Race Evaluation
QOC Beer O': Long
peggyd
| 1. | Beer. Slow drinker, not concerned about it, watch most of the others finish and take off. | ||||||
| 2. | I'm already catching people on the 200m road into the park, but I'm running easy and using everyone as a handrail. Easy control. Punch just after Van Anthony. | ||||||
| 3. | Pass Van on the trail, cut off just after the stream and head across the hillside. Come to the reentrant with the control almost by surprise. | ||||||
| 4. | Well behind the big dogs, I actually am navigating, counting reentrants. The vegetation has changed a bit since the map was made -- more green! On the hillside before the control I see Eddie B. heading uphill and wonder why; then I see David Onkst. He is wandering on the hillside and says something like, it's not a good sign that we're all wandering. I tell him I think we still have to cross another reentrant, so he does and just ahead Christian Hanson punches in at the boulder. | ||||||
| 5. | Up up up the hill. See Nadim at the top and ask him where he's headed, wondering if the mob orienteering has caught him too. He says 4 so I say good and he continues on. He gets to the first ditch ahead of me and stops, looking around; I know we have to go farther, look over the rise and see the control. I yell "there it is" and all of us -- Nadim, David, whoever else is behind -- head that way. | ||||||
| 6. | More up hill. Eddie flies past, with Nadim just behind him. Going through the field, David passes me and says " this may be futile, but I'm going to try" -- I take that to mean, I'm going to try to catch up to Eddie. Once in the woods, though, Dave slows to a walk. We get to the correct reentrant and I see Nadim looking around; I figure the control must be further downhill and start going that way, then see it. Then Eddie arrives from the west and beats me in to the punch. | ||||||
| 7. | Once again it's Eddie, Nadim, then me and Dave; Eddie is just out of sight when I yell to Nadim to stay with Eddie. I don't see Nadim again until my big mistake later. I crawl uphill to the road, attacking from the southern edge of the reentrant system. Map seems to need another contour or two, but the control is right where it's supposed to be. Dave is right with me. | ||||||
| 8. | We struggle straight toward the gate on the road, but the woods are thick and nasty. We never have to resort to hands and knees, as Ted apparently did, but we did have to backtrack a couple times. I make a mental note not to return to #7 this way. Once on the road to the beer, I figure Dave will pass me but that doesn't happen. Eddie passes going out on Loop 2 and says something about Ted and Tim, I think that they're behind us. | ||||||
| 9. | Second into the beer, but a slow drinker as always. | ||||||
| 10. | #7 is the same control as #6. Ted then Tim are coming down the road to the beer exchange as I head out to #7. I am hoping to see Nadim but he's not in sight. When I approach #7 -- coming in the same way I did #6 in order to avoid the crappy woods to the south -- I see Eddie ahead, having made another error. I punch in 2nd place. | ||||||
| 11. | Ted Good passes me but I'm surprised Tim isn't with him. Also haven't seen Dave for a while and wonder what happened to him. Slow leg up and down the hills, checking off the reentrants. I hit the spot where I think the control should be, but it's a bit downhill. The stream is, very surprisingly given the amount of rain we've had, dry. | ||||||
| 12. | Down the hill to the creek; I see what I interpret as the flat /saddle areas just to the southeast of the control so I turn north. I see Ted and he's on a trail. I start heading on the trail with him but then I check my compass and realize that the creek is going the wrong way and I have to turn back. A second after I realize that, Ted says "Nine is back there," and I do head back, finding it with no problem. As I punch in and leave, I hear someone in the woods, I think, but never see anyone. | ||||||
| 13. |
Did not like map Lacked confidence +28:00 | Back to the trail and pass the same fisherman on the rock. I cut up from the creek just where the stream is coming in and there are cliffs. I am a bit high but am reading all the contours okay. No control where I expect it; I continue along the ridge and am sure I'm at the saddle south of the control. So I head back. There's a thick, distinct reentrant but the description reads "shallow" and the maps shows only some green further south. I continue on, then up and down the hillside, and finally I convince myself I've somehow gotten on the ridge to the west. So I go over to the next ridge and start going along the south/east side. I see Dan Quinn and Nadim here, and I tell them I'm looking for 10, have been for 20 minutes, and don't bother to go to the next ridge because it's not there. Then I see Yulia and Christian, then Keg. Keg asks if I'm on my third loop and I make it clear I'm unhappily still looking for #10. Finally I go back to the creekside trail and attack again, from the same place as before. I am a bit lower this time and make a point of checking off every feature. When I get to the correct reentrant, I recognize it and know it's not there, and am about to head on when I see it. I'm really not happy! | |||||
| 14. | Take the indistinct trail up to the road, passing course-setter Pat Zerfas and Eddie (who's already done...) walking the same direction. Pat says "hi Peggy! We just fixed number 10!" I grumble that it's 20 minutes too late and keep running. But at least it wasn't my mistake. I am surprised I never saw the control in the wrong reentrant, and I am angry at myself for not going on when I was confident that I knew where I was. That might have been the beer! Control 11 is easy. | ||||||
| 15. | Back to the beer, another road run. Not enough to soften my anger, and it rises up again when I see all the people at the finish, already done with the race. | ||||||
| 16. | Another beer. | ||||||
| 17. | Pick up the map and express surprise at what it is. Head blindly to the only visible control and punch in, then start heading to the next before I realize I was at the wrong control. Back to the correct one. | ||||||
| 18. | Been here before. | ||||||
| 19. | Used the buildings as my guide to get to the power line. | ||||||
| 20. | In to the finish for the last beer. Several of the guys were cheering me on and that, in my angry state, made me slow down to an exaggerated jog. | ||||||
| F. | One last disgusting beer. Nadim records his first victory over me, along with several other QOCers! Most of the race was fun... |
Total Time Lost - 00:28:00