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Race Evaluation

Susquehanna Stumble: Long Stumble

donkst

1.	Followed others	Plan was to get out fast and see how the pack sorted out. Didn't want to get trapped behind the hoard so I sprinted down the trail, to what I thought was the start triangle (the trail intersection), but discovered I had to cut in like everyone else. I feel a sharp pain in my left foot. I figure I've strained the plantar fascia again (improper warm-up)--alright, this is going to be a fun race!!!! Followed the leaders into #1. Followed the cluster that stayed low.
2.	Ran too fast Tired Followed others Followed by others +00:30	Original idea on the way to # 1 was to do DECBA, but thought the climb looked a little less going ADECB. So, decided as I was punching to go to A first. As I turn around and head toward A, I see Eddie is heading that way so it can't be too bad an idea. It seems to only be Eddie, me, and someone else behind me who I don't recognize. Eddie does a face plant in front of me. I gave him a 5.8 out of a possible 6.0--his style was good, but he actually kept his face a few inches away from the ground--since judges want to see that mud on the face, I had to take a couple of points off. Up to the trail intersection and then followed Eddie on into A. No problems. Eddie is gone in a flash to D and I loose contact with him. I'm not even going to try to keep up. I run straight into the train of people going from D down to E, but because of the angle I come in on, about 50 W of D, I can't tell if people have punched D yet or not. I hesistate, and then start jogging down toward E, until I figure out what's going on and head back to D. I've already lost contact with any type of group because of this screw-up. It's all over for me now.
3.	Did not check features en route Read map too late Bad map reading Tired Lacked confidence Hesitated Followed others +00:15	Down the reentrant and right to it. Could see the bag coming down the reentrant. Hesitated a little near the boulder because I lost sight of it and had to hunt for a few seconds.
4.	Lacked confidence Hesitated Followed by others +00:15	Straight and very carefully on a bearing. I see someone's map (Dan's) at the control. Someone is following me, I don't know who.
5.		See Pat Z coming into C as I'm exiting. On up the hill, no real thought here other than climbing to the spine of the spur. As I exit B, can't decide if I want to do the smart thing and take the trail to the left out of B and then climb to 7, or take the reentrant system to the NE of B and on into 7 (I know the reentrant system there so it might be to my advantage--however, that requires a lot of climbing). As I leave B, I start to climb and commit myself to the NE reentrant route, but then after about a contour and a half, I decide to take the trail, and go down two contours, but then, I climb back up and totally commit to the NE route. CAN YOU SAY INDECISION AND STUPIDITY!!!!!! Not a fast route, although I run it clean. There are two people following me, a Japanese runner I don't recognize, and Sam Listwak. I'm not a happy camper.
6.		See comments under # 2, my route was ADECB
7.	Bad route choice Did not plan ahead Did not follow plan Lacked confidence Hesitated Frustrated Followed by others +03:30	See comments under # 5.
8.		Straight, no problems. I dropped down right into the correct reentrant. Van Anthony punches slightly ahead of me and says something to me, but I can't tell what. I'm just not happy and am quite mad at myself for already being totally out of the running.
9.	Bad map reading Lacked confidence Frustrated Followed others +01:30	Leaving # 8 I head up toward L because that's where my map line goes, but everyone else is running down the reentrant. What are they doing? Takes me a little while to figure out that it's not another window yet. Across the road following Ron Pontius and Van Anthony. I'm fooled by #14 and jump across to the other side of the stream and then have to cross back over. I follow Ron and Van up the long reentrant to the SE of #10 and up into the control. Van says something flattering like "Dave, I wasn't trying to be a smartass with that comment earlier (the one I didn't hear), but I just wanted to let you know, it's a pleasure running with you in the woods." Thanks for the compliment Van. You're moving well too, but since I'm not in a good mood, I want to get out of here as fast as I can. Although "I" looks like the logical choice for the first control in the window, at a very quick glance, I decide that I want to start picking up some speed and see if I can catch up to some of the leaders. Hence, down very quickly to the trail and toward G.
10.	Underrated difficulty Ran too fast Confused parallel features Bad distance judgement Lacked confidence Hesitated Frustrated Followed by others +05:30	Plan is to run the trial hard to the second reentrant to the right and then cut in. However, I misread the reentrants and don't think I'm at the right stream. I backtrack on an angle back toward the trail, but nothing. Really mad, I head back S to relocate from the small trail intersection just NW of "I" and then pace count back in. Ted, Peggy, and Dave Pruden pass me a various times. I see Ron Pontius off to the left in the distance, probably heading into G. I follow the line and find it, but now I'm really mad at myself.
11.		Back onto the trail and behind Sam Listwak. Same goes on the low trail, I take the high one and climb up the small reentrant to the W of F. I'm in Red light mode for a couple of seconds, when I see one of the Japanese runners leaving the bag.
12.		Straight, following the Japanese runner's line. Up the sharp reentrant. That leads us right into the bag. As I'm leaving, I see Heidi coming into punch.
13.		Down to the trail very quickly and back to the small intersection NW of "I." The Japanese runner is in tow. I see Ron Bortz punching as I go into the bag. Sandy and Ann are coming into "I" as I'm leaving.
14.	Did not plan ahead Bad compass work Tired Lacked confidence Hesitated Disturbed by others Followed by others +01:00	Almost straight to # 14. Went through the saddle. I've gotten ahead of Ron.
15.		Thought LKJ looked more logical. Climb first and then drop. I didn't see the trail to the SWW of L and therefore thought the faster route would be from J. Hence climbed to L first. A bit of hesitation on the top looking for it however.
