Race Evaluation
SLOC Back to Woods: Red
Spike
| 1. | |||||||
| 2. | I went back through Camp Cuivre, along the road past control 11, then dropped down the big valley heading west, crossed Big Sugar Creek, and followed the horse trail. When I still had about 450 meters of trail, I spotted a group horse riders ahead of me on the trail. I decided to leave the trail and went up the hillside toward the green area on top of the hill. I think my route was good (not sure how much time I lost by leaving the trail, but it must have been a minute or so). | ||||||
| 3. | I decided to run the trail all the way to the edge of the flood plain and then head along the green to the control. I encountered another group of horses. To avoid the horses I left the trail a bit earlier than planned (maybe 50-60 meters). | ||||||
| 4. | I walked about half the leg, drinking some water and eating a couple of Clif Bloks. I lost some time at the control. I stopped a bit too early (maybe 3-4 steps and I'd have seen the depression in the vegetation), felt like I was too close to the stream, and headed up a line or so. I saw that the clifs on the SE edge of the ring should tell me how high to be to find the control. I went back to where I'd stopped and took a few steps into the thick vegetation and saw the depression. | ||||||
| 5. | Another bunch of horses. I'd planned to run the trail all the way to the big stream. Instead, I left the trail at the junction and ran along the edge of the dark green. | ||||||
| 6. | The white forest looked thick, so I decided to go up a bit and use the big trail. The end of the big trail (the part running east/west) was crossed off on the master maps. But, the rest of the big trail wasn't crossed off, so I figured it was there. It wasn't really there (I could follow little bits of it, but it wasn't any better than running in the forest). The white forest was pretty thick along here -- it felt slow. In retrospect, I think it'd be faster to go straight. I dont' think my decision was bad (it just turned out to be bad). | ||||||
| 7. | The flag seemed too low (i.e. not 2+ lines above the stream). | ||||||
| 8. | |||||||
| 9. | I can tell I haven't been running in the woods much -- this whole leg felt like a chore. I never felt comfortable running. | ||||||
| 10. | |||||||
| 11. | The flag wasn't there when I came to the center of the circle. I stopped for a bit, then I went further up the reentrant. then I stopped again. I couldn't be in the wrong place, but I also couldn't see anywhere that the control could have been hidden. This close to the finish I wasn't sure if I should keep looking or just run to the finish. I couldn't think of anywhere to look, so I went to the finish. I'm not sure how much time it cost. I was moving pretty well; but then stood around trying to see a flag and trying to decide what to do. It turned out the flag was in the reentrant NE of the center of the circle (and just outside of the circle). After I finished, Rick A and I went out and moved it. A guess would be that I lost 1:30-2:00. | ||||||
| F. | I shuffled in -- no point in running hard if I hadn't found one of the controls (though I was fairly sure it was misplaced). A guess is I lost 0:20-0:30 |
Total Time Lost - 00:00:00