Race Evaluation
Susquehanna Stumble: Long Stumble
TimGood
| 1. |
Did not plan ahead Read map too late Followed others | (D) Went out easy and just followed the crowd. Just behind Joe B. and just ahead of Pam James and Peggy D. Punching is a problem as it takes me several seconds to line up my cast properly. | |||||
| 2. | (C) Still plenty of people to follow as I keyed on Joe. Some trouble in the rocks, the cast affects my balance and I am very afraid of falling. | ||||||
| 3. | (A) | ||||||
| 4. | (B) | ||||||
| 5. | Once out of the rocks, Joe starts to pull away. | ||||||
| 6. | (E) Joe is just in sight. Follow out to trail and watch him run away. He appears to head toward G. Cut in at bend and contour in. | ||||||
| 7. | (H) Running alone except for occasional flash of orange way ahead (Chris Gross?) so slowed down. Caught by Pam James and a bunch trailing her. I was still ahead at the control when she was a little low and most seemed to follow her. | ||||||
| 8. |
Did not plan ahead Read map too late +02:00 | (I) Pam caught me again at trail. For (E-H) leg, I had been thinking I needed to contour around and ignore (G). That thought stuck in my head and I continued on to (I) down the indistinct trail. Saw Pam and the rest head up the trail but did not follow, I had not realized we were so close to (G). Knew I had made a mistake when I hit the trail down to (I) at the little pond well above the control. Even then I still should have run up to (G). | |||||
| 9. |
Did not follow plan Hesitated +00:30 | (G) Had just barely left the control when Pam approached. That was the last time I saw her. Others, including Peggy, were not far behind. Hesitated about going to (G) as planned or getting (F) first. Back up trail to (G). | |||||
| 10. | (F) Straight in to the control hoping to catch sight of the end of my former group. No such luck, all alone now. | ||||||
| 11. |
Hesitated +00:45 | Run on a general bearing, intending to relocate on the trail and high ground. Still hoping to see someone. Saw a control to the right which I assumed was on Willis Knob. Ended up to far right but saw control to the left. | |||||
| 12. |
Did not follow plan Tired +02:00 | Feet are getting hot spots, will have blisters before I am done. Go slightly left and out the spur, trying to cross the rocks at the narrowest part. Considered taking the trail around but worried that I would not know when to cut up. See the platform near the trail after I cut up, but am to tired to cut up hill properly. Come out at depression NE of control. | |||||
| 13. | Straight line. Crossing the lower trail bend and the platform before the control along the way. | ||||||
| 14. |
Bad map reading Bad compass work Did not read control description Tired Not thinking clearly Followed others +03:00 | Intended to take indistinct trail but missed it. Crossed trail at bend but may have been eastern bend. Got messed up in streamers for another course and followed them to platform 150m E of control. Across the rocks to ours. Saw ?Tom O.? in distance ahead and Dave Onkst just ahead. | |||||
| 15. | Directly to it. Passed Dave as he went to far right. | ||||||
| 16. | (Exchange) My watch has only 30 splits so I did not take one here. Will fill in later from Brad. I had 32 oz of ERG here and drank half. Had taken water at every stop but knew I would need more for 2nd half. I had run out of PowerGels at home so had no food. I think Dave went by as I drank. Hurriedly left when I saw Peggy and Viktoria coming in. Took a waterbottle of ERG with me. | ||||||
| 17. |
Tired | (16) Someone is ahead of me on the trail and they cut in much earlier than I planned, Peggy catches me on the trail and we cut in to avoid the rocky ground below the control. Viktoria B. is following in Peggys footsteps. Peggy pulls way on the uphill and is first to the control with Viktoria behind me, | |||||
| 18. |
Tired | (17) We both chase Peggy who appears to be catching the one who had been ahead on the trail. I am fading physically and am soon chasing only Viktoria. That is the last time I saw Peggy. I assume that it was also the last time Viktoria saw her as Peggy seemed to have made a sucessful break. | |||||
| 19. |
Tired | (18) I head directly for the trail jct. Viktoria heads to far left as she leaves me behind. I see her going down the trail to reach the jct. She loses me completly on the trail. I cut in just past the bend, and while slow, hit the control perfectly. Randy Hall (I think) appears and punches just after me. | |||||
| 20. |
Tired | (19) Pass Viktoria at the indistinct trail still looking for 18. She heads back the way we came. | |||||
| 21. |
Took a chance Did not like map Confused parallel features Tired +04:00 | (K) Viktoria has caught up again by the road. She and Randy are both ahead of me and apparently going to (M) I head down the road to take the trail in to (K) My plan is K, over to J, trail up to M and finish with L for the road run to 24. Have some trouble with the indistinct trail in to (K) as it does not seem to end. I cut in and think I am ok as I go by a cliff and some rocky ground on the edge of a spur. Thinking I am E of the control I continue W. Actually I am N and end up hitting the stream. Must climb back up 4 contours. Someone runs down from the direction of K as I climb up. | |||||
| 22. |
Did not read control description Tired Not thinking clearly +02:00 | (J) Not sure where he is going since even if contouring around to J he is to far N. I go almost straight but go N around the hill. I come in from the VW bus. As I come down the trail, he comes down the far side of the stream. As I approach the boulder I get momentarily confused and think I am looking for the boulder on my side of the stream. As I turn back and run away I do not see him punch. Feel like an idiot when I recover my senses and run back to the correct boulder | |||||
