in: Valley Forge Battle to the End O' Marathon;
| # Posted 2007-12-11 09:17:57 | |
| Wyatt: | Valley Forge Orienteering Marathon
Course Setter's Notes: ===> If you only read one section, read this: - Starting the 2nd half on the best route from 26 to 27, there is an unfenced 25 ft. DROP off the side of the rail bridge. IF there is a train on the northern tracks (rare), this route should NOT be taken, and you should go around, skipping 27, and possibly 28, if necessary. (See below for details.) - There are about a half dozen crossings of major roads: Rt. 23, Rt 252, and other roads, which have moderate car traffic regularly exceeding the 35-45mph speed limits. Please take care in crossing these roads and yield to vehicles. => The Beginning of 2nd half - Rail bridge caution: - The first control on the 2nd half is under the railroad tracks. The best route to the next control stays on the north side of the tracks, and crosses over Valley Stream. There is an unfenced 25 ft. DROP off the side of the rail bridge. - IMPORTANT: In the unlikely even that there is a train on the northernmost set of tracks, there is very little room between the edge of the train and the 25 ft. DROP ---> So IF this happens you'll want to go back through the tunnel, and then run over the creek along the Southwest side of the train tracks (plenty of space here.) When it is safe you can cross over to the trail beyond the north/east side of the track tracks, which you will need to do to find controls 27 and 28. ---> IF the train remains on the track blocking your progress, you may skip 27, and, if needed, 28, and eventually you will arrive at a road the crosses under the tracks, quite near the natural route from 28-to-29. ==> Out of bounds areas - On several maps, especially the Hybrid maps, much of the land where you may be going is public or community open space and trails. - Several areas nearby the course are specifically marked as private, or otherwise out-of-bounds, with either olive green fill, or black vertical lines, or purple vertical lines - do not enter these private areas. - Small portions of the route take you between or along the common area backyards of townhouses - please give some margin to people using their portion of the shared yards. - Some of the purple hashed areas are out-of-bounds for other reasons, please don't enter these areas. - When you see a line between controls that is bent to aim for a freeway undercrossing, or other obvious route, please go use the freeway undercrossing and do NOT run across lanes of traffic... Survivors will be disqualified. - Do not attempt to cross either the two wide rivers (e.g. 10-100 meters across). => Course notes - The Start/Finish is the same as control 25. The triangle and double-circle are hard to see. Just look for the number 25. - From the Start/Finish, make sure you go to # 1, not 24, or 26. - Control # 1 is the same as control # 49 (same first/last control) so if you start off heading toward # 49, that's okay. - Note that you will often run off one map and onto another to get to your next control. Looking ahead makes the transition easier. - Course lines cross over each other on one of the maps. Check your numbers as well as the lines. => Map Notes Overall - There will be 5 maps in 2 map cases (or 3-4 maps in 2 cases for the Half Marathoners). The maps are side-by-side & back-to-back, stapled internally to prevent slipping. Make sure you take both sets of maps with you - they are not divided into 1st half/2nd half. - Marathoners will transition from one map to the next 11 times, half marathoners somewhat less. Often your next control is on another map. Mt. Joy - One road and a few paved parking areas near the start have been removed (quite thoroughly) - these are overprinted with purple X's. - Mowing patterns in the fields have changed since the map was made. Fields are still fields, but some of the Open land is now Rough Open (although both are pretty passable at this time of year.) A little bit of the rough open has briar in it. Look ahead in the fields. - There's one new trail near #48. It's a short but wide diagonal shortcut made by a bulldozer, not on the map. Chesterbrook - Controls in this area will generally be two orange wire flags with a standard pin punch on the ground tied around the base of the wire flags. There _may_ be an epunch as well at some of these controls, also at the base of the flags - make sure you epunch if available, or pin punch. - The first aid station is in this section and it will be staffed. Please tell your name to the people staffing the aid station. - You shouldn't need to get your feet wet crossing any streams, but there are options where you can do that if desired. - Wet wood bridges