Training Log Archive: mikeminium

Camino del Sol. Felt old, fat, and slow after three days of driving and road food, and not having run for a few days. But the 65 degree weather was nice.

C • Road food... 1

3 sets of 15 reps on a variety of equipment.

Event: OCIN Harbin Park / TROL Series #5
 

driving day, Roswell - Green Valley. delicious dinner at La Placita.

after dinner stroll on a very chilly and breezy evening in Roswell, NM.
(driving day, Joplin - Roswell)

Driving day. Oxford to Joplin (via IND).

Event: OCIN New Years Orienteering
 

snow removal

setting out final few controls and some drinking water at Rentschler / Timberhill.

Setting controls at Rentschler.

As I approached one control, deep in the woods, I was surprised to see lots of human tracks. And a push down where some kind of plastic sled had been dragged. Cool. Kids have been playing in the woods. Maybe they will be future orienteers. They definitely picked some thick honeysuckle to play in. The tracks approach the control site, and it is then that I notice something amiss. Red spots dot the snow. Blood.

Now my first thought was, one of the kids got a bloody nose. But then I see more blood. Lots of blood. This is not good. Kid must really have hurt himself. So, I start to follow the tracks, setting down the several control stands I am carrying. I figure I'd better be sure this kid has made it out of the woods. Then I notice something else about the tracks. Uh huh. Ok. I think I've got this one figured out. Well, I will still follow them just to be sure. But I am decidedly relieved.

So, the tracks, pulled sled and all, blood speckling the snow the whole way, eventually lead to the back yard of a suburban residence. In the back yard, amidst the tracks of abundant wildlife, a nice pile of corn is visible. Not far away is a wooden silhouette of a deer, obviously for target practice. Figured it out yet?

Yep, they shot a deer in their own back yard. Mortally wounded, the deer had bolted into the woods. Now, following the blood trail back, it wound through honeysuckle and thickets. The deer had made it a couple hundred yards, going right past my control site in the process. At one point, it managed to break the shaft of the arrow that had impaled it, and I found the feathered shaft. A little farther, was the spot where the deer had expired, the persons tracking it had loaded it onto a sled, and then towed it back out of the park.

Well, although hunting is not allowed in the park, I guess there is probably no law against tracking a wounded deer into the park and retreiving it. Anyway, the tracks told quite a story.

Quite some time later, I got back to the car after setting most of the controls and checked the few stands and SI boxes remaining for tomorrow. Oops, there was unit 71. Groan. I KNOW I put that box on the stand. And it is WAY back in the woods. And nothing else is missing, so what could I have put in its place? Well, daylight was fading and that problem could be solved later and would become apparent once I reached the control in question. So, ten or so minutes of hard trail and terrain running later, I arrive at 71, unit in hand. But there is already a box 71 on the stand. I look at the one in my hand. Definitely 71. I look again at the one on the box. definitely 71. Grrrr.

Well, Cedarcreek got me with an early April Fool, I lament as I jog back to the car. Anyway, better that he gave me too have too many control units than not enough!

C • 2nd year in a row... 1