| Laurentian Rogaine, centered in Sainte-Adele, Quebec. Partnered with Jeff Schapiro: my third rogaine, his first. We got 27 out of 50 controls, and went about 55k point to point (probably around 50 miles total). That came to 1554 points, which I think was a decent result. The biggest dissapointment for both of us was slowing to a crawl over the last 4 hours. Still, we covered everything we planned to definitely get when we set out, save for 52 which we never found (it was night, and though close to a road, the woods were steep and thick), and 55 which we skipped at the end.
Jeff and I had compatible rogaining styles in that we both like to keep plodding along. Other than punching and filling water bladders, we stopped and sat down twice (at my request, to try to deal with foot problems), maybe 3-4 minutes each time. So we were moving for all but 6-8 minutes of the 23 hours 30 minutes we were out there. But not moving very fast. We did some very easy jogging over the first five hours (maybe an hour and a half), but when Jeff started to cramp, it was all walking from then. Maybe I could have been pushed to run more, but I was content to make it a walking affair, especially since Jeff has a pretty fast walk which we kept up for more than half the rogaine.
Our plan was good, and we stuck with it. We started north and went clockwise, devising a route that focused on the higher scoring points, skipping anything low scoring that didn't seem to meet our expected point per minute average. Of the 18 controls in the 60-90 range, we got 15.
Our navigating, I think, was pretty good, though there were a few lapses that probably wasted about an hour when added up; plus the 50 minutes or so lost going to and looking for the one we didn't find. But we spiked a lot of controls, including some deep in the woods at night. And in places, the woods were as gnarly as anything I've ever seen. Unfortunately, we had no clue sheet. (Jeff got the maps and brought them back to the car. When I asked if there were clue sheets he said no. But I found two clue sheets when I got home between the seats of my car!) I don't think it mattered much, since we only had trouble in the circle with two controls: 76 where we probably lost 15-20 minutes, and 52, which we didn't find. In both, it looked like a spur was circled, but the clues were "top of cliff". It might have helped to know what we were looking for.
Physically, this rogaine followed the pattern of my first (with J-J), where I also stayed out all night, and also could barely pick up my legs by the end. In both cases, I think I didn't get enough food. In this one, I ate 2 1/2 power bars, some shot blocks, a couple handfuls of gorp, and 3-4 fig newtons, plus lots of diluted energy drink throughout. I stopped eating at about 18 hours (in both rogaines) because my stomach started to feel off, and I didn't want to risk making it worse. I think my leg muscles were simply starved over the last four hours. My second rogaine, with Jeff Saeger, was my best physically, and I felt OK all the way to the end; but in that one we ate a big meal and slept 3-4 hours. Was it the food, the sleep, or both that I needed? I'll have to keep experimenting.
Medically, I'm lucky to have avoided any serious injuries because I must have fallen over a hundred times and I could easily have smashed some body part (such as a head) on a boulder or log. My old trail shoes had no traction on wet boulders or logs; a river crossing over huge boulders was especially harrowing (for me, Jeff had no problem with it). The non-serious injuries are many, especially to my feet, but they will all heal in a matter of days.
For the record, our route was: 31, 62, 75, 76, 65, 80, 23, 73,91, 60, 51 72, 32, 54, 42, 50, 46, 66, 63, 81, 90, 70, 41, 53, 24, 22, 61.
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