Race Evaluation
Fountainhead East: Red
Nadim
| 1. | 0-1 Went straight up the right side of the reentrant. Though I was trying to ease into a good pace, I found it hard to run through the deep leaves. It also took time to get used to the 1:15000 scale after running 1:10000 last week. | ||||||
| 2. | +01:30 | 1-2 Straight up to the road and down, I missed it. Peggy tells me it was hidden behind a tree. Knowing I was probably too far, I went ahead anyway, across some reentrants before turning back. Coming back I found it but was surprised by how faded the bag was. It blended-in with the brown leaves. | |||||
| 3. | +01:45 | 1-3 Back the way I came, up to the road and across to the trail. I left the trail on rough compass and wasted time exploring a reentrant to the left before coming back right and finding it on the ground. I didn't re-hang it because some others on an easier course were just behind me and could see me punching. | |||||
| 4. | +01:00 | 3-4 Down to the resevoir finger, I realized the water was low and moved up before trying to cross. I didn't go far enough and ended-up slogging knee deep in the mud. It was coooold, wetttt and slowww. Climbing the ditch the other side, I was knee deep again but in leaves this time. Finally over the ridge, I was to the left too much at first. | |||||
| 5. | +00:30 | 4-5 Across on the ridge I aimed for the saddle but ended-up too far left, and almost on top of the knoll. Coming right after going down, I found it. | |||||
| 6. | +02:00 | 5-6 I stayed high at first but came down along the stream valley. I angled over as I saw the resevoir, not hitting the trail. Somehow, I missed, probably between the trail and the control. At the next reentrant, I came back on the trail, attacked again and found it. | |||||
| 7. | +03:00 | 6-7 I ran the trail down to the bridge and up the next side. I was looking for the T-intersection. Seeing the other trail come close, and the trail I was going-on turn away, I left the trail and went across. The new bike trails had really changed this area, eliminating(?) the trail drawn on the map. The reentrants seemed deeper and more plentiful than the map showed. The scale was stil throwing me too causing me to stop and try to read too much. Eventually I kept going and dropped down to the resevoir finger. Turning left, I tried to stay high but didn't go high enough. I passed it, turned-up the next reentrant, then looped right and found it. | |||||
| 8. | +01:45 | 7-8 Left at first to stay high, I turned right along edge of the big reentrant and across the smaller ridges. The reentrants seemed deeper and more plentiful than the map showed again though I didn't count carefully. I saw the cove and paused to make sure where I was. I should have just kept going. Later, I did, into the big reentrant and turning left to find it. I think somewhere on this leg I thwacked my eye good and had to stop. | |||||
| 9. | +01:00 | 8-9 I think I came too far left at first or crossed smaller reentrants not clearly shown. I over-corrected going right and could see the resevoir. Getting closer I tripped and fell onto my knee and into a roll that I was lucky to stop after only one turn--the leaves were slippery and the hill was steep. Seeing a little cove, I checked one reentrant too soon then went on. Climbing-up the next, it was steep along the way but seeing the cliff at the water's edge confirmed where I was. I still had to go right at the very end. | |||||
| 10. | +00:30 | 9-10 Out to the trail, I pace counted after the last intersection, then cut left. I dropped a little too far down and had to come back a little in the reentrant. | |||||
| 11. | +10:00 | 10-11 I was happy going to 11. I never saw the open yellow trail but kept going, reading my way across the flat wide spur and down. Sight of the resevoir finger confirmed my position and took me straight to the right ditch across the open woods. As everyone else, I didn't find it. Going right first, I checked the next which wasn't shown on the map. Going back, I went to the end of the finger, saw the rock and confirmed position. Going back toward the ditches again, I saw an Asian runner appear. He couldn't find it either. We both ran circles and dug in the leaves in both ditches before deciding to go on. He wanted to wait for his friend who he though would be along later. I also checked the reentrant where the control was misplaced but didn't go far enough up it. | |||||
| 12. | +02:45 | 11-12 Up the spur at the end of the finger, I was a little left at first. I corrected, crossed the trail and ran down into the main valley. Reading the three reentrants, I went-up the left most, but missed by not turnin-up left again on the smaller one. I wasn't positive I was checking the right one so I decided just to run-on to the trail. As I came-out to the intersection, a different Asian runner was attacking back also. He went too far left. My attempt from the trail went right to it. The Asian runner go there right after me. | |||||
| 13. | 12-13 Back to the trail intersection, I went down the trail for a short way, then rough compassed into the parallel stream valley. Going along the right side, I stayed high, then dropped left as the valley joined the one before the control. I paused there to read, recognized the curl of the stream ahead and crossed there. On bearing, I spiked it. | ||||||
| 14. | 13-14 Going high at first, I came back right, used an intermittant trail, then turned left at the stream fork. I crossed to the right side, turned right at the next stream fork, checking compass for alignment. Running on the left side of the stream, I spiked-it. | ||||||
| 15. | +01:20 | 14-15 Going straight, I saw Greg Linden coming back for #14. I confirmed to him that I had just found it and went on. In the green, I drifted right, and hit the road. From there I could see the park entrance so I turned left and back again. The faded control blended-in again and I missed. I turned back again at the sight of Greg, and found it before him. I later found out that Greg had given-up after not finding #11 and was walking much of the way back. | |||||
| 16. | 15-16 Out to the road, I could take rare advantage of the good running terrain. At the clearing on the right, I went back-in and probably ran off the map for a few steps. The hill before the reentrant surprised me but I kept on and dropped-in to the big reentrant. Going on the right side, I just about spiked-it. | ||||||
| 17. | +03:00 | 16-17 I drifted too far left and lost sense of distance as I crossed more reentrants than were expected. I saw a control near a fence that wasn't on the map. I checked consecutive reentrants before running-up toward the building. From near it, I set a bearing and found it. | |||||
| 18. | 17-18 Up the reentrant, cross up and right at the fork. At the top, I could see that I was too far left. It took a while dropping down the steep leaved covered hill but I beat some others in a group. | ||||||
| 19. | 18-19 On the master map, 19 was not linked to the start/finish, so I thought 18 was the GO control. I went straight and emerged at the left corner of the parking lot. Not seeing anyone there to record a finish, I figured I just had to run to the start and did. Technically, this is DNF. I concede. Putting my times here may be useful for others on the legs for comparison purposes. It probably made all of 10-20 seconds difference. | ||||||
| F. | 19-0 Nice downhill on grass to the end. I misread my watch at the end of this. Because 18-Finish took me 1:37, I thought I had run 1 hr 37 minutes and mis-reported this to Dave Onkst. Oh-well. Glad this was just a local meet with so many little errors. I was happy about a few controls but had a hard time in the first half again. On the bright side, other than #11 where the control was misplaced, I came close but didn't make any +10 minute errors. |
Total Time Lost - 00:30:05