NAOC Sprint. I was nervous about screwing up today. I really wanted one clean race for the weekend. I had an early start, so I warmed up and arrived at the start about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Only to find out that there would be a 30 minute delay. So I hung out, waited, and then warmed up again.
Got the map at the start, and it was huge (11X17). This was a long sprint course (too long; winning time was 18 min) so I knew I couldn't run all out for this distance. Settled in to a comfortable pace, and was able to hold that (for the times I was running)
Big mistake at 2, when I didn't see the gray wall and thought that the center of the circle was on the inside corner of the fence (which would have been a way cooler, and trickier, control location). When I missed it, it took me too long to decide how to relocate; need to practice that for sprints.
Huge mistake at 7. I saw the trail option to the control but once again I decide a straight line route would be OK. Not. Did not figure out which trail I hit first, kept thinking I was looking for a rootstock at the end of a thicket (instead, the whole green blob was the rootstock, which they had mentioned in meet notes).Wandered around and finally found a rootstock that was my 86. Punched and left. Hit a trail way too soon, and then the trail forked. Whoa, something is really wrong here! Go back and check that control code. It was 89 !!! Whew, I dodged a bullet here (yes, I know, I should have caught it the first time....) Ran back and finally found a few other folks who led me into 7. Total disaster, once again.
Rest of the course was fine. Pleased that I was able to run a steady pace, and pain free. But again, super mad at myself for such a huge, preventable mistake.
Enjoyed hanging out and chatting with everyone after the race. Spectating as the elites finished was also cool. Too bad we had to leave early, so we missed the team relays.
Thanks to Ottowa for a fine weekend.
My route