Training Log Archive: Orunner

My gosh it was a nice day. I got to the park dressed to run. Even had my O shoes on. After registering I realized, with my two t-shirts on, I was comfortable. That is a sure sign I had on too much. I stripped down to a single thin layer. And for that I am glad.

The course consisted of 27 controls. It was going to be a control picking Sunday. That is fun, be even more so in the Sun.

I enjoyed myself immensely. Matt did a great job in course design. Although I finished poorly, i am quite satisfied with my performance. I made a couple of small mistakes and one major one. The large mistake was unusual and, although uninteresting, it’s interesting.

I spiked 9 and 10. I was feeling it. I took off towards 11. It was just up the stream and over a spur. Maybe 250meters. I booked it. The stream was rocky and wet. I climbed up to the right side, found some level ground and ran. I kept climbing a little higher. But I thought ‘that’s Ok, I have to cross over the spur anyway’. I could not make out the definition of the spur. It was not as sharp as I expected. Having just sprinted to the last two controls, I was a bit brain dead. I knew it wasn’t right, but I was sure I would figure it out. Just do nothing wrong. Observe everything...

I crossed over where the spur should have been. I didn’t see the bag so I started running up the reentrant. It felt like I was going too high. Then I saw the rootstocks. They didn’t seem to be in the right spot. Maybe the map is wrong. Or maybe these are new ones. But it sure seemed I was too far up the reentrant. I turned back. As I ran back down I thought this reentrant was too long. Checking my map, I concluded I was looking down the large stream and not the side reentrant after all. I ran back up, never checking my compass; what good would that be? I knew where I was and proceeded to repeat the same set of maneuvers, cussing myself out as I did so.

Finally, after exhausting every nook and cranny of the entire system I stopped. Oriented my map, and being unable to get anything to align, I rested a few seconds and realized my error.

I had left 10, running toward 11, but holding my thumb on the route of 11 to 12. I had been searching in vain for a control that did not exist here. Soon figuring out that I had just committed some heinous form of parallel error, I quickly located 11 and headed on to the true site of 12. This I executed perfectly, having just blown 6 minutes looking for it elsewhere.

OCIN TROL 4-9 Sharon Woods5_Green - Splits

I did not run last evening because the run Tuesday with Mike was so intense. My knees were aching & swollen. They needed rest, or I would be surely risking injury.

As soon as I started tonight it was obvious I was still undergoing tissue repair in the legs. I was sore. Backing off quiet a bit, I committed to a long slow run. And slow it was. But I ran the distance.

I replaced the OCIN plates with ORUNNER Sunday afternoon. Apparently people notice. I had one comment last evening and three this morning. I hope I don't come to regret this :)

C • Why... 2

Ran in shorts and t-shirt on January 30, 2012. I don't know what to say about that. Except, I hope to do it again soon.