16.		I see Ron Pontius on the way up as I'm heading down. I guess I've made up some ground since he was so far ahead of me.
17.	Hesitated +00:30	This is my L. See comments under #15.
18.		Out of J, I went straight through the dark green along the mule corral. I felt like a mule at this point. They just sort of stared at me as if I were an idiot. Dark green slowed me down some, but not too bad--low lying sapplings. Contoured around to the control. Ron was leaving just as I was coming in.
19.	Tired Hesitated +00:15	Trail to loop intersection then a little past it on a pace count. Pass Randy who is on the second loop already. Right down to the control. Ron is in the distance.
20.	+00:30	Follow Ron's line on in. Drop my glasses on the way and have to pick them up.
21.		A quick transition. They tell me I'm in 22nd, so I still might have a shot at a towel if I hurry up. I'm off by myself. Ron had done the short.
22.		Trail to main E-W trail and then on down into the reentrant on a bearing. No problems. Just tired and my foot is really starting to hurt. I thought it was just the plantar, but after the race, when I got home and pulled my sock off, I would discover a black and blue foot. I had popped several blood vessels in my left foot near a joint. It's starting to really bother me.
23.	Tired Lacked confidence Hesitated Frustrated +00:45	By myself, no real problems, just tired and sore.
24.		Right to it.
25.	Disturbed by others +01:30	A loose dog jumps on me and tackles me. The owners, who are just sacked out on the ground in the distance, don't seem to care. After picking myself up, I see I'm off line now and have to climb back to the control.
26.	Tired Hesitated +00:45	Thought about going around, but didn't want to go through the traffic and crowds in the main park, so went straight at it. Pass the mules again, up to the huge depression, and on down into the control.
27.	Did not like map Bad compass work Confused parallel features Tired Lacked concentration Hesitated Disturbed by others +01:30	I'm headed to P down the trail, but I confuse the trails and start heading up the hill to the S. Just as I figure out what I've done, Tom O heads down toward me and # 24, with Charlie L in tow. They had apparently gone around to get to # 24 and missed the trail, so I'm glad I didn't take it. I guess I'm in 20th place now. I've got to stay ahead of them, or at least in contact with them. Tom comes in from a different angle with Charlie, just as I'm punching P.
28.	Did not check features en route Underrated difficulty Ran too fast Bad compass work Could not relocate Tired Disturbed by others Followed by others +09:00	I sprint off toward Q on a bearing. I want to stay ahead of them. I'm a bit right on my bearing and the map is confusing in this section. I see Tom off to my left, but I still think I'm on line. I find an unmapped trail and run it S for a few meters and then turn back N and find myself in the same place where Tom and Charlie were a few minutes ago. Mad, I run the trail back toward P and then attack Q from the trail bend. There's the control, right where Tom was headed.
29.	Did not plan ahead Did not check features en route Underrated difficulty Ran too fast Did not like map Bad compass work Confused parallel features Tired Lacked concentration Hesitated +03:00	All by myself, I figure, and totally out of the running. My attitude now sucks. I just don't care anymore. I'm headed toward S, and look for it, but no go. So, I head back around to R and find it. I'm walking. My left foot hurts a lot.
30.	Tired	S is no problem after I find R.
31.	Underrated difficulty Bad map reading Confused parallel features Bad distance judgement Did not read control description Tired Frustrated +05:15	OK, I'm going to try running again. Plan is to hit the trail intersection to the SE of S, drop down to the stream, run it around to the end of the spur, and then cut back up and count reentrants. Things seem to be going well, until I just can't ignore the deep gully about 150 meters to the SW of the control. Up to the top of the gully and no bag. I head N until I find it. Was expecting an E-W gully, not a N-S one.
32.	Tired	Thought about taking the trail around to the road near T and then on in. Would have been smart. I instead decide to go straight, because I want to make up time after all (dumb) and hit the main stream that runs between the four controls. I figure I'll sort it out when I get there. Needless to say, I'm confused by the stream and new trail. I run it S trying to pick up the correct reentrant with V in it and I see the main park boundary trail to the S. Finally realizing what I've done, I turn back up the trail and head to W, but at first I'm one reentrant too far N of W. This is getting uglier and uglier. I'm so mad at myself that I literally say outloud, get this, "I'm so tired of sucking at this sport." What a great attitude. That kind of thinking really puts you in a resourceful state. These are my comments on W, but my actual split time from V to T, since I went WVTU.
33.	Tired	No problem, right to V, once I've located W. I'm walking, however. These are my comments on V, but my actual split time from W to V.
34.	Bad route choice Did not plan ahead Did not follow plan Confused parallel features Could not relocate Tired Lacked confidence Hesitated Frustrated +04:30	This is my actual split time from 29 to W.
35.	Tired	This my actual split time from T to U.
36.	Tired +00:15	No problems, right up the hill and then down the spur.
37.	Did not like map Bad distance judgement Tired +01:00	Up the ditches to the trail, down the trail to the stream, up to the left stream fork and then on up the hand rail to # 35. I stop short, however, because I'm drawn in by an unmapped boulder. I was planning to use the boulder 150 meters to the S of the control circle as my attack. I figure out pretty quickly what I've done and correct the mistake. I'm doing a lot of walking here, however.
F.	Tired +00:15	Straight on in on a bearing. I'm jogging in to make it look good. Heidi is yelling at me that I've got a towel. I don't know how in the world that happened. People cheer me on. I'm dead and my foot is killing me. I'm 21st overall (the 20th male finisher) and the last "official" male towel recipent--Unbelievable.

Total Time Lost - 00:41:30

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