Training Log Archive: PG

Forgot one other thing about today's outing.

I wear one contact for orienteering. I need it for distance vision. I can read the map pretty well with no correction at all.

My existing contacts were getting pretty ratty, so I called up the place I got them and said I needed new ones, and the guy said I'd need a new eye exam first from my eye doctor.

So I called up my eye doctor, and it turned out my last exam was 11 months ago, recent enough. And then the woman there said that if I could get the specs on my contacts, then I could order them online and it would be cheaper.

So I call up the contact guy again. Can I get the specs? And he tells me! Such and such a size, such and such a curvature.

Call back to the eye doctor's, give her the specs, she says she can order me some samples, they are free, shipping is 10 bucks. Sounds like a deal to me.

That was Tuesday. Friday the samples are in. I have 6 lenses at my prescription, and 6 more a quarter diopter different just in case. All for 10 bucks. And maybe some people use them just once, but I'm told that using them a few times each should be OK.

Use one for the Speedy Goat, vision was good. Use it again for the Billygoat. Vision still good. Use it again today. Vision still good.

Go to take it off. Not really paying attention, taking them out is never a problem, I reach in a second time and there's nothing there. Huh? It feels like it's hiding in some corner of my eye, but I'm damned if I can find it. I give up after a couple of minutes, and by now I'm no longer feeling like it's hiding somewhere, time to go catch the train.

Get to Grand Central. Look up on the big display board to see what track my train is on. My vision is off. The contact has reappeared, now nicely centered. WTF. After I get on the train I take it out, no problem.

But I have a little more sympathy for Charlie and Phil who i think have struggled with "losing" contacts when they were still in their eyes, and I was thinking they were just losing their minds....

O' practice in Central Park. Course had 15 controls, but I sailed right by one without stopping so I guess that doesn't count (unless I'd been using the new ski-O touch-free punching).

Quite good fun. I had Chris Cassone's "The Great Central Park Treasure Hunt" map (a legitimate O' map, 1:7,500, though a bit out of date). For each control there was a question, sometimes not easy to answer. I'll post more about it in a bit, but got to get some dinner after a long day trip to New York and back, primarily for dealing with mom's affairs.

717/1000 (283 to go, a little less than 3 months left).

Here's my route, starting in the lower left, going to #10 first.

More info about Chris's operation is here. Lots of interesting stuff going on. He gave me a copy of the map a few years ago and this is the first chance I've had to try it. At each point the map had a question to answer, sometimes easy, sometimes not. Or maybe they were all easy and it was just me having problems or being in too much of a hurry.

10 -- couldn't find a sewer grate.
15 -- Got what I thought was the right answer, but it's 5 letters, not the required 6.
7 -- ran right by this one, focused on getting to 5.
5 -- no sign to be seen, either below the arch or on top.
14 -- no topiary animals that I could see.
11 -- I could see a big red sign off in the general direction of Columbus Circle, but with the fog and light rain and my so-so vision, I couldn't read it.

Understand now, I have been to 6 controls, and I have not yet gotten a correct answer. But I am having a great time. :-)

Onward. Remember that part of the challenge is that planning ahead not only involves what your route is, but also reading and remembering the question that you're trying to answer at the next control. And, though not shown on the map, the great majority of the terrain off the paths is fenced off and out of bounds. But not all of it. So the route selection is more interesting/challenging than it might appear.

2 -- Found the statue after a slight detour, question was what was the first word. First word was the wrong length. Ran around to the other side of the statue. More wording. First word fit! I got one!
3 -- Nice route over through the maze of trails, spotted the creature, a mythical thing, just not sure what it's called, though I might be right.
12 -- Got another one.
6 -- And another, I think.
4 -- And another. Realize that, lacking a pen, I have to remember my answers too, no trivial matter.
1 -- Got it.
9 -- And got it too.
3 -- And another one. And a bunch of these are quite interesting, things in Central Park I would have never known existed.
13 -- Last control, took a moment to find it, then nothing made sense until I looked on the other side and there was the answer.

And then quick as I could down the finish chute.... :-)

Saw lots of people out there, none of them orienteering. I doubt that any of them knew I was orienteering.

Take a look at Chris's site. Lots of cool things. Makes me think (1) I wonder how many people are employed in orienteering in this country, using FTE's (full-time equivalents) as a measure for part-time efforts, and (2) maybe a goal of OUSA ought to be to do what we could to increase that number. Because if that's all we did -- imagine if there were 10 people in the USA who had jobs in orienteering -- there would be a lot more going on than there is now.

C • central park 2

From the apartment over to Central Park, and back.