| 23. |
Did not check features en route Took a chance Tired Not thinking clearly Lacked concentration Frustrated Disturbed by others +05:00 | (M) I had checked out the indistinct trails while crossing to J so was confident they would make M an easy find. Found the trails ok but missed the cut off. Did not notice the boulders or the jct I planned to attack from. Did see Mark Frank going N, probably where I should have cut off. Eventally just headed up hill and after some wandering decided I had overshot. | |||||
| 24. |
Tired Hesitated Disturbed by others +02:00 | (L) Should have been easy. Met Dave Onkst going up from L to M. His back track seemed well N of where I wanted to go but it pulled me north. (Turned out he had been going around the wet ground when I saw him) Crossed the stream and saw Viktoria looking around. Headed N to relocate at the larger trail then back to the control as Viktoria was just leaving. | |||||
| 25. |
Tired | (24) Viktoria ran away again but angled to far right. She hit the road first but well N of me. Dave came out ahead of us both. Viktoria quickly passed me back and alternated jogging and walking on the uphill. Dave and I walked the whole way. Viktoria caught Dave but lost time climbing the bank on the right side of the road to check that it really was a trail coming in. I cut in at the car with the French Creek map on the front seat. I hoped that they would make a mistake allowing me to catch up again. Seemed unlikely when I saw Eddie Bergeron coming back to his car on the line all 3 of us were using. Dave and Viktoria were gone by the time I reached the control. My punch card holder gets in the way of punching the middle of the top row and I have to take it off, punch then put it back. Top row of card is soggy from sweat since I only taped front side of top edge. Box 30 is gone, nothing left there but tape. | |||||
| 26. |
Bad route choice Tired Not thinking clearly | (25) I was to tired to climb back to the road so tried to contour to the trail. Could see I would have to climb on it anyway but all I could think about was avoiding climb now. Should have gone to the road. Could not contour through the green and rocks so had to drop down early. Trail was not that great and I was to tired to do anything but walk. I finished the ERG I was carrying anticipating the water at the control and not much more to go. Cut the corner at the road and was just crossing the ditch off the trail when I got a cramp in my right leg. Managed to work most of it out before hobbling the rest of the way. 5 minutes to go 100m. | |||||
| 27. |
Did not follow plan Did not check features en route Bad map reading Bad compass work Could not relocate Tired Not thinking clearly Frustrated | Seemed to be plenty of water left so I refilled my bottle, drank it, and filled it again to carry with me. Considered the trail but figured straight would be ok and at my speed should have no trouble. Had to watch my footing carefully to avoid anything which would cause another cramp. Things were fine until I realized I had gotten my map twisted and was following the line from 17 to 16. My map was crumpled in the case and I had been unable to straighten it with my cast. No idea when I had gone off course so angled NE and hoped to get lucky and relocate. Came out at trail N of control apparently about midway between jct and bend. I could see neither and was to tired to go far enough to check. Had to stop and rest several time before deciding I was at the boulders and heading back in. Saw someone in distance heading for the last window. (Sandy Fillebrown) and then Mark Frank still going to 26. Followed him. | |||||
| 28. |
Did not plan ahead Tired | (A) Mark was as beat as I was but still was walking faster. He said he was going to (B) but I misheard him and thought he said (D). Since that was the worst possible choice I thought he was joking and agreed that it was the obvious choice and continued toward A. By the time I realized he was going to B, I did not want to climb back up to follow. I could see that B-A would save him a lot of climb but my brain was turned off and I failed to consider that it would save me a lot of climb also. I had to rest before reaching A and again after punching. | |||||
| 29. |
Tired | (B) Had to rest again before reaching the powerline and Mark passed me while I was stopped. Uphill is to much and I have to rest again this time stretching out on the ground instead of just sitting on a log. Force myself to go on after 2 minutes and make sure I head uphill at all times. Hit control dead on. Hard to believe I did this leg in 3:10 earlier today. | |||||
| 30. |
Tired | (D) No more uphill. Make this leg with no rest stops. Have finished my water again but think I can last until the finish. | |||||
| 31. |
Tired | (C) Pay the price and have to stop 3 times, the last time with the control in sight. | |||||
| F. | As I am leaving, I hear the sound of someone approaching. I am not last, but may be if they see how slow I am going. It is Dave Levine. I walk as fast as I can manage without cramping and look back often to see if he is coming. Dave said later he never saw me. - - - This ranks as one of my biggest fades ever. I was lucky to finish. I think I hydrated enough but totally neglected food. Some training might have helped also. Still now that it is over, I had fun. |
Total Time Lost - 00:21:15