on this map (as many as 6 of them) are quite slippery. Mt. Misery - On the western edge of the park, some trails were recently abandoned by park maintenance, and are a bit more overgrown than mapped. - You'll be skirting the edge of the park near one control - it looks like someone's yard, but they actually mow the grass across the park boundary line, so the edge of 'their' yard is public. - You should cross under Route 23 - there is no need to cross over this road, on this map. Fatlands - Several of the minor trails have changed substantially since the map was made. Many trails have been overprinted, to try to make things better, but be aware that the trail mapping is imperfect in this area. - The forest is now substantially more open (whiter) than mapped, on average. - The Betzwood Bridge marked on the map no longer exists. There is a pedestrian path on the side of the Route 422 bridge. Mill Grove - Entering this map you will come close to a later control which is an aid station - it might be worth the slight detour to visit this. - At the 3/4 point, please tell your name to the person staffing the aid station. => Cut off times - If continuing onto the Marathon, you must arrive at the half-way point in less than half the time-limit for your start time. E.g. if you start at 9am, you must arrive by 12:30pm to continue on. If you start at 7am, your cutoff time is 11:30am. - The aid station at control 37 (approx. 3/4 of the way) is also a make-or-break cutoff time - 2:15pm for the 9am starters, and 1:45pm for the 7am starters. If you arrive after this time, we'll shuttle you back to the start/finish area. |
| # Posted 2007-12-11 19:55:45 | |
| Boojums: | This all sounds quite complicated. Can't I just follow the lines on the map? |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 00:18:43 | |
| Sswede: | Holy cow, I'm gaining some gratitude for being injured. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 00:38:08 | |
| orienteeringmom: | I'm with you Sandy. I'm glad that I'm doing food instead of running. Just reading the instructions I'm lost, I can't image trying to remember all of that as to not get lost and I know a couple of the maps pretty well.
GOOD LUCK runners just remember I"m waiting with the warm food for you. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 04:48:25 | |
| fredder: | Apparently, the answer is just to keep up with Wyatt. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 17:59:37 | |
| coach: | How long is the rail bridge?
Perhaps posting a bit of the map for this area would make it clear as to the choices and instructions. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 18:36:14 | |
| Charlie: | This reminds me of an ultra I ran in England in the 80s, the South Downs Way. It came with several pages of closely spaced instructions, which I carried along in a map case. Somewhere I'm sure I still have that wonderful piece of memorabilia. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 19:50:20 | |
| j-man: | Per kilometer, these notes are actually rather sparse. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 22:23:20 | |
| UncleCrispy: | Here's a simple map of what I think Wyatt is talking about:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&tim... You'll need be using the rail bridge to get over the creek. You'll be on the right side of the creek needing to go left. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 22:40:42 | |
| Joe: | will the course be cleared of snow before the start? |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 23:23:35 | |
| j-man: | If you bring a broom. |
| # Posted 2007-12-12 23:30:46 | |
| j-man: | I doubt that is the same place. The trees look much different. |
| # Posted 2007-12-13 02:48:37 | |
| randy: | local radio is predicting a "nor'easter late saturday and into sunday", with "significant snow". Just an FYI. Hopefully will miss the race and people will get out. Will post more if I hear more closer to the race.
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| # Posted 2007-12-13 03:17:14 | |
| Sswede: | This gets more interesting everyday. Marathoners, trains, continental soldiers, and a blizzard. I love it! |
| # Posted 2007-12-13 07:46:40 | |
| j-man: | Make sure we get the Pagans and the underwear models as well. |
| # Posted 2007-12-13 22:20:29 | |
| Wyatt: | The course is only getting some freezing rain today (no snow so far), and with 40's and sunny tomorrow, that should melt. There will likely be some re-freezing & patches of ice on the paved areas on Saturday morning. Those patches, and the 6 wooden bridges you may cross can be quite slippery. But at the muddy ground may freeze up a bit, actually making the footing pretty good.
