QOC Junior Nationals--Green Course, Quantico Marine Base, VA, on the Beaver Dam map. I was fairly uncertain about how my running would go this weekend. My right calf is not fully healed. It felt okay Thursday but I could still feel some issues on Friday when leaving work.
I was a bit excited at the start, and also feeling heavy. On the way to #1, I went for using the road instead of going straight at the control. It got me running and got me into reading the map. I was pretty good knowing where I was when crossing the creek near the spur. I have confidence in being able to follow a bearing through QOC's terrain and did so to a marsh. I followed that to the first control.
The 2nd control required just being just a little careful to get on the right side of a ridge. The 3rd control was a short straight shot over a ridge. I took the 4th going straight too; I didn't see the stream confluence but could tell it was below the first stream I crossed. For the 5th control, I sought to save climb by crossing the ridge early and going up the next reentrant. By this point, my glasses were fogged-up pretty well. I resorted to reading the map by looking over them (the glasses are cut with no glass on the top half).
Leg 5-6 was the longest on the Green Middle Course. I wasn't feeling fast to gain advantage by going around to the right. I probably also didn't fully explore that option before starting. Instead, I sought to go as straight as I could while still getting further north of the green vegetation. I executed this well, finishing with a run down the spur, but I hear the route on the ride further north was best.
I think I started catching-up with Dennis Dougherty on the way to #8, but first I passed Florence Tan. I was a little less direct on this leg. I cut right after the stream crossing, and came up the spur to the control. Florence went a straighter route and probably got there not long after me.
I lost site of Dennis Dougherty as I went left to get around the green vegetation. Going left put me on the wrong side of a ridge, so cut back when I saw a gap. I was unsure if I'd gone far enough, but when I didn't see #9, I cut left until I did.
Going to #10, I zig-zagged around vegetation, but was fairly solid getting there. Leaving #10, I made a 90 degree error. I knew there should be a change in direction but since I lined my compass up on the leg line from 9-10 instead of the meridians, I lost time--I realized it in 15-20 seconds, and then corrected. Dennis was ahead of me as we closed in on #11. For #12, I passed Dennis and went to the right to save climb and use the creek. After passing a spur, and adjusting direction again, I picked my way to the other side of the stream and was hesitant until I hit the control. Dennis was close behind. We left #12 differently; I backtracked. Dennis went high initially and got to the road ahead of me. We both cut in on ride. I passed him in the woods and used the edge of the field to know where I was and punch.
Finishing-up I ran right around some green, but when it went too far, I cut through it. I used the hillside to pick my entrance to the field. I had at first thought the control was in the forest but re-reading the map corrected that notion. I kept ahead of Dennis for the run-in but was feeling the heat and not pushing all the way. I was fairly clean on this run, and just lost time when leaving #10. I got 2nd in my age group, and 4th on the course.