Training Log Archive: bbrooke

GPHXO Two-Hour Score-O @ Saguaro Lake

Another fun day. Unlike last night, when I could run most of the time on trails, there were no trails on this map. Also, the footing was loose & rocky, especially on the steep downhill sections, and I'm ridiculously slow and tentative in that kind of terrain.

So, the loop I picked may not have been ideal, considering how slow I was ultimately moving. Also, I ran out of time to get the last 50-point control I had planned for near the end (#51), and there wasn't else anything for me to pick up along the mile+ road-run on the way back to the finish. I really had to push my pace for that last mile -- didn't want to go over the time limit again. I was SO happy to come around a bend in the road and see the finish area -- with about a minute to spare. :-P

I wish this event had had a four-hour option -- I was enjoying the course and I could have picked up a lot more controls!

Event: GPHXO December Orienteering Weekend
 

GPHXO Two-Hour Night-Score-O @ Coon Bluff in Phoenix.

The best route was pretty obvious, and the controls were all very close to trails or washes.

So I should have been able to clean the course -- but I was very much thrown off by the scale. I didn't realize it was not actually 1:10,000 (as printed on the map) until long after I had blown past #30. I thought it was too far to go back for, but in retrospect I totally should have done that.

I tried to get it at the end, sprinting a LONG way out and back from the start / finish area at a really uncomfortable pace, but I didn't find it (even though my tracks show I was right on top of it at one point) and got back 45 seconds late. DOH!

But -- VERY fun overall. (I measured later, and the scale was more like 1:8,000.)