Running warm up/down (Street & Trail) 2:44 [2] 0.28 mi (9:48 / mi)
slept:8.0
Jog to the start of The 35th annual Billygoat Run.
Orienteering race (Foot) 2:04:54 [4] 14.06 km (8:53 / km) +536m 7:28 / km
NEOC: The 35th annual Billygoat Run on the Earl’s Trails map in the Holyoke Range in Western Massachusetts. Going into this for the last couple of days, I had big concerns about feeling worn out and about some painful callus on my right foot. I got two good days of rest and did an lot of callus removal. I also used new O-shoes, never worn before. The combination helped a lot as most of the soreness from my Thursday run went away.
The start was confusing for everyone going different ways. I went with the crowd, going on the right side of the mountaintop but I was not keeping up very well. Eventually I found myself in the company of several West Point cadets who suddenly stopped when trails ran out and we had a good look at a hillside ahead. I could tell where we were so I led from there. I was coming into the trail just right but dropped down right before it when I saw others shuffling along. I had to come back up a contour but had an easy attack to #1. I saw Ted Good ahead of me by 15-20 seconds but when I left #1, I never saw him again until the finish. I led the cadets most of the way to #2 until Alex Jospe passed us. I drifted off my line with her ahead and we came in low where there were some unmapped cliffs. We lost 30 seconds to a minute. Alex pulled the group along mostly. I took a few different lines up to #5 but didn't get ahead and couldn't break away. I was running too fast and not reading carefully. I was going to drop going to #5, to avoid a spur but went a parallel path with Alex across the spur instead. Not thinking well, I started reading the leg for #6 and kept adjusting my bearing to the right. I stopped this later but was off-line at that point. I ended up a few contours high at the right distance and looked over to see the cadets punching where Alex had been. I was concerned about keeping with the group to make time and didn't read leg #6 very well. About 1/3 of the way up the climb, I moaned realizing that this would have been a great skip for me--I like to avoid hills when possible. I walked on up the hill, committed to #6 and disraught about there not being a good skip for the next several legs.
I was in the midst of the cadets getting to #6, then started catching the leaders. Going to #8, I considered a skip bud didn't see it being worth it. The cadets were faster on the initial trails, As they got ahead, I chose a lower route to stay on trails. I got there right at the same time as the cadet leaders. I jumped in the woods early going to #9, so as not to make an easy mistake and the cadets did the same. Going to #10, the cadets got ahead and I was getting tired. I didn't want to go straight but did anyway. I should have read the trails more carefully. There seemed to be extra unmapped knolls so the contours weren't making sense. I dropped a little eventually following a trail that took me to the controls but it was a little out of the way for a loss of time.
Going to #11, I got ahead of the cadets but they were trailing me. I was doing well but got distracted when seeing others below me one reentrant too early--the control circle on the map obscured the reentrant I was in. After a drop and climb back up, I hit the control-another minute lost. I took the trail to #12 and some others were too. For #13, I gained and caught a group of younger people but they punched before me. When leaving behind the crowd, I decided climbinb right away made sense--they were all going either across or down and up to the left for some reason. Once up, I made good time in the open flatter terrain with one cadet in pursuit. I left #14 and started catching others who perhaps were doing the Minigoat. On the approach, I decided climbing and attacking #15 high was best. I did but lost concentration and went right over the control (about 10m to my left) when I crossed a reentrant. I did a slow circle, coming back and wondering why I hadn't seen it from below even. Another group of orienteers including Jeff Saeger led me in but I'd figured it out at that point. I chased Jeff, eventually passing him. Another cadet followed me when I left the trail early and we got to #16 first. I ran too quickly going to #17 and ended up to the left. David Onkst was close behind. We corrected for a 30-40 second loss. When asked, I told David that I was skipping #18. I moved out fast and used the trails to the left, spiking #19 easily but losing David inadvertently. I ran past the finish and back into the woods going to #20. I felt bad for a cadet who'd lost his epunch in the leaves; another cadet stopped but I was feeling I wanted to compete and catch others. I hit #20 well. I went straight toward #21 but pulled-up short by one spur. I relocated on the steam below but had to climb right back to where I was to get to the control. That cost me a minute or 2 and a bunch of cadets were then there. I chased and passed some, getting to #22 (my control "NA" from last year) well. I ran fast and straight to #23, spiking it, and passing most of the cadets. I ran on bearing and where the running was good going to #24; I hit the trail unexpectedly and then got stuck in the green behind some others. There was no way to catch and pass after punching as the run-in was short.
It was fun running this. I felt I navigated most of the course on my own and I incurred errors that I was disappointed with. The hillls weren't that bad but I'd much perfer a flatter Billygoat next year.