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Race Evaluation

QOC: Broad Creek: Red

Nadim

1.	Did not follow plan Bad distance judgement +00:30	0-1 This was my first meet since Vasquez, CA in early December where I did horrible. I've been training with more miles and long runs but just last Thursday, started having some intermittant knee trouble. I warmed-up nicely before taking off in the +30 degree weather. Heading out 3 minutes after Jon Torrence, I went straight but was tracking a little left. Recognizing the correct reentrant to my right, I headed for it a little late and found myself a little below the control.
2.	+00:15	1-2 Heading straight up the steep hill, I paused when I found myself in a stony field not marked on the map. The control was also higher-up than I thought it'd be. I had tracked left and had to correct at the top where 3 others were punching.
3.	+00:30	2-3 I planned to bear left a little, go down the spur to the stony ground and then follow the edge of it to the creek to attack. I didn't recognize a spur so I just kept going straight. It was steeper than I expected and slow because of the leaves hiding the rocks. I could see the two controls long before crossing and headed for the right one. At the crossing, I found myself at an earth bank that I tried but couldn't climb. I kept sliding back so I went right a little. In doing so I stepped in the cold water that was hidden under a pile of leaves.
4.		3-4 Straight up and down, I could see others looking around at the bottom. I saw a rock that I thought was it and was happy when I got to the other side to see that it was. The others closed-in behind me.
5.	Bad map reading Confused parallel features +00:15	4-5 I went down the stream then right, up the reentrant. I went up the right fork, realized my error and went left to the control.
6.	No attack point Did not check features en route Took a chance Underrated difficulty Read map too late Bad map reading Bad compass work Confused parallel features Bad distance judgement Not thinking clearly Lacked concentration +10:00	5-6 I went left at first to avoid the green and never saw the trail. Dropping down and coming back right, I expected to see the formline but never did. I was probably too far left. At the creek crossing, I thought to go to a stream junction or bend to correctly locate but, since I had been doing okay so far and wanted to catch Jon Torrence if possible, I didn't. Looking for the small reentrants at the top of the hill, I probably was making a parallel error, being on edge of the big hillside to the north that drops into Broad Creek. After going back and forth a little, I saw the rootstock for control #8 but didn't bother to check the code. Had I done so, I would have realized where I was sooner. Going further, I soon saw Jon Torrence going the other way. Thinking that he might have been coming from #6, I went further and didn't find anything. Finally deciding to bail out back to the creek, I went back the way I came and the way Jon went. At the creek I was surprised at how big the creek was and realized my error. Fortunately I was near the Green trail and now knew exactly where I was. Going up the Green Trail, I past Pat Zerfas at #9 who was surprised to see me there. I'm guessing she thought or knew that I started earlier. I finally attacked from the reentrant off the Green Trail and hit it easily. I heard others had trouble finding #6 too--one person took an hour.
7.		6-7 I went left at first to avoid the green. Coming back right, I landed into the ditch and by staying on the left side, I was able to make-out the pit. The underbrush still slowed me.
8.		7-8 I knew what I was looking for, having stumbled across it looking for #6, so after taking a careful bearing, I ran straight and spiked it. The pointy branch a few feet in front of the control almost spiked me.
9.		8-9 Again, knowing what #9 looked like having stumbled across it looking for #6, I headed mostly straight on the animal trails.
10.		9-10 I headed straight up but veered left a little while climbing. Dropping down, I wasn't fooled by the decoy control.
11.	Bad route choice Read map too late +02:30	10-11 I headed up the left side of the creek. It was a little slow with the downed trees. I crossed just in-time to see and follow the right fork. It got thorny quickly so I used the animal trails which veered a bit left and right. As it flattend-out, I seemed to keep climbing a bit further than it should have been. Keeping my bearing, I finally dropped into a reentrant and almost immediately thought by the angle of it that I was in the next furthest one. Going down to confirm, I found myself almost at the bottom where I could see an obvious S-curve in the creek. I turned right, over the small hill and down then went straight to it from there. Peggy later told me that when she did this walking/jogging the Brown course (due to injury), she climbed the same creek but cut right to get around the green. Going-over the knoll, she hit it perfectly.
12.		11-12 I ran back the way I came, crossed the creek above the S-curve, and kept a fairly straight path. I could see the control from far off. Pat Zerfas (on the Green course?) was also approaching from my right and got there just after me.
