2022 Nationals, Long, Red Rock Canyon Park, LAOC
I didn't sleep well and I was tired after two days of O. Surprisingly, my foot felt OK. But overall, I was not really motivated to do this course today and even considered cutting it short. But then I went out on the model and saw that it would be not so physical, so my attitude changed. And I enjoyed the course, even though it was easy to see features from far away and I just had to get to them. At my walking pace, however, I had time to enjoy the views. And grip my map so it wouldn't fly away in the strong wind!
I chose to stay high to 1, to better read the map and get the lay of the land. It was a good choice even though it probably cost me some time.
Slightly off line to 4, I think I wasn't really on the trail. AP says I lost time on 6, but that's because I stopped at 5 to eat and drink.
Leaving 6, nothing made sense and I was really confused. But I looked up ahead to larger features and kept on moving. Just before crossing the trail, I was looking at the map and suddenly took a fall. Don't know what happened. Lots of various body parts bruised, wrist and arm took it the worst. My first thought was to check if I had broken my compass!
I rushed out of 8 and din't study the route choices, so I ended up going the long way down the stream before I could cross the hill and head south. I hit the big trail and thought I had turned onto the small trail. But very soon things didn't make sense and I realized I was on another ridge. Back to the trail, and followed it to the end. I was able to run downhill here. Then slow climb down and up. Missed the control slightly, I was too low. AP says I lost more than 2 min on this leg, which surprised me. I guess all the minor errors added up.
Here is what I expected this weekend:
-slow but steady races
-challenging terrain
-great weather
-tons of fun with friends
What actually happened:
-slow and mostly steady races. Sprint was good, middle not great, long was OK.
-Loved all three areas, such variety in one weekend!
-Weather was perfect for racing and hanging around
-Tons of fun! Loved traveling with Goril, Kris and Brooke. Catching up with everyone else (Charlie, Mikell, Peter, Joe, Sidney, Susan, Sharon, Charlie, Cristina, Boris, Jan, Tom and others who I can't remember at this moment). And meeting Tian for the first time.