As for the rail bridge area, it looks something like this: 
so you probably want to go under the tracks to 26, then if it's clear, up to the tracks on the N-side, over the creek next to the northern set of tracks, then down to the trail to 27. If there's a train on those tracks, back through the tunnel, then over the creek-bridge on the S-side of the tracks, and look for a safe place to cross. The "bridge" itself is as mapped - it's a quite wide dirt/stone rough-open area, over a stone arch tunnel, so it's quite easily crossable in general. Hope this helps. Yes, you can just follow the lines on your map. As with most courses, that should work fine. The notes just help, and cover the course setter when you complain about something at the end that I managed to put into the notes ;) Yes, there are a lot of notes, but considering this is like running 4 Red courses in a row, it's not really that many notes per course... |
| # Posted 2007-12-13 22:38:45 | |
| jjcote: | Now if the creek were to freeze up... |
| # Posted 2007-12-13 22:47:36 | |
| Wyatt: | That would save about 5m climb, and some distance too. It's rather deep in that area though, so I wouldn't try it, even if it were to freeze up... |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 04:16:26 | |
| coach: | So I'm hoping for no ice? It looks cold, in the 20's. I sure wouldn't want to run this in studs...... |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 06:07:17 | |
| Wyatt: | I'm still planning to run in non-spiked O' cleats, but my 2nd choice has shifted from running shoes, to spikes. I plan to have both spikes and running shoes in the car, in case I want to switch 1/2-way. |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 17:45:21 | |
| fredder: | Why the drop from running shoes? My thinking was that 70% of the course is paved or on trails, so unless one wanted to get aggressive on the remaining 30%, regular running shoes would work OK. Is the concern that all the non-paved parts could be muddy and therefore too slippery in non-cleated shoes? There can't be many steep climbs/drops where traction is critical (?) |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 18:00:54 | |
| Wyatt: | Generally, I don't mind running in spikes on pavement _too_ much, especially if it's not steep downhill (of where there is very little). So there will be a lot of ice patches on the paved trails, and the spikes will keep me upright on that ice, it might be worth wearing the spikes. I don't think there's going to be that much ice though.
I guess we'll see tomorrow. |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 19:47:32 | |
| cmorse: | So for those of us pulling gear together after shovelling 12+ inches of new powder - what, if anything, is on the ground at Valley Forge this AM? From the forecast yesterday it sounds like the ground is pretty much clear but it would be nice to get a first hand report from the scene... I'm assuming I can leave the snowshoes home?
Thanks... |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 20:36:08 | |
| UncleCrispy: | There is nothing on the ground right now in King of Prussia (1 mile away). Some road surfaces were slightly slick this morning (Friday 10/14). We had a good amount of rain yesterday. I expect slightly frozen mushy slop in some areas tomorrow in the early morning. The flat areas near the rivers get chewed and muddy up by (illegal) mountain bikers - they were the worst conditions I saw on Monday. |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 22:20:53 | |
| cmorse: | excellent news, thanks for the report... |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 22:35:23 | |
| orienteeringmom: | Right now 1:30PM VF is in the upper 30's with glorious sunshine. tonight we wll get into the mid to low 20's with partly cloudy skies; tomorrow is mostly cloudly with temps in mid 30's with 40% chance of snow showers in the afternoon. Saturday night is 90% chance of snow, sleet and freezing rain ending sometime sunday morning. I'm thinking that any low areas that collected water will be frozen and rather slippy. The low grassy areas will be frozen too but maybe not as slippy as there should be grass sticking up. Also in the rough areas it might be hard to see the ice until you run on it. At best for this time of year and the weather we are having I would expect it to be wet and slippery under foot in some areas and very damp without the sun for most of the day.
See you tomorrow with the warm food and drinks. I hope you are hungry as I have 2 big pots of veeggie chili and one of soup as well as hot dogs and hot water to make any warm drink you want. |
| # Posted 2007-12-14 23:40:30 | |
| randy: | Just got out of the woods on the fatlands side. Its about 20% muddy trails, and 80% dry trails. The muddy trails will be icy tomorrow morning, but I don't think it will be bad at all. Most of the off-trail terrain is pretty wet, and although I haven't seen the actual course, I don't think that will come into play much. Fatlands is also the wettest part of the park; joy and misery should be fine.
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| # Posted 2007-12-16 00:51:50 | |
| UncleCrispy: | This race was totally awesome. Wyatt connected a lot of parks that I didn't think were connectable. Great job Wyatt and a special thanks to the food crew. |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 03:50:25 | |
| simkiss: | Ditto that UncleCrispy.
Major props to Wyatt and Vadim and Orienteering Mom and Clem and Dasha and everybody else who helped put this event together. |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 04:50:48 | |
| Boojums: | Thanks to everyone involved in putting this on! It was really fun (I say that now, while I'm still able to walk) and I thought that Wyatt did a great job with the maps and course. It obviously took a lot of work to develop the course and prepare all the maps, just so we could run around for a ridiculously long time. Let's do it again! |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 06:36:33 | |
| Charlie: | Wyatt, this was a truly fine job. Thanks so much. Even if it was a preposterous idea! We had a great time.
