Discussion: Park Sprint

So I wasn't the only dummy who took that route from #2 to #3... Actually, I already knew I wasn't the only one, b/c I saw plenty of footprints in the mud (after I extracted myself from the thorny vines), but I'm still kicking myself! :-P

Me too. It was rough. I never saw the option of going back to the other side of the tracks and running through the yellow. Mike took that route. Much better choice.

It was a trap no doubt. I took the route towards the lake thinking that maybe by chance there was be a nice little neat dry trail along it. I woke up from my fantasy in about 15 seconds, reversed course and ran through the white area for a short cut to the trail on the western edge of the lake to the path. Nice clear runable woods and not too different from running on the path. I think some ran along the RR Tracks.

I'm pretty sure I would have taken the trail to the west simply because it was safe and couldn't be more than a few seconds slower than optimal. Was there a reason not to like that choice? If so, it's not obvious from the map.

On the paved trail to the west, you'll notice a break in the path with a small depression symbol; that's a flood wash-out hole a meter or so deep and several meters wide, with broken pavement - you can't go through it at a full-out run, so you'd lose a few seconds getting through or around it. Cutting through the white woods, the re-entrant also slows you down a few seconds but not much. I think left (under the railroad) would be very slightly faster, but both wide left and wide right are good choices.

I did not and probably would not ever notice that depression breaking the trail -- certainly not at sprint effort. I went left, back out to the fields.

Platterpus, be careful using the word "trap," which I think has come to mean something specific in sprint maps. People are using it to suggest the mapper and course setter are setting you up to fail unless you see things just right or just the way the intended, but perhaps not the only interpretation of the map. I think this was simply a case of route choice and people's tendency to keep running forward and to not back track a bit.

I would call it a test rather than a trap. I had tunnel vision and didn't see the obviously better route to the left until after I had finished; the experts spotted it while racing...

On the other hand, I'm glad I didn't get tricked by the impassable glass walls in between #1 and #2. Yay me. ;-)

My thinking was that the paved path to the right was too far off line. Going left looked good. As I was leaving 2, I looked to see if there was some sort of unmapped trail paralleling the railroad tracks. If I'd spotted something, then I might have gone that way.