Orienteering race 1:54:12 [4] *** 8.3 km (13:46 / km) +320m 11:32 / km
spiked:14/19c slept:6.5
Day 2 of the Blue Ridge Challenge, Red course. Was delayed right from the start - my route of choice would have been to run back past the call-up lines to the dirt road, but I didn't want to look stupid, so I navigated (slowly) thru the terrain. Clicked off the next few controls pretty cautiously, then had a big boom at C8 - after crossing the creek twice, and battling mountain laurel, I found myself bailing left to the trail, anyway. Then I thought I was at a trail intersection, so I made my attack, only to hit a trail, and finally figure out that I hadn't actually reached the intersection - just fooled by an unmapped, or false, trail. For C12, I went past C16 as planned, but followed a mountain laurel boundary that led me within sight of the house (which I could not find on the map for a couple of minutes). Next problem was C15 - I came down by the big cliff, then saw the rocky spur, and ran out it, not realizing (until just now, in fact, that the clue said "top" of the spur), so I had to climb back up the spur, and still had trouble spotting it. Chose to run around (past the finish) to get to C18. Turned out to be a good choice for me, even though I was running out of gas, since that dark green-infested leg would have been trouble for me. John Campbell went a more direct route and passed me, but I'm sure I would have lost more time going straight. A youngster punched the GO control just before me, so I tried to go with him, but all it got me was hyperventilation (a first for me). Well, it did also give me a 4-5 second split victory over Nate.
I think I need to invest in gaiters. My shins really took a beating running thru some of the green areas.
Nate had a terrific run, to grab the fastest yellow of the day, and it was fast enough to move up from 3rd and claim the US Interscholastic Jr. High championship. Zach had one big error (3-4 minutes?), but other than that, was really quick again. Patty extended her lead to win her age group, but Walt struggled big-time on Brown C2, and was not able to retain his podium position from Day 1.
Running 14:00 [2] 1.65 mi (8:29 / mi)
Well, they fooled me today - yesterday's "15 minutes" to the start was just over 400m; today's "30 minutes" was just about a mile. I did some jogging and walking toward the start with Nate, but when we were not in sight after 10 minutes, I had to turn around, so I could get back and send Zach on his way. Then I suited up and jogged after him. By the time I caught him, his start time was getting close, and no start was in sight, so we jogged a little quicker, and got there about 20 seconds after he was called up, giving him a little time to recover before his start. But he's young, he can handle it.