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| # Posted 2007-12-16 06:39:54 | |
| Sandy: | Results posted at:
http://www.sju.edu/~sfillebr/Orienteering/VFSplits... http://www.sju.edu/~sfillebr/Orienteering/VFResult... They'll be moved to the DVOA website soon. |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 07:02:08 | |
| PG: | Just a wonderful event, both in conception and execution. I'm slowly posting maps, links are here. |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 07:39:03 | |
| barb: | Yes, thank you everyone who helped put this on! |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 18:06:36 | |
| Maryann: | For pure enjoyment, challenge and sense of accomplishment, this goes to the top of my list of events I've done. I thought this was a crazy idea when it went on the schedule and I didn't think anyone but a handful of people would attempt it. But after being crazy enough to sign up and then finish the half myself, I have to say, as I told Wyatt yesterday, I think he's a visionary. I loved the course, and seeing all these areas I didn't know were there, and the whole thing just flowed.
Thanks to Wyatt, Angelica, Vadim, and all the volunteers who did so much work out in the cold. And I'm in awe of everyone who did the full marathon. Watching you come into finish was inspiring. |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 20:21:43 | |
| Sandy: | The results are now on DVOA's site and I'll remove them from mine in a few days.
Results: http://www.dvoa.org/sites/results/html/rslt07/vf_m... Splits: http://www.dvoa.org/sites/results/html/rslt07/vf_m... |
| # Posted 2007-12-16 21:19:18 | |
| cmorse: | Thanks for posting the splits Sandy.
Quite a battle developed between Hillary and Iliana over the last stretch with Hillary gaining back almost 2 minutes of a 2.5 minute deficit but Iliana kicking it in with the fastest splits of anyone on the last couple controls. Many thanks to Wyatt, Angelica, Vadim, Janet and everyone else involved. |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 02:49:21 | |
| vmeyer: | WinSplits ... |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 06:55:00 | |
| levitin: | A request from an armchair follower of this event. For those who have run them, how does this event compare to (1) a road marathon (2) a trail marathon, like the Nipmuck in CT (3) a 50K race or (4) the Hudson Highlander. Time-wise, it look comparable to J-J's Mega-O, but I realize there was much more distance/many fewer controls here.
[I've heard many ultra people say, if you can run a road marathon, you can run a 50K trail race, since it's easier on the knees. (and some of them say 50K is hardly an ultra.) But I've never run more than a marathon.] The maps look fascinating. I hope this event eventually runs again, and maybe on a Sunday? |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 08:31:18 | |
| cporter: | "For those who have run them, how does this event compare to (1) a road marathon"
I have only run one road marathon in the past, but running the o-marathon was a very different experience. The biggest difference to me was the constant changes in motion and pace ( i.e. stopping at controls and aid stations, walking up major hills, climbing, and the changes in pace between running on pavement, trails, fields) as opposed to the constant movement of a road marathon. The obvious difference was the softer surfaces, though the gound was frozen in places, but it was still much better then pounding of the pavement. I'm sure many marathon runners have been asked this question, but I am often asked what I think about during such a long race so it was much better to be able to navigate myself. I was constantly looking ahead to plan for the next leg or aid station or to figure out what map I was running on next The downside is that I HAD to think, which presented a challenge at times when it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. There was also an interesting difference between running the Philadelphia marathon with 10's of thousands of competitors (and huge crowds of spectators) and the Valley Forge Orienteering marathon with only about 40 competiors. While it was wonderful to just be out in the beautiful (and rather quiet) park I definetly missed the thousands of screaming spectators blasting the theme song to Rocky and cheering for me (yes I wore a shrit with my name on it so they would). At points in the orienteering marathon I was completely alone and psychologically that made it harder to keep going. Conversley, when I was in the company of other runners they were usually friends or at least familiar faces which made the race more fun. Although there were noticeable differences between running a road marathon and the orienteering marathon both were a great experience for me. Each marathon is distinctive in its own right and I appreciate the advantages that both have to offer. |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 08:44:53 | |
| jjcote: | The only road marathon I ever ran beat me up a lot worse than this, but I ran that in 3:34 as opposed to six hours at Valley Forge. Likewise, the only 50K trail race I ever ran (which was probably short at about 45K) also beat me up worse. Some Highlanders have been tougher on me, though the last few were probably similar, although the specific things that hurt are different.
