Well, I've made it to my 37th Billy Goat. Never thought when I showed up, in blue jeans and a cotton T shirt, just because I was in the area of Northfield Mt. on Mother's Day in 1982, that I would be still getting around 37 years later.
Today's run was a bit unusual, in that I changed shoes during the race....I mean I just couldn't continue after getting them wet in the big swamp.....uh, no.
I never bother to read the map in the first leg. I just follow some one who I can trust to get me to the first control, and try to read ahead and maybe decide which control to skip.
First was behind David O. but he slowed a bit on the trail, so then caught Kristen, Bridget and Magnus. Followed them to 1, chose more the trail to 2, and lost them. Isabel was alongside. I really wanted to catch back up, so just some fast running on rough compass until I caught sight of them. Caught Kristen and Bridget as they tried to relocate just below 3. I went a bit south, but Magnus appeared to the north and lead us in. Leaving 3 I stepped on a mossy rock and whacked my shin, and shortly afterward something seemed odd in my footing, and there was my right foot sticking out of the shoe....Uh Oh. Came into 4 as they contemplated the route to five. Could I make it the rest of the way with the shoe?...I'd certainly risk hurting my foot....and I fortunately had another pair of shoes in the car.
I look at the map revealed that I was as close to the car as I would be for quite a while in the course, so I went off to the west and ran the trails back to parking. Took about 3 1/2 minutes to change then to five. This trail route was actually not too bad, I figure just running this route would be about 10 minutes, so not too bad in comparison, and I didn't have to wade the swamp.
Decent navigating and running after that. Got distracted by another runner to 8, and had to relocate. Skipped 17, but then in classic error fashion, missed 18 too high. Peggy and Irmie went by. Caught Irmie and we traded back and forth, but never saw Peggy again.
Was a bit scary crossing the bouldered stream into 21, but the terrain there was really spectacular.
Quite a difficult BG, but maybe I'm just getting old.