OUSA Nationals -- Middle Red
Up at 3:15 am after ~two hours of sleep; slept for the entire flight, which I usually can't do. Met up with Kris at ORD, we made a quick coffee stop, and then we headed to the Middle event!
Today was my brother's birthday, and my bib number turned out to be the baseball jersey number he always wore (#16). That was a nice coincidence.
Kris & I stayed in the car as long as possible to avoid the cold & rain -- then missed our start times due to the time zone change we hadn't been aware of. Oops.
The first 10 controls felt so easy, almost yellow-level. I used trails almost exclusively, and was pushing myself to run as fast as possible. As of #10, I was 29th out of 35.
Then the wheels started to come off. I made a big, dumb error getting to #11 and, in strong contention for my Stupidest Route Choice of the Year, I decided to go ~straight line to #12. Sigh...this leg was a test, and I failed it, big time. The stream that looked about a foot deep was in fact waist-deep, thick, nasty, smelly mud. I retreated and found a log to cross on. But then I hit the uncrossable fence. $%#&@%!!! So stupid.
Small bobble at #13, and the rest were easy.
I ended up in last place. I could barely stand the stench of my muddy clothes on the way to our Airbnb place. Ugh.