I understand that Saturday events don't work for some people, but I sure was pleased to not have to go to work the day after Valley Forge. |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 15:24:27 | |
| UncleCrispy: | "For those who have run them, how does this event compare to (1) a road marathon"
This was my first shot at orienteering on my own. The trail choices were really cool. I do a lot of Ron Horn's pretzelcitysports trail races where there are hundreds of people on single track and you're a cheater if you go too far to the side. Early on I kept passing the same people because I was running slightly faster than them but they were better orienteers and could jump from trail to field without getting lost. I got totally lost between 39 and 40. Only the scoop shape of 422 kept me from wandering even farther. Anyway, I typically do 3:00 halfs on trails and did a 3:58 Philly Marathon; this thing took me seven hours. Yikes! It was a blast, though. I also love being able to eat my own weight in hot dogs, cookies and Mt. Dew for only $15. |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 18:09:02 | |
| cmorse: | Uncle Crispy - I think JJ & I were the two that kept yo-yoing you on the first 5 controls - you were in the 7am start group, correct?. We didn't see you again after passing under the highway but both of us were wondering, as a relative orienteering newbie, did you go over Mt Misery or around? (#22-#23). Curious what your time was on that leg if you took splits (or your SI split 21-24) |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 18:44:42 | |
| UncleCrispy: | cmorse- I had scouted VF Park proper in the weeks ahead and knew where I was as long as I was in the park. I was smart enough NOT to go over Misery (although I like that trail a lot). I followed y'all under the bridge into Chesterbrook and then really had to slow down to figure out where I was. Honestly I couldn't have done this race unless I was familiar with some of the territory - I'm just not that good. It was fun trying to keep up with you two for the first few miles. |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 18:59:02 | |
| vmeyer: | Chris made up our 50 minute stagger at the halfway point, and then we were in the same vicinity until ~ #33. And, then he came up from behind me on the way to #47. |
| # Posted 2007-12-17 20:35:10 | |
| fredder: | Having only run one marathon before (Philly last year--and injured at that) and no long trail runs, I'm not speaking from great experience, but-- I agree with jjcote that roads beat you up worse. I think the constant stride and surface focuses stresses on a smaller set of moving parts. I also agree with cporter that not having the screaming crowds and constant companions is a big difference. I'd like to say that I was just as 'tough' alone in the woods, but in reality I probably would have pushed a little harder--particularly in the later stages--if I had some visible competition and encouragement. |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 02:27:10 | |
| PG: | Phil and Clint both carried some sort of GPS device to measure how far they went, and I measured my route pretty carefully with G-maps Pedometer, and in all cases it seems like we went 29 miles, maybe a bit more. Which is a a little over 10% more than the usual marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Obviously the reason is that the course was measured as the shortest distance we could go, but not the optimum route.
It surprised me that the difference was as large as it was, because I had the general impression of always going as straight as possible. And yet there were a number of places where the optimum route was far from a straight line, the leg over Mount Misery the prime example, but also lots of legs on the Chesterbrook and Mill Grove maps. Now 10% may not sound like much, but 10% of 26.2 gets you, well, let's just say that after running my 26.2 miles, I still had to do a Green course to make sure that I'd really run a marathon. For measuring road marathons, they add a little extra distance to make sure you aren't running a short course, but they only add 0.1%, or about 40 meters, nothing that you would notice. But almost 3 miles extra is another matter. I'm not complaining at all. It was very clear in advance what was being offered, and it was truly a wonderful event. But if the rumor is true that there might be a version 2 at Fair Hill a year from now, I'm thinking that the optimum route at Fair Hill might be well more than 10% longer than the straight line distance, plus a lot hillier, maybe 30-32 miles and 1500+ meters of climb. Unless, that is, the standard was changed so that the distance is measured along the optimum route. But that is up to Wyatt. He did the work, he gets to make the rules. But I think I'm glad I made it around this year. |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 04:42:29 | |
| bishop22: | I wanted to be sure to add my thanks to Wyatt and the others for putting on the O'Marathon. Even though I wimped out and only did the half (well, plus a bit to cover about 33 of the 42K), I had a lot of fun. Time definitely flew by - reading a map made running much more interesting than plodding along on the roads.
I don't think you can compare this to a road marathon at all. There was no way to run 26+385, there was no hope of qualifying for Boston, or running a time near a road time. But I spent a total of 4+ hours out there, and it seemed like much less time than a 3+ hour marathon. |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 04:48:44 | |
| vmeyer: | I carried two FR 205 since I knew I would probably exceed the battery life of one. And, conveniently, the battery low message came on at Sandy A.'s aid station. She helped fish out my second one, put the original one back in my pack, and even offered to help me get the second one on. I was fumbling quite badly at this point, but I did manage to get it strapped on myself (or at least I think I did). Thanks Sandy A.!