13.	Did not follow plan Took a chance Followed by others +00:30	12-13 I ran straight and was heading perfectly to the control. However, like most I talked with, I got suckered into checking the decoy that was hung so high to the right. Figuring what happened, I went straight to it afterward. Pat saw me leaving and seemed to do the same thing.
14.		13-14 I headed-out mostly straight and got onto the trail. It was quick going down and I could read while running fast. I climbed the hill smoothly, then cut right and spiked it. It didn't occur to me to take the longer route to the left that didn't require the climb. Later I found that Randy did and was quicker.
15.	No attack point Bad route choice Underrated difficulty Confused parallel features Bad distance judgement +03:00	14-15 Leaving I wanted to hit the road at the intersection but found myself on the dirt road. Taking that to the paved road, I set a new bearing and ran fairly straight and fast. Going down to the second road crossing, my knee started to bother me and I slowed a little. At the second road, I just kept going straight. I should have gone right to the trail then turned left but I was a little concerned about seeing the trail since the leaves hid most of them. I crossed the reentrant and kept thinking I was too far from the road. I came across several pits and started thinking I had past the control. At a more prominent one, I could see the fence and presumed I was at the pit due-south of the control. Still, I wasn't sure so I headed NE a little, saw the trail blazes, then found the pit. I hadn't past it at all.
16.	No attack point Bad route choice Did not follow plan Underrated difficulty Ran too fast Bad distance judgement Did not read control description +08:00	15-16 I lost my head on this one. I didn't want to go the long way around the ridge, so I set a course that would take me straight to the dirt road east of the control. I hit the red blazed trail at the first reentrant and decided to just follow it to be safe. I crossed the creek, past the Haunted House and got to the top. The map didn't show the trail intersecting the dirt road at the top but the blazes took me all the way there. It actually seemed to put me going the wrong way (left) down on the dirt road, but a check of the compass allowed me to correct. I then rough compassed across the ridge and down. I recognized it getting steeper and dropped down more but missed the control which was below to my right. My knee had stopped bothering me and I was happy to run. Note yet knowing I had passed it, I was expecting to see some green woods and kept going. It was fairly open and while sloping down, not hard. At the next road crossing, I should have realized I was way too far but I saw pines which looked greenish ahead and kept going. I didn't read the vegetation boundary on the map which showed the pine woods as white. I also remembered that Dave Linthicum had told me that some of the woods in this area marked green were in-fact white. I kept going past the wooden structures and stumbled upon the permanent control #9. A little surprised, I went up to #17 and confirmed that I had made a bad, bad mistake. I rushed back through the pines, hit the road, saw the control from it and punched.
17.		16-17 Going to the road, then left at the next intersection, I soon cut right through the pines and followed the vegetation boundary past the wooden structures to the control that I had just been to.
18.		17-18 I set off a little to the right, then veered left at the reentrant to save climb. I wanted to confirm where I was at the stream but only narrowed-down the location. Next, I stayed right a little to again save climb and assure that I'd hit the next reentrant. I did and spiked the control from there.
19.		18-19 To avoid having to drop down then climb, I went right a bit. It was light green with thorns and I soon found myself as planned at the property boundary corner near permanent control #13. I went along the edge of the property to the trail, turned left and went to the next intersection. I set a bearing and spiked it.
20.	Did not read control code Not thinking clearly Disturbed by others +01:45	19-20 Just going straight, I hit the trail and followed the red blazes. Dropping off the ridge leaving the trail, I found myself in sight of permanent control #5. To be safe, I went toward it to confirm, then set a new bearing to #20. I was expecting the control to be higher to the right and for some reason also thought I was looking for code 488. I saw someone punching near a ruin. Checking it I read code to be 485 and thought 'that's not mine it's just another decoy.' I wanted to catch the other guy ahead of me so I started to go higher. After only a few steps, I could tell that there weren't other ruins around so I went back and realized that I was indeed looking for code 485.
21.		20-21 I soon caught sight of the guy who punched ahead of me at #20. He started walking up the hill and in my slow shuffle, I caught him near the top. Since I had seen Brad finish earlier, I knew where to go. I picked-up the pace down the hill, and heard some cheers--yeah!
F.		21-F A smooth run up the hill to the finish. I was nicely warm and dripping despite the cold temperatures. I was glad that I didn't get caught in the rain that came just as I was driving away from the scout reservation--Peggy told me later that poor Francis was picking-up the controls.

Total Time Lost - 00:27:15

Split Analysis

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