1. | I was cold waiting to start and with several false goes to the start line (for my compass and clearing my epunch), I finally had everything I needed. I'd seen some others starting out heading east so I did the same trusting this was right. I the map crossing the field and kept a bit lower to the right to get to better places to run. I didn't feel I was going very fast. I just ran until I could see the parking lot and that was visible far away. Though this was just to get us started, it was a bit too easy. | ||||||
2. | I used trails just about the whole way. The control was sort of hidden by another runner who was punching as I came to the control circle. I noticed to some dismay that once crossing the road and getting on the Perimeter Trail, downfall had made a need for the park to extend the trail as it switchbacked. The map didn't reflect this. Had I known, I should have cut right to shorten the distance but thinking it was only a small switchback, I had decided to use the trail. | ||||||
3. | I was a bit wishy-washing leaving the control I headed a bit straight then cut right to use the trails. Another guy had left #3 just before I had. | ||||||
4. | I used the lower trail and climbed the spur. | ||||||
5. | It seemed to take me a long time to get to the trail. From the intersection of the shortcut to the parking lot (the one with the benches), I attacked fairly straight and hit it. | ||||||
6. | I got a bit more to the left than I had intended. I had to cut right to hit the trails. | ||||||
7. | +02:00 | I didn't want to get my feet wet crossing the bridge. It seemed a little longer to use trail going to the bridge to Still Creek and I'd just been through those areas. I opted to use the longer road route since it was fast and would be flat once across the creek. Once in the woods again, I hadn't counted reentrants on my left very well. Part of it was that I was too close to creek to see them. I ended up cutting in to the left too early. I got confused about how far up the control would be. I doubled back before eventually doubling back again. Finally getting far enough, the control was visible from the low lands. | |||||
8. | I climbed and used the trails part of the way to get to the road. I cut right on the road, then left before it curved. Descending, I knew the map to be missing a reentrant but it seemed like I crossed two while making some S-curves through the vegetation. Eventually, I hugged the big one to the right before cutting left at the bottom. I hit the control well but made too many S-curves. | ||||||
9. | +01:10 | In my head, I figured that all I needed to do was to go low, cross a reentrant, then go back up. Doing this, I realized that I needed to cross two reentrants before going up. I stayed high when crossing the rest of the way and the vegetion made it slow. | |||||
10. | I opted to go to the dirt road, and through the campground area before descending. I'm glad that the green area getting to the road was not as bad as the map made it appear. I have a bad habit of not reading my clue descriptions unless reading them off the map and going to the center of the circle doesn't work. The odd mapping of rootstock with blue T's confused me. Reading on the run, the T shape got lost in the marshy symbol that engulfed it. I knew my bearing to be good because I crossed the man-made reeentrant on the way so I figured it was going to be behind the rootstock when I saw it. I slowed to confirm this from the clue description as I got close. | ||||||
11. | I ran fairly straight. I had debated cutting right gonig longer at the trail but the climb at the end and the attack point was not much better. I stayed on the tops of most of the ditches to get there. | ||||||
12. | I descended going to the right a bit to get to the trail. I figured it was too green going left despite what the map indicated because I'd been there on previous outings. I got to the trail at the man made ditch/reentrant. I stayed on the trail until the next intersection, then ran mostly straight. It was visible from far away and I needed to make a slight correction to the left to get there. | ||||||
13. | I ran pretty straight. Once across the creek and road, I was concerned that I was getting too high. I saw the control but almost passed it because I was also thinking I was not far enough along. | ||||||
14. | I ran as straight as the vegetation would let me, up to the ridge, then corrected a bit as I descended, using the reentrant contour and the intermittant trail as guides. | ||||||
15. | I angled to the trail. It was greener than I'd hoped. Taking that to the road, I went straight in but got a bit too high. I had to drop almost a contour to the control at the end. | ||||||
16. | +00:15 | I thought about using the road but figured it'd be arbitrary. I ate a Gu along the way, knowing a water stop to be ahead. I got to a point running along the long ditch where I hesitated. The first gully/ditch intersection was not so obvious and had some green. I should have gone around to the right. The control circle on the map may have obscurred some stuff too. I followed the gully to the intersection but was unsure for a little while. | |||||
17. | The control circle on the map obscured the first gully intersection. It confused me but I kept going with the aid of a bearing and read the terrain for the rest. | ||||||
18. | Out to the road, past the campground road, then in on the Blueberry Trail. I cut off the Blueberry Trail a bit early but stayed on the ridge to get me there. | ||||||
19. | I considered going straight but didn't want to cross the creek without a bridge and didn't want to fight the thorns on the other hillside either. I went around to the road, then cut back in to the left at a clearing on the right side of the road. the running was good but I had to go further left around some deadfall. I was looking for the formline knoll but was too far left to see it. I doubted its existence as I went. Once past the ridge, I expected to see the control in what was essentially an unmapped reentrant. I contoured around going more northward and found it in the next, much larger reentrant. I must admit some worry when I had passed the very large homless person campsite. I've found many smaller ones of these before in several parks but always never know what to expect. | ||||||
20. | I contoured over using a sort of deer path to get to the trail, then ran it. Sensing my time an energy level, I increased my pace. I'd saved a bit too much. Getting close, I decided to back-door the control by coming in from the north where the running was easier. | ||||||
21. | I retraced my steps to #20 most of the way back to the trail, then just ran it to the control. | ||||||
22. | +00:35 | I read the leg and knew that I needed to get to the west-most trail (the Perimeter Trail) but was running too fast. I failed to cut over at a trail bend and found myself beginning to get to the greener marshy area. Fortunately I saw a lighter green gap that got me to the road. I went in from there but was a bit slow crossing a bluff over the creek. Once across, the running was good and I popped out to the field very close to the control. | |||||
F. | I ran in pretty good but didn't risk going all out. Later in the evening when looking at my printed split I noticed it said 52 seconds. The results were corrected. My time to the first control was off too and had shown 104 instead of 140. |
Total Time Lost - 00:04:00