Race Evaluation
Hudson Highlander X:
levitin
| 1. | Ran comfortably in a group near Bernie, Pavlina, and others. I was able to thumb the map, follow our position, and choose an attack point while checking the footing. I left the trail early near Pavlina; others left later and arrived sooner from our left. HR 159. | ||||||
| 2. | Road left looked obvious, but I couldn't see another option. Reached the road near Pavlina, but couldn't sustain the pace. Came off the road at the bend, across the depressions, and in near Charlie DeWeese. HR 162. | ||||||
| 3. | Straight, following the pack. Somewhere along here, I lent my backup compass (and my only whistle (yikes)) to a guy who'd just dropped his. (This was Mike Lyons.) HR 158. | ||||||
| 4. | I think this leg was the one Paul mentioned had a potential route choice that was over the fold, but I didn't see anything obvious. I think the pack went R of the line and the marsh. We arrived in sufficient numbers to overwhelm Nancy Koehler, who couldn't get split times and bib numbers in order. HR 162. | ||||||
| 5. | Noticed J-J waiting to punch to begin the KOTM. Headed off after a brief drink. Went up the spur, tried but failed to keep J-J in sight. HR 163. | ||||||
| 6. | Confused by the arrival of Ross Smith from the NE down the path while I was huffing and puffing after punching. Followed Ross and Steve Fleisig down the trail. At the trail jct, I saw Viktoria(?) turn left, which I perceived as needlessly crossing contours. We went on the trail R, but Ross was off the front. Punched behind Ross, but it must have been somewhere near Pavlina, since I was in a small group that followed her from 6-7. HR 165. | ||||||
| 7. | Trail L, came into the circle betwenthe cliff and marsh to the W. HR 160. | ||||||
| 8. | +07:00 | Losing contact.Trail toward cliff top. Saw Peggy ahead and below (she must have just punched 8). Ran down the spur, (both Peggy and I slipped coming down the rocky spur line), up the cliff, punched in box 9, and realized I had to go back up 10 contours to punch 8. From below, it was trivial. HR158. | |||||
| 9. | 2nd visit. Told Bill Shannon, "Now you can start me on the sprint." HR169. | ||||||
| 10. | Legs tired, fell off the train, streamers were infrequent. I probably lost 90 seconds just from all the pauses at the trail junctions to find the next White Cross. The view was stunning. Spent some time near a guy from MD who now rogaines. It took me a long time to realize the map scale was 1:36 THOUSAND, not 1:36 hundred. Toward the end, I thought I saw Samantha Saeger running toward me. (Maybe it was Hillary skipping the Surebridge section.) So when I saw people leaving the aid station by continuing on the far side of the road, instead of crossing back to where we had come from, I was momentarily confused. HR154 | ||||||
| 11. | Includes some time eating, drinking, and trying to figure out why everyone was continuing on the far side, except one Saeger. I sucked down all my salty broth (1000+ mg of sodium -- aah). I left the aid station with Sharon Crawford, with whom I orienteered for the Surebridge loop. HR 145. | ||||||
| 12. | HR 160 following Sharon. Noticed no pins were in the punch, and J-J cursing about having come by way of #12. | ||||||
| 13. | Came in from the stream jct. HR 153. | ||||||
| 14. | Straight. HR 162. | ||||||
| 15. | Straight, just a bit left of the line, using the cliffs as a handrail. HR 155. | ||||||
| 16. | A bit N of the line, on the trail. Just S of the "e" in "Mine", we went straight in. HR 152. | ||||||
| 17. | NE to trail, to the white between the marshes. Came in straight on the 16-17 line, having seen some people (maybe Jeff Saeger?) coming toward us on the left route from 16 to 17. HR 147. | ||||||
| 18. | Right route. N from control to the trail, cut across to the mostly E-W trail, to Times Square. Noticed the recent fire damage in the woods. Straight through Times Square, then left on the next trail, jumping off near the marsh when the trail turned N. We went SW through the saddle and down the reentrant on the other side. The footing was quite good, better than we had expected. Somewhere around here, we encountered Steve Olafsen, who remarked that we were the first people he had seen in a couple of hours. At the SW-NE trail, Sharon led the attack by contouring around the hilltop. HR 145. | ||||||
| 19. | Feet aching, legs twingeing with cramps, popped another Succeed! cap and the cramps subsided. I was still lagging Steve and Sharon, and starting to get a bit fuzzy in the head. HR 142. | ||||||
| 20. | Not sure what route we took, because every footplant ached in my heels. Why weren't we on the road? (Because Sharon *loves* the straight line.) HR 144. | ||||||
| 21. | I stopped to refill my Camelbak bladder; Sharon and Steve disappeared on the trail run. Couldn't gain much because my feet hurt. Passed Jeff Saeger on the trail run; he said he was OK. Near the intersection, Sharon was just leaving. She said, "It's just there; I'm taking the right route." I punched, but she was out of sight as I scratched my head trying to determine what route she meant that was to the right. HR146 | ||||||
| 22. | Now, alone. Fuzzy head, painful feet, couldn't see a "right" route. Tried to follow the line, but got caught in the Fight. Eventually, fixed my position on a line of knolls about 200m NE of the flag. Came in using the NW-SE cliff line as a handrail and punched. Took a brief rest. HR 136. Jeff Saeger came in while I was resting. I asked if he would please shoot me to put me out of my misery figuring someone could collect my body with the flag after the event. He left the control before I could get going. | ||||||
| 23. | Took the powerline (which sucked) until it got really thick. Then, bailed L to the open area, including the open area L of the line. Followed the line just to the R of the power line, hit the flag from below. I moved slower on what I thought was a better route than 2 other people who went right, and higher, but faster. They were out of sight. HR 137. | ||||||
| 24. | Followed Jeff down to the lakeside. I don't think this route is very good, except that it lets you see those going for #24. At the flag, I told Jeff I was going to take a refreshing pause for a coke to see if I could revive my spirits. HR 141. | ||||||
| 25. | Drank an ice cold coke from my car. Aaah. Let out a resounding belch or two. Aaah. Alone again, moving slowly. Road to end of beach, then crossed the trail, powerline, and the unmapped ride that I think is here. Went around at the foot of the rocky icky stuff, ticking off distinctive knolls and large boulders. HR 134. | ||||||
| 26. | SSE to contour around the cliffs. Was confused by the sound of autos. Contoured straight east. Though I was ticking off cliffs and rocks OK, but got to where I thought the control should be but was about 20m too far W. HR 133. | ||||||
| 27. | +00:15 | Straight. Momentarily read control description as "upper cliff" instead of "northern cliff". HR 137. | |||||
| 28. | +03:00 | Intended to go slightly R, then L of the line, thinking, "How could I miss the wide, rocky reentrant?" I missed it to the R, eventually coming SW of the open area 300m E of the control. At this point, I took the trail W and attacked from a distinct boulder near the trail. HR 126. | |||||
| F. | L of the line to the boardwalk and in, getting passed in a blaze by ? Patrick Shannon ?. HR 145. On the day, I took 3 or 4 Gu's, 5 Succeed! caps, 12oz salty broth, 12oz Coke, half dozen cookies, a banana half, some orange slices, and about 120-140oz water over 6.75 hrs. |
Total Time Lost - 00:10:15