Race Evaluation
QOC: Balls Bluff: Red
Nadim
| 1. | I ran pretty straight. I was just trying to follow the ridge at the end but not very confident. | ||||||
| 2. | +00:10 | I hit the drop-off a bit to the left but thought I was keeping a good bearing. I cut right and found it. | |||||
| 3. | +00:50 | I was a bit to the right or something. I started following along one reentrant too soon. I got near the fence and the house on the north edge of the map. Coming back I found #101 which I later learned to be #15 and I had to cross the reentrant that it was in. | |||||
| 4. | I had to force myself to cross the reentrant marked with a blue intermittant stream and the spur. Once that was done, I was just about at the control. I'd curved into it from the left, to the right. | ||||||
| 5. | +01:30 | I started out getting to the field corner and eventually to the trail along it. The trail bends didn't seem right. I was going to go around more to the right but when the trail bends didn't quite do what I thought they would, I plunged down to cross the main reentrant that I'd crossed on the first leg. Nearing the start area but still to the right of it, I had a hard time making sense of the trails so I just followed contours. At one point I located myself and went ahead on the assumption I was correct. Hitting a trail too early threw me off again, even though I had been correct. I followed the trail across a reentrant to be sure of where I was at, then had to come back across and back up to the control. | |||||
| 6. | I angled a bit right and got across the deep reentrant to the trail on the ridge. I wasn't sure where I was when I hit it and when I saw the next intersection, I had trouble believing I was where I was. I stayed on a higher trail, then left it when it was climbing too high. I continued along reentrant tops until I got to the control. I had crossed the last one but did recognize a reentrant junction where I came in. | ||||||
| 7. | +00:20 | I started to try to go straight but hit the first reentrant a bit to the right. I ran out the big reentrant along the right side of the smaller one, then crossed the smaller one. I started seeing a trail to my left ahead so I knew I was getting too far left. I cut back to the right and dropped into the control. The S-shape to my route was not efficient. | |||||
| 8. | I ran a straightish route leaving #7 and saw several others crossing the first reentrant that I did, but going the other direction. I cut left and right to follow the big reentrant up to #8. Along the way, I noted the distances between ditches, and the bridge to be shorter than mapped. I also thought some reentrants were deeper than mapped. I was gaining confidence on this leg both in reading the terrain and in my footing. I was able to run the hillside pretty well. | ||||||
| 9. | I descended from #8 and cut right at the reentrant juctions in the reverse of my route to #8. After crossing the next big reentrant, I climbed up the next spur, crossed a small reentrant and go to where I could see the next. I still had to cut right a bit at the end. | ||||||
| 10. | +00:35 | I came down the reentrant and crossed the one at the bottom. Running along the bottom, I stayed low until past the bridge shown with no trails on either end. After crossing the two ditches I stayed in the reentrant too long and had to come back up a bit. | |||||
| 11. | I ran down the spur and to the large reentrant junction, the clambored up. I very nearly went to #7, passing it on the right side, then across the flatter ground right to #11. | ||||||
| 12. | I ran a leftward route past #6 and along the west edge of the map. I thought it might reduce climb though I hadn't seen the trail route to the right. I'm still not sure which is better though I can see some advantage to going right. Going left as I did, I mostly ignored trails and came across one or two that didn't seem mapped. I passed some people walking about 200m from the end and saw Mark Mace just leaving the control. | ||||||
| 13. | I went through the reentrant junctions pasing 3 on the left before heading up on trails. I started having some doubts before climbing but I did feel good about recognizing the last spur. The sound of voices didn't hurt me either. Peggy was at the end cheering me on. | ||||||
| 14. | I ate a Gu after punching #13 and also had some water. To save crossing one reentrant, I went down the road a way before cutting right and going down. At the bottom I crossed right at a fence corner. I hadn't realized I was so far left. After that I followed the fence somewhat. I was able to run out and felt a bit energized. After getting through the unmapped green on whitish corridors, and crossing the road, I ran the ridge. This was fun. I accelerated with the nice gentle downslope and soon saw Sam Listwak more in the reentrant to my left. I passed and kept high for a while. I had to follow the reentrant to the right a little at the end. | ||||||
| 15. | I ran out and corrected my bearing a few steps out. Pat Zerfas had left the control a ways ahead and I could see that she was going the wrong way but didn't know what course she was doing. My correction was dead on and I recognized the rootstock from far off. | ||||||
| 16. | +03:30 | I ran a pretty good pace and tried to keep true crossing the reentrants. I got to the area left of #2 and pulled-up. I later came right and went to #2 instead of going further down the hill like I should have. I should have read the clue description. I had it in my head that I was looking for a depression instead of a knoll. I knew I was at #2 but because the maps had front and back sides, I had trouble mentally fixing an attack angle from #2 to #16. I suppose I was out of breath and not thinking too well too. Sam Listwak came through and crashed throught the green to my left. I stayed high and went to the right. I hit a ditch, saw Pat Zerfas again, formed another attack angle, then got drawn back up the hill to #2. This time I fixed the correct attack. I got to the flat area a bit to the right and saw Pat going further right. Sam was nowhere to be seen. I cut left and soon saw the knoll which I should have been looking for long ago. | |||||
| 17. | I ran out a white corridor to the road then turned right. I cut left and right at the next trail intersections. When the trail bent differently from what I expected, I cut a straighter route and rejoined it ahead. The bends near where the trail dropped into the reentrant seemed off. I left the trail and rejoined it again where it crossed the stream. By this point I figured that I'd have no chance of finishing faster than 73 minutes, the fastest that Dave Pruden had informed me of prior to leaving. I also figured it unlikely that I'd finish faster than Dave Pruden had. Across the stream, I stayed on the trail as it curved right, all the while thinking it should have curved right more quickly. I cut left to stay in reentrants to the control. | ||||||
| 18. | I ran out of #17 pretty well and thought about running through the parking lot to get to #18. In the end I took trails and saw the streamer between the finish and #18. | ||||||
| F. | I ran up the hill pretty good remembering how seconds counted at the CSU A-meet earlier this season. There was kind of a wiggly elephant path that helped. |
Total Time Lost - 00:06:55