Race Evaluation
2002 Billygoat Run:
EWhite
| 1. |
Followed others | Deliberately held back to avoid running with the leaders and to decide what to skip. Decided to skip #3. With pack up trail. | |||||
| 2. | Poor micro-route choice out of #1 led me into two green patches, trailing Alan Young on the second one, much to his dismay. Straightened out and down ride and through woods to the right of the trail junction and the path of the main pack. | ||||||
| 3. | Skipped | ||||||
| 4. | Found myself in a train being led by Peter Gagarin. Off-trail and down reentrant. Aimed straight to control and got stuck on top of rockface 10' from control losing several seconds. | ||||||
| 5. | Eddie B. and Greg B. appeared from behind at control having not skipped anything. | ||||||
| 6. |
Did not plan ahead Read map too late | Stayed high initially, then to the left over a spur as the pack disappeared to the right (for good). Relocated as I went up intermittent stream to crescent shaped pond near trail. Then right across hill to rock-encircled knoll and control. | |||||
| 7. |
Did not plan ahead Read map too late | Poor direction (due N) out of #6 led to difficulty getting down to trail through rockfaces. Trail around end of marsh then trudged on the line uphill with a few souls ahead and Peggy a little distance behind. | |||||
| 8. | Went right to avoid steeps then reentrant across wall, turning off before large boulder. Hit circle one reentrant to the right just ahead of Nadim. | ||||||
| 9. |
Confused parallel features | Met Francis heading back to #8. Followed wall to and across trail and stream, then contoured into circle. Unsure of location, so climbed spur E of contrl for better look. Met by Francis and others coming from above. Relocated and dropped down to control. | |||||
| 10. |
Did not follow plan Bad map reading Hesitated | Followed small pack to bend in trail. Hesitated as two went R while Francis went L. Missed small trail on map and went L intending to turn off at cliff then cross N of two marshes. Left trail OK as Francis sped on south on it. Inexplicably ran to L of first marsh while looking right at it, coming to my senses only as I approached large boulder on south end of small hill. Back across hill and around N end of large marsh with Francis again behind me. Too far R in circle and had to climb back up to control, arriving just after Francis. | |||||
| 11. |
Read map too late Could not relocate Not thinking clearly Followed others | Blindly followed Francis as he sped away (unfortunately, as I was to discover, he led me south to the small pond!) Heading W on the small trail, the curves seemed incorrect so I slowed to regroup and lost contact with Francis. Crossed stream to main trail then down, figuring things out as I passed folks heading up trail toward #12. Had effectively lost contact with the pack in the last two controls. | |||||
| 12. | Left #11 a little ahead of Dave Onkst and didn't see or hear another competitor until #18. Took trail over top of hill. | ||||||
| 13. | Along trail then straight to control. | ||||||
| 14. |
Bad route choice Tired | Left on main trails the whole way, then E just before bend at top of hill. | |||||
| 15. | To wall and around R side of hill then straight to saddle. As close to a spike as I had all day. | ||||||
| 16. |
Bad route choice Did not plan ahead Read map too late | Left control going due W, crossing wall at bottom of reentrant, then over spur and down and across stream and up to trail. Recaptured brain and turned R to take small trail past the marsh then W veering away from wall to N-S wall. Up onto line of knolls in circle then S to control. | |||||
| 17. |
Tired | Took trail, turning off at indistinct marsh, then down stream the S through knolls to control. | |||||
| 18. |
Bad map reading | Didn't see small trail on the map but noticed it as I ran by. Backtracked, then took it and into control from above. Surprised and slightly dismayed to see Brad Whitmore punch in from below as I approached. My main concern at this point was to avoid a potentially ruinous sprint to the finish. | |||||
| 19. |
Bad route choice | Followed Brad's trail up out of reentrant and S to trail catching a lollygagging Brad at the road. What is he doing? He should have sprinted away while out of sight. Does he want to sprint in or is he just giving up. Afterwards I learn that neither is true - his mapcase is torn and the entire area around #19 is effectively erased on his map. He needs to follow me to find the control. I punch several seconds ahead of him. | |||||
| F. | With no need to kill myself (thanks Brad!), I take it in at a moderate pace. Only mildly disturbed to find that I finished 1 second behind Joe B's vetting time (of course he didn't skip). Just glad to finish feeling good (rather than exhausted and battered from trying to race too much) and uninjured aside from some blisters. |
Total Time Lost - 00:00:00