling. Don't know where the others went, but didn't see them. Tried to follow carefully, but got off to the R at the end and hit the trail. Would have been better to just boogie for the trail and deal with it then. | |||||
| 15. | Alone | ||||||
| 16. | Alone | ||||||
| 17. | Dropped down the hill and got off a bit to the R. Saw Tori Campbell heading N and she said she had already punched, so headed S and got it. | ||||||
| 18. | Climbed a few lines to a shelf above the deep streambed, R of the bare rock lookout, picked up the trail for a bit, then got on top of the bare rock knoll SW of the control to locate myself. Then up the reentrant into the trickle and in. | ||||||
| 19. | Angled SE and took trail between the rocky cliffs. On compass from the trail corner and could see the flag from well across the marsh. Fought through the marsh. I thought it might be refreshing, but it sapped my energy pretty well. Climbed up from the S. | ||||||
| 20. | Got turned around in the laurel and ended up heading N, back across the nasty marsh, before following the streambed back to the power line. Planned on road all the way, but it was killing my feet so picked up the trail near the road junction and followed that. | ||||||
| 21. | Killer hard fall kicking a stone on the path down from the map exchange. Lying there for a while trying to uncramp my legs. Probably should have taken the road to get around the base of the hill, but I just didn't want to get on a road again. Anyway, up and over and walking up the reentrant, cramping hard and stopping often to stretch. Easy navigation, but hard to get there. | ||||||
| 22. | +12:00 | Heading for 22B, and walking. Tori Campbell showed up to my right. Thought I was approaching properly, but popped out on the other side of the marsh (having gone through way too much water) and couldn't make sense of it. I now think maybe I was on the NE side of the green marsh. Anyway, eventually got frustrated and crossed over to get 22A. | |||||
| 23. | Trail all the way. When I left the EW trail on the faint trail going NE, I saw Valeriy up ahead, but he was going faster. He stopped for a while at the control, though, and I caught him there. | ||||||
| 24. | Down the hill and looking for the trail jct on line, but didn't find it. Valeriy wanted to take the faint trail R of the hill and that looked fine, so we looked for it a bit and took it to the edge of the marsh. Saw Jeff Schapiro off to the right, although he was far enough away I didn't know it was him until later. Then around on contour and in. | ||||||
| 25. | Hustled out quickly to get a lead and boogied down the slope, reminding me of the finish of Highlander I. Had about 10 seconds on Valeriy at the bottom, I think. | ||||||
| F. | Hustling in and avoided a hole to my right only to step in one on the next step, falling hard and cramping. Struggled to my feet to stagger in just ahead of Valeriy. |
Total Time Lost - 00:25:00