Race Evaluation
Hudson Highlander 7:
TimGood
| 1. | Before the start I was on the left side near Ken Jr and Joe B. Not to surprised to hear that King of Mountain was the first leg since it had been a topic of speculation while waiting for the start. Ken led a group with Misha, Boris, Randy & I up the left. Others were also near by, including Joe a little more to the left. No one seemed to be taking the KOM to seriously since we walked most of the uphill. We took the small trail past the rocks. Joe headed N to the control while the rest of us continued NW to get around the green. When we reached the control there was already a line of people at the punch. 7 deep when I got there. Do not remember who except for Peggy and Nadim leaving as I approached. I took the split while waiting in line. | ||||||
| 2. | Just followed the pack. Some people got a little high and dropped down after passing the control. I could see them joining the line of people on the way to (3) while I was punching with Peggy. Jeff Saeger was among them. | ||||||
| 3. | Most people were dropping down to the marsh, while Peggy & I contoured. Jeff disappeared, apparently to go back for (2). With Peggy and Nadim approaching (3), Jeff passes us and is first to the control. He is surprised by the code and says he has missed (2). Nadim has also missed (2). | ||||||
| 4. | +00:40 | No more line of people to follow. JJ is only just visible ahead. Behind me are Peggy, Bernie and ?(in blue & white). Come to control via the marsh but hesitantly. | |||||
| 5. | +01:00 | We all groan when we see the leg. Bernie says road run and he, Doug Gosling and I take off for the trail. We should have checked the contours first, since we run to the closest part of the trail by running downhill then have to run back uphill on the trail. Peggy and Dan Schaublin take the easy contour and are ahead of us. Comfortable run on the trail with Peggy setting the pace. Ken Walker Sr has also joined us. On the road, Dan is a short distance ahead, then Doug, me, Ken and Peggy. Do not know what happed to Bernie. Cut in at trail just before Lake K. We are fairly well separated on the trail and cut off at different spots to see the marsh. Dan, Doug, & I converge at the control. JJ runs out just before we get there. He must have taken the non-road route. [He took the road but was ahead enough that I could not see him] | |||||
| 6. | Run out on W side of marsh to trail. See Ken and a host of others coming in. Just aim between the two lakes. Still with Dan and Doug. | ||||||
| 7. | +01:30 | 5:22 to exchange. 2:09 bathroom stop. 17:30 to (7). On the road our group closes together as we catch up most of the distance to JJ. Find out that Dan is on Rockhouse next (as am I) but I fear I will not be able to take advantage since I know I need to stop at the bathrooms. At the exchange I grab my map and ERG bottle and head straight for the restroom. Drinking on the way and studying the map there I do not lose to much time. Grab a fig newton on way out and can see JJ, Dan and Ken strung out on the road ahead of me. I lose a little time when I am stopped as I try to cross the road by the lady who babbles something about Rockhouse & Polebrook. I have forgotten which map I am on already but know I should cross the road. On the 3rd loop, when I see that Polebrook does not cross the road, I figure out what she was doing. See lots of people coming in from first loop, realize I saw no one going out when I came in so the leaders must be much farther ahead of me. Maybe we were in the 2nd pack. Someone I do not recogize is with me and he crossed to the center of K. circle then to the right side of Seven Lakes road. When we see the official road crossing ahead he crosses back before we get there, no wheel of penalties for him. Have closed a lot on JJ & Dan, and catch Ken on the trail by Lake Askoti. Cut in just past the marsh and no problem finding the bag. | |||||
| 8. | +00:40 | JJ and Dan are close enough that I can see what route they are taking. Had planned to contour more but cut through the green at the same place they do. Lost Ken somewhere. Running out the spur I realize my shoe has come untied. The duct tape is still there holding the ends together but the double knot bow has pulled out and come undone. I can not get the tape off and have a hard time retying with it on (40s). When I finish, JJ and Dan are no longer in sight. Continue the way I was going and spike the cliff. Catch a glimpse of Dan going to the green. | |||||
| 9. | +00:15 | Head straight for the green and find some good alleys through it. At the stone wall, JJ and Dan come in on the trail then pull me off to the small clearing to the W. | |||||
