Race Evaluation
US Individual Champs, Day 2: Blue
cmorse
| 1. | Clean out of start running neck and neck with a cadet (Mogeson?) figured he was headed to a nearby control but apparently our courses were the same on this first one at least - feeling strong and sharp. | ||||||
| 2. | +00:15 | flying down reentrant ahead of cadet, out on road at stream crossing up the road about 50m then into the woods on the line then going left of line after second road crossing through saddle on long ridge then follow stream until I saw the end of spur on left, up and over low end of spur and across reentrant pulled up and had to look around briefly before seeing ditch | |||||
| 3. | +18:00 | BOOM!! Straight and fast, south of OOB area considered dropping down and following stream but decided to stay high and count across reentrant tops. Must have drifted right and gotten across main reentrant north without realizing it because I was downright LOST floundering around between 3 & 7 somewhere. Since I was assuming I was south of 3, I tried to relocate to road and couldn't find it. That really f#$%ed me up. Kept moving west (slowly) expecting to see road and getting nothing. Finally saw Hawkins sailing through the woods in the distance and hoped he was headed to 4 and basically headed to where he had come from - finally found the flag but I was really discouraged by now.... DAMN, DAMM, DOUBLE DAMN.... | |||||
| 4. | +05:00 | Feeling really bummed by #3, I decided to push hard to the dirt road left and come in to 4 easy. Running hard but loss of focus found me staring down slope at stream midway between 4 & 7 - oh well, might as well go down, cross and run the trail/road to 4 from here. This is going from really bad to horrible... | |||||
| 5. | short leg and easy, but moving slowly due to being quite bummed. | ||||||
| 6. | +05:00 | opted to follow river to right, down to river and ran about 300m along left shore before seeing there was a trail on other side, crossed and ran much faster on trail w/o laurel. Wasted about a minute finding a non-laurel crossing point, then up reentrant - ok from there, but slow | |||||
| 7. | Race is over now, but I am determined to finish it regardless. Took the long trail/road/trail option around to left - moderate jog most of the way - actually not a bad split considering I wasn't really pushing anymore. | ||||||
| 8. | +03:00 | trail to parking area, right fork of road, then in and running along slope 2 contours west of stream - got to correct location but was high and had to scout around before dropping to flag. From here on out I was walking a lot in the woods - motivation factor zero | |||||
| 9. | +03:00 | straight to parking, then pace counted down pyrite mine road until woods looked passable about 250m - through the white gap - not very white and got open area on spur west of control - over and in cleanly - but walking | |||||
| 10. | straight line, clean navigation, might have even jogged in here. Heard runners approaching behind (Mihai?) but they were headed left of my line, I knew mine was good and tried to get in and out quickly and quietly. | ||||||
| 11. | +01:00 | Slogging uphill Mihai? with Wil Smith in tow pass me coming onto trail, out to junction and across to follow stream, they're gone in the distance. Follow stream to junction, then drift left along slope spying knoll above to left, pace counting from there but drifted a bit left of clearing, then corrected | |||||
| 12. | +08:00 | Long wayaround and very slow - due south, cross stream and pick up trail. Trails most of the way (out of the way) then in to woods attacking from grave site to the west. Clean and really, really slow moving | |||||
| 13. | +03:00 | straight line, really slow walk | |||||
| 14. | Even the last two were a pathetic attempt at a jog. | ||||||
| F. | Not a great day in the woods, but I think it would have been dramatically different if I had just followed the stream to #3 rather than trying to maintain good speed on the straight line. Lesson learned - when the course setter gives you a good handrail - take it.. |
Total Time Lost - 00:46:15