Orienteering 1:23:59 [4] *** 9.2 km (9:08 / km)
10c shoes: 201004 Inov8 X-Talon 212
The first session of the CSU Pawtuckaway training day trip was a route choice course done the same way as the second exercise on Day 1 of the April Pawtuckaway Training Camp; the official course length was about 6.2 km. In groups, we discussed possible routes and planned each leg. I talked with Alex and Dean, and we all decided to skip controls 6 and 7. The exercise was very constructive, with a combination of large scale route choice decisions and small scale reading trying to fit the detail of Pawtuckaway to our plans. Ross set an excellent course, and ran off about twenty minutes before the rest of us to set the streamers, all of which were in place when I visited the controls. I would have preferred fewer deer flies and cooler temperatures, but they added to the challenge. I definitely prefer Pawtuckaway in the spring and fall.
I had some difficulty mentally focusing on the objective while I was running. Particularly in an area as technical as Pawtuckaway, lack of focus prohibits accurate execution. I blundered on control 1, deviating from my plan to attack down the reentrant and marsh. I relocated off the water course south of the control, then saw the feature from near the marsh. I saw Lori, Presto, and Alex as I was leaving the control.
The first part of the leg to control 2 required skirting the edge of a large swamp inlet over heavily contoured, rugged ground. I made the traverse, though not quickly, and attacked the control from a pond to the ridge and down into the reentrant. I should have planned that, because the ridge was a very prominent, visible feature, but my plan was more direct, and again, I did not execute it. Borrowing from Ali and Lori's discussion, I planned the most reliable route to 3 that I saw - I ran along the trail to a wall, then followed the wall to a junction very near the flag. I was clean, though the climb along the wall was arduous.
I seem to have difficulty counting under race conditions, or I am too ready to discard my recollection of the route in favor of local observations. The route to Control 4 made extensive use of linear features; I followed three large, parallel cliffs down a reentrant. However, after passing the second cliff, I saw a swamp - which I thought was after the third. So, I presumed I had hit the third cliff, and proceeded to attack up the hill. Beyond the hill, I saw the *actual* swamp, and had to rectify my error. The climb up the hill to 4 was more severe than the map suggested. I ran into Katia on this leg.
I executed correctly on the rest of my legs, though I was moving sluggishly in the heat and given the deer flies. I hesitated for some time on the way to control 9. After the rock wall left of the line, I hit a swamp, and I couldn't decide if it was the large, green swamp that I wanted on my right or the smaller one that should have been to my left. I eventually figured it out (it was the former), and completed my assault on the control; I had passed Alex earlier on the leg, but caught her ahead of me after my blunder.
At 11, I had trouble lining up the features on the map to those around me near the circle. I did arrive at a boulder with a small streamer adjacent to it; I decided to confirm it was the correct location, and checked some nearby features. Control 12 was uneventful, if slow; I waited for Alex and we rehung the streamer.