Race Evaluation
US Short and Long Championships: Red Y 2
Nadim
| 1. | +00:45 | I used the roads and attacked off the trail. I cut in too early and wandered to the next reentrant. There I saw Andy Hall (who started a minute or two behind me on Red X) before turning back. | |||||
| 2. | I went down the trail and after crossing the first creek, Both Andy Hall and Suzanne Armstrong converged. Andy moved ahead a bit. We took a higher route to the control at the end and got there ahead of Suzanne. | ||||||
| 3. | +00:15 | I ran up the ridge and crossed to the left reentrant. I paused a bit too short of the control puzzled as to why I didn't see it. Perhaps it was the scale change to 1:15,000 or perhaps it was that someone ahead was obscuring the view. | |||||
| 4. | +05:00 | I thought about going to the right which can be argued as an improvement from other wrong choices on courses where I didn't even see the better option. My choices yesterday when I went the long way around seemed not to save me time. The kicker was that I'd have a better attack point by going left and I wasn't sure how running longer through the green would be. I hadn't realized how much higher going left was either. I ended up going too far left before crossing the road and had to cross a gravel pit (instead of using the power line) to reach the dirt road winding up over the ridge. Going down was straightforward though I got a little to the right after leaving the trail. Time lost is for the bad route choice. | |||||
| 5. | +00:30 | I was worried about going too fast and passing the control. My bearing was off to the right so when I finally got far enough, it was much lower than expected. | |||||
| 6. | I ran rough compass along the right side of the stream. It was fairly good running. I knew that I only had to stay above the deep reentrants and keep going until they flattened out however I did pause a few times too early afraid that I'd miss the control in a pit. That was silly because it hadn't flattened out in these areas. I also ran a bit too close to the stream. I should have read the control description more thoroughly too; it was not in the pit but on the side and fairly visible 40m away. Had I done so I might not have paused so much. Each time I did pause, I instantly knew where I was. | ||||||
| 7. | Fairly straight. Bob Lutz and I converged with him coming in from the left. I got there first but not without some close calls for the ankles on the fissures. | ||||||
| 8. | I ran fairly straight at first. The running was okay but I stopped to read too much and slowed to eat a Gu en-route. Hitting a set of cliffs where I intended, I dropped down to cross a trail and the creek before using other trails to get to the buildings SE of the control. I could see Bob Lutz ahead and knew I made the wrong choice--he apparently used trails. As I attacked from the west end of the buildings, I saw Suzanne Armstrong again on my left nearing the rock wall. I finished the attack off the end of the rock wall getting there a little ahead of her. | ||||||
| 9. | I ran straightish but paused and started to turn leftward too soon when crossing the first dip. Correcting, I followed the edge of the next to the control, getting there a little behind Bob Lutz. | ||||||
| 10. | +00:30 | I ran to the road and then got on trails on the left side of the hill. Approaching the control, I passed two other guys. One went left on the trail more than I while the other got off early to my right. I climbed up first but was left a bit. I was surprised I'd reached the reentrant so soon after climbing and wasn't sure it was the correct one. When I saw one of the guys coming up the reentrant I thought he was on another course but I soon turned around and got there behind him. | |||||
| 11. | I used the white woods and popped out on the trail a bit left of the control but ahead of the other two guys. | ||||||
| 12. | I drank Gatorade but didn't eat another Gu. It took me 23 seconds. Crossing the bridge I used the left trail since I'd messed up yesterday when I used the right trail. I was a bit unsure at the end but instinct told me to go right at one point and I found it. | ||||||
| 13. | I ran straight, crossing the marsh. It wasn't bad and I practically stayed dry. I hit it slightly right but very nearly dead on. | ||||||
| 14. | Fun trail run. I read along the way and conversed with Charlie on the little climbing parts as I passed him. I told him he was inspiring me to keep running but he replied he was perspiring, resperating and expiring. Good thing that I didn't tell him what I was thinking earlier as I'd approached---I hadn't seen him all weekend so I figured one of us was spending a lot of time in the woods... Near the end, I attacked past the field and caught Jan Ingibritsen at the control. | ||||||
| 15. | Jan was in and out of #14 much faster than I. We got to the road quick. I trailed him to #15 and punched right behind him. | ||||||
| 16. | I thought about the leg a bit before getting going--could have done that on the road either before #15 or after. Again, I had to catch Jan and slowly gained. He went through the fields a bit farther right than I but we crossed paths near the spur. I saw some white woods right of the marsh which led me to a marsh crossing. I got across dry and easily but on the other side, the somewhat flattened reeds kept catching my feet. They were pointed at me since I was climbing. Near trips triggered muscle cramping in my right leg--this kind of resistance late in a race has triggered cramping before so I should have avoided the reeds. I knew it'd go a way with time but I had to walk a good bit up the hill and watch Jan pull ahead. I felt confident about the navigation. Both Jan and I had to cross the left gully to get to the correct one. The setter could have chosen a tougher location but I suppose I was glad he/she didn't. Slowly I was able to jog again but Jan was out of sight when I got to the control. | ||||||
| 17. | +00:45 | I went straight at first but got drawn higher and to the right by visible open ground. I guess I wasn't reading at this point. In the ride, I knew I had to go much further. I dropped down, saw the pond and ran around it on the left side to get to the trail. I ran blindly up the trail--the cramp was mostly gone at this point. I could hear Peggy telling Max that I was coming but I didn't see them anywhere. Again, I didn't read the map and stayed on the trail to the larger field. A left turn and I was there. | |||||
| F. | I gave it a decent effort. |
Total Time Lost - 00:07:45