Trail Running 11:57:30 [3] *** 30.96 mi (23:11 / mi)
spiked:10/12c shoes: Salomon XA Pro 3D
SVO Rogaine at Michaux, 12hr course with Phil Meyers - Team Gung Hooligans
2nd place Men's Division
4th place 12hr overall, 661pt out of 1710 (38.6%).
Our route: Start-55-74-73-53-44-25-60-45-72-62-65-33-61(missed)-Finish.
My first real rogaine - felt it went really well. For route planning we only decided on the first 6 controls or so figuring that would take us about half way & we would re-evaluate from there.
Headed to south out of camp to #55 running all the way with team FARC. Hit the reentrant to 55 a spiked the control. Continued the climb up to the ridge looking for the AT. Got a little confused by various unmapped logging roads & took a wrong turn. Quickly regrouped - lost maybe 5-10 mins. Lost track of team FARC after this. Found the AT and followed almost all the way and hit #74 no problem. Dropped off the control into Beartown neighborhood (Avalon Hieghts). This began the long trek to #73. Ran the road to crossroads then headed across cornfield. Had to cross through a residential area but people mowing lawns were welcoming. 1st half of climb up was very difficult due to extremely thick vegetation. Nearly stepped on two black snakes on the way up. Hit #73 and followed trail to #53. Stopped and filled water at stream on the way to #44. Leaving #44 made our first major mistake. Traveled on grass road way too far and unknowing took a side ridge running west. When we dropped looking for the road we had literally gone off the map to the west. Confused by many ATV trails and no references, we wandered for about 10-15 minutes, then decided we needed to just head north to hit the pipeline. We quickly hit the northbound road & followed to the pipline cut up to #25. Met up with team Absolute Radon at #25 and took a long break to eat. Headed out the long ridge north to #60. This was a nasty leg through dense saplings most of the way - then rough rocky ground into the control. Reached #60 about 6:30 PM and sat down to figure out our 2nd half strategy.
Decided we could get #45 & #72 before dark then hit the pipeline east into darkness.
Quick trip to #45. Filled our water again & saw Team S.N.O.T & headed off to #72. Just missed #72, caught the sandy road beyond and doubled back to control. Hit the pipeline after 8PM. Started to feel the long miles. Took out our walking poles which truely helped. Climbed up to top and took another extended break to eat PB&J sandwiches & fixed a hot spot on the big toe. Cointinued into darkness and easily found #62 & #65.
First real test of night o-ing into #33. Followed subtle ridge onto rocky ground and ran right into #33. Back on Three Springs Road south at around 10 PM. Two hours to go.
Debated whether to try to cross over for #40 (looked hard from this angle in the dark) but opted for #21 & #61. Legs were spent & the way down Three Spring road took much longer than expected. Skipped #21 and headed for #61. Somehow we missed the top of the reentrant and wandered north & west. At 11 PM, we realized we needed to give up and hi-tail back to camp. No room for errors. We were afraid we had just risked losing points.
Back up to road and tried to run/walk south. Dropped off to Rattlesnake run road just south of #23. Steep, thick crashing through laurels - but managed to reach lower road quickly. The realization hit us - we need to sprint the last 2+ miles to make the finish. We ran the roads home - saw the camp lights with 4 mins to go. Touched the wall @ 11:57:30. (2-1/2 minutes left.)
Great race. Phil & I worked well together. Phil definitely helped push me through the low spots. Looking forward to more Rogaines.
I took my Forerunner 305 - checked it at the end - (almost 31 miles - my new distance record)