Running warm up/down (Street & Trail) 5:00 [2] 0.5 mi (10:00 / mi)
slept:6.5 weight:177.5lbs
Patapsco Valley State Park, McKeldin Area. Warm-up going back and forth from our parking spot the start of QOC's meet, to get things I forgot like the map. It was windy on the ridge making it feel cold but when running it was in the upper 40's F.
Orienteering race (Foot) 1:12:32 [4] *** 7.2 km (10:04 / km) +290m 8:23 / km
spiked:15/18c
QOC: Patapsco Valley State Park, McKeldin Area. I was anticipating a physical day and being tired but that part worked out fine--I was less tired than expected while running, and I managed the steep hills okay. I hit most of the controls too. However at #6, the control feature appeared to have been moved. I lost about a minute. Going to #7, from above I spied Victor Lin hunting a bit on the west side of the rock I thought it the control was on. I came in from the east but he got to it ahead of me. I chased him upward headed over the hill before realizing that it would have been better for me to have gone around the longer way on the flat land. I still went wider than Victor but with his more direct route, he got to #8 a bit faster. I closed the gap on him through #9 and #10, and when he was a bit low on #11, I got there ahead of him. I checked the code there but didn't match it with the number. I mistook which control I was leaving from in my haste to get out before Victor figured out that I had found it. Unfortunately, this leg had a sharp turn. I went straightish to the next major reentrant, dropping down several contours before realizing that I had headed 180 degrees in the wrong direction. That probably cost me about 5 minutes. I made good time through #12, #13, and #14. Had I realized there was a usable trail going low to #15, I would have taken it--I had a vague memory of it but on the run, I couldn't see it. Instead, I went right past #17, the climbed along a ridge to a bit above the saddle. I had it in my mind that I was to go to the higher control of the #15, #16 dog leg so I went right to #16. I even had felt encouraged when approaching it to see Victor coming from the other direction but in the next instant, I realized my error. I spiked #15, then coming back to #16, I got a bit higher than needed and had to drop back down a contour. I guess the #15/#16 errors added to about 2 minutes of error. I hit #17 and #18 just fine but didn't have much energy to get up the steep hill to the finish after that. This was a good workout and got me some needed practice. The physical training was good too but it was disappointing to have made some bonehead errors and lost to Victor by a minute. He had lost time too so it seems we were moving at similar paces. Mark Mace's courses were fine. There were a couple of doglegs and places where the most reasonble choice involved walking straight up some very steep hills but once can expect some of that at McKeldin.