Of course, my distance included a few more creative routes than others, but not much more. I have to admit that I had not gotten my mind around the fact that I would be going much more than the marathon distance. So, when I came in the half at 15.5 miles (probably 15 miles without mistakes), I was thinking that the second half couldn't possibly be as long. Probably what saved me mentally was the GPS switch. I could not remember what I had already gone. So, without fishing out the low battery unit, I was only looking at the distance traveled on the second unit. And, that wasn't very far at all!! :) |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 09:02:39 | |
| Wyatt: | I'm very happy to see how much fun people had out there. I'm truly amazed at how many people came out, how many people finished the whole thing, and how lucky we got with the weather. While I was the course setter for this, there are several key people w/o which this would never have happened, nor been as fine of an event.
Angelica Riley - This event was entirely the brainchild of Angelica - she wanted to run a marathon, maybe trails, definitely not roads - well why not set up an orienteering marathon, close to home - you can do that right? I thought it was rather crazy, but she insisted, and even turned it from a run with a few friends into a national-draw orienteering event. Even the Hybrid maps resulted from her comments that Purple lines on a Satellite image (my pre-Hybrid-map plan) don't really cut it. Clem McGrath - Map production (arranged & did some printing, did bagging) and also several suggestions toward making this a 'real' event. Vadim Masalkov - Course consultant, and day-of-event director, so I could run my first marathon while knowing all was under control - thanks! Janet Porter's food, the Urban's & Sandy Ahlswede's long-days of aid station work, competitor tracking and control pickup, Sandy Fillebrown, Fred Reed & Valerie Meyer on epunch, several others on control & late competitor collection, Eric Weyman and Sandy F. on spectating ;) - fun to see them around the course! The least fortunate part of the whole thing for me was to see Angelica still not over a pretty bad cold to do more than the first 3 controls. When will she (and the others who missed this) run an orienteering marathon? Maybe next year |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 18:08:05 | |
| barb: | I really really appreciated the accommodation for an early start. It made it possible for me to do this event, and I loved finishing while people were still there at the finish instead of being the one everyone is waiting for so they could go home. (Not that there weren't a couple people waiting for me so they could go home - but at least it wasn't the meet workers...) I also got a psychological boost out of being in front of everyone for a while, and it was fun guessing with Valerie when our friends would catch up.
Also, the Riley bed (couch, floor, whatever) and breakfast was great! Thanks Wyatt, Angelica, Clem, Vadim, Janet, Urbans, Sandy, Sandy, Fred, Valerie, Eric & several others!!! |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 19:00:43 | |
| Maryann: | I'm so sorry Angelica didn't get to run this! Since it's a unique new event and it was her brainchild, maybe it should get a whole new name, you know the "Angelicathon" or something like that. :-) I'll tell you one thing, I think this may have ruined any other race - orienteering, road racing, etc. - for me. How could any of them be anywhere near as much fun, or as satisfying?
I, too, appreciated having an additional early start and I think it was barb's idea originally, wasn't it? It probably made it much more reassuring for a lot of people to give this a try. I know it did for me, and it was fun seeing people I knew at times all along the course. |
| # Posted 2007-12-18 19:34:58 | |
| orienteeringmom: | As a spectator, this was a whole lot more fun watching than the Philly marathon which I did because Corinne was running it with her XC friends last year. Of course I knew almost everyone that was running so that helped. It also helped that I had a part in it, not an important part but a part. I think it was a great day and a really fun event. I'm in for doing food at Fair HIll next if you want it. Hey Tom, what are the chances of the mid way point being near that nice warm building we have used for our 2 A events at Fair Hill? I know that the food would most likely need to be outside but I could stay warm inside when no one was around. Just kidding I got warm in my car when I needed it this time and it was fine. |
| # Posted 2007-12-19 00:57:05 | |
| Bernard: | Man, I am sorry I missed this. |
| # Posted 2007-12-19 19:49:09 | |
| vmeyer: | Times from the control at the halfway point, and at the finish, and the difference between the two. So, the second half includes the time spent in the aid station at the half way point...
1st 2nd diff |
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