| 10. | JJ decides to dogleg and heads back for the trail. Dan and I stand and think about it. Trail looks out of the way but straight looks rocky, green and risky. Safety in numbers so we go after JJ catching him on the trail. I ask JJ where he plans to cut off the trail. He says when he is tired of running on it, about "now" and cuts off when the trail first starts uphill. Dan & I continue. I leave when it starts uphill again, Dan a short time later. Lose sight of them in the green and continue on hoping for the best. Hit the cliff and there they both are. | ||||||
| 11. | +07:00 | Straight, and not sure how we missed it. Thought I knew where we were as we passed the knoll to the S. Must have not seen it in the green. Followed green edge W checking carefully and eventually relocated from the hill with the undergrowth 250m WSW. | |||||
| 12. | +02:30 | JJ got in first and managed to slip away even though we had seen him go in to punch. Dan went along the S side of the ridge while I tried my luck on the N. He was winning, and got away when I had to stop and tie my shoe again (30s). They had also come untied near 11. Tried to do a better job so it would last until the exchange. Somehow I missed the bag as I went past and ended up on the clearing below to the NW. Had to climb back up to punch. | |||||
| 13. | To lower clearing to clear the cliffs then S to road. Though about cutting in early to save climb but went all the way to clearing. | ||||||
| 14. | +00:30 | Had not looked for (14) on way to (7). Drifted R and came out to close to the hill. | |||||
| 15. | +06:00 | 3:27 to exchange. 3:42 bathroom stop and retape shoes. 11:29 to (15). Heard I was about 9th off of Rockhouse so figure 18th overall, 3 minutes behind JJ. Could not see them ahead although I did see them running out on 3rd loop. Had to make another pit stop so repeated the procedure from first exchange plus took my duct tape with me. Hard time getting the old tape off. Power gel just before leaving. Saw Ken Jr, closely followed by Misha coming in from the 3rd loop as I ran out the trail. Control should have been easy but I messed it up. Thought it was higher and was past it to soon. Could not see bag from my location so went down first, then up to top, then counted cliffs and went to it. Realized later that I had not make the transition to 1:10 which was why I misjudged the distances. | |||||
| 16. | +03:00 | Generally straight after going around ciffs to left. Came in from hill to WNW but did not follow the line of cliffs. Came out just to NE but could not see the bag. Could see the marsh to NE so felt I was close. Was checking rocks and begining to panic when Ken, Peggy and Charlie Leonard ran to it right it front of me. Bag was low and behind a bush. | |||||
| 17. | +00:20 | After my previous success with cutting through the green, I tried again while the others skirted it to the right. Got to the right area first and was running along the edge looking for the bag in each finger of green. Ran out of green, stopped and looked back and there were Ken and Charlie sneaking in behind me. Just like (11), I had missed the bag in the green. Do not know what happened to Peggy. | |||||
| 18. | I thought I was good at picking paths through the green but Ken is much better at blasting his way through. We went straight through the green. I see now there is a trail around which I think may have been faster. No problem with the control. | ||||||
| 19. | Ken takes Charlie off to the left somewhere. I go straight, hitting the trail at the stonewall corner. Across the spur and right to it. Caught a glimpse of them as I dropped into the reentrant but do not know if they saw me. | ||||||
| 20. | Go high and run in the good stuff along the ridge. Figure I can not miss seeing one of the stone walls. Spike it, which is good since it is my control. | ||||||
| 21. | Up the hill, through the rocks and through the green. Trying to hurry but not making very good time. Get a little N going through the green but see the clearing when I clear the green. | ||||||
| 22. | R around green, cross stone wall and marsh then right to it. Must be slowing down since I would have expected a better time here. | ||||||
| 23. | Wondered about straight through marsh, but played it safe and went around to right. Checked off the stone wall corner and headed for the green when crossing the spur. Heard sounds from the marsh and saw Ken pop out. Do not think he saw me. | ||||||
| 24. | Think I may have hung a control here during a starburst training exercise a few years ago. Through the woods. | ||||||
| 25. | 6:01 to exchange. 5:10 to (25). Good thing I did not see that the map says this was only 600m to the exchange. Looks more like 1000m. Hurting a bit on the road run but trying to maintain good speed. See lots of people heading out for 3rd loop. Wonder if they would be demoralized to know that there were others a loop ahead of me. No pit stops this time. I only prepared two 20 oz bottles of ERG before the race and already drank them so drink two cups of gatorade and eat an orange wedge. Grab a cracker and go. I can see Ken Sr coming in as I leave. Hard to get the cracker down, it is so dry. Consider the trail to (25) but road looks safer. See Eric Bone coming in to last control. Cut down just past road bend, control visible from way off. | ||||||
| 26. | Here is the trail option again. Head for clearing near road then smaller road S past buildings. | ||||||
| 27. | +02:30 | Catch a glimpse of Ken as I am leaving. After 2 easy legs this looks much harder. To road, then trail to power line junction. Powerline is unrunnable so go down to trail through camp. Probably should have just gone straight to bag from here. Should have stayed on road to camp and never taken the trail. Stop to take a leak and worry that Ken will catch me. Not to worry, look up and he is already in front of me. He took the road. I am closing as we walk up the saddle but only because the hardest part is at the top. When I manage to clear the top, Ken is out of sight. | |||||
| 28. | +01:00 | Do not like all the rocks on the straight route so drop down to the road. Think the stone walls will give me a good attack point. They would have if I could have reached them. The barberry is all over and I end up skirting it to the NE and wasting a lot of time. Wonder if I should have tried to come in from clearing W of bag. Control was easy once I got there. As I am leaving, Peggy and Charlie come in on the straight line. | |||||
| 29. | I blast out W hoping to leave them behind or at least not let them follow me though the thorns. They were wise not to follow me as I hit a dead end at some roses or something and turn back. Manage to crawl under and join them on a slightly more clear path. They head more toward (29) while I head W to power line and trail. Beat them to the parking lot and am afraid to look back. They catch me on the trail after we leave the clearing. We are walking all the uphills. Only have 30 splits on my watch so this is the last one I take. Will try and estimate the rest from Peggy and Charlie's times later. | ||||||
| 30. | (29) was the last water stop on the course so I drink two cups hoping that will keep me going until the finish. Should have drank a little more at the exchange. Along the line of cliffs then into the reentrant. Do not recall if bag was to low, Peggy led us right to it. I have having trouble staying with them. | ||||||
| 31. | Road and then trail around N tip of marsh. I am falling behind on the road but can still walk faster. | ||||||
| 32. | Straight line to trails, then follow the intermittent stream up. I am 10m back now. Jeff Saeger comes charging up the stream behind us as we leave. | ||||||
| 33. | Looking at this leg now, it does not look that bad. It would be hard to miss the camp and road. At the time however it looked very hard and I was afraid that I might have to do it alone. With Jeff moving to the front we sped up and I was hard pressed to keep up. Generally straight, then along the stream and cross S end of distinct marsh. Jeff has left us behind. Slog up the hill through the green and come out right at the building. Good job Peggy and Charlie. I am barely keeping them in sight as I nearly cramp getting through the brush. They start S on trail then decide on N which allows me to catch up. Though the camp heading for the finger of Little Long Pond. Jeff reappears from somewhere and rejoins the group. From the low point we walk up the rocky reentrant and aim right for it. As we get close Jeff drops off to N, I take a bearing from one of the fireplaces, while Peggy and Charlie head for it. My bearing agrees with them and we find it although I am 40m back | ||||||
| 34. | As I am leaving, Jeff Saeger comes in from the far side with Ken just a little behind. Little trail to the road. I am trying to keep contact in case someone makes a mistake or there is a clear path for the final sprint. Make my move as we leave the road hoping to punch with Peggy and Ken and then beat them on the run in. No luck. Only one punch and I am last in line. | ||||||
| F. | Look at my watch to get a run in time. Not long enough, nor clear enough to pass anyone. At least we ran to the finish instead of the food tables. Overall a good run, I think I was 20th just like last year. Surprised I faded so much on the last loop, thought I had had more training but the 3 limited weeks in Sept hurt. I was hurting after 4 hours. |
Total Time Lost - 00:26:55