Running warm up/down (Street & Trail) 9:00 [2] 0.8 mi (11:15 / mi)
slept:8.0
Cabin John Regional Park. Warm-up near Popovich Field for the start of QOC's event.
Orienteering (Foot) 1:13:58 [4] *** 7.4 km (10:00 / km) +245m 8:35 / km
spiked:26/26c
QOC: Cabin John Regional Park, MD. Russ Damtoft set a short Blue course which was fine with me. The woods had plenty of of melt water and mud. It was an encouraging sunny and as high as 62 F. I felt pretty slow just about from the start. The course was fine but had a lot of short legs; control picking style. This is a fairly easy park to navigate with lots of trails and on top of that, it's fairly thin. I had mapped it because it was close-in to the population center; it's the closest map to my house.
S-1 - Before I started, 3 other Blue runners got going ahead of me. I ran down the trails and angled-up when I could see the edge of the ball fields above. I'm not sure that the control was on the root stock that I mapped but it was close and others were there punching to give it away.
1-2 - I ran up to the ball fields and took trails to the powerline ride and passed one of the guys I'd seen at the start. I angled across haphazardly and didn't cross the other side where I'd intended, above the gully I had to cross the gully and get through some thorns. From there I angled up to the control but I probably should have stayed on the trail and attacked from below because I got a little too high.
2-3 - I went up to the train tracks and ended up hopping the fence on the other side. From there I crashed through the woods to the road intersection The control was higher upstream than expected. Actually no stream was mapped; just a ditch that at this time of year was wet.
3-4 - I crossed the road and spotted the control right away. Not much time lost waiting for cars.
4-5 - Going straight and along the creek I crossed the creek on a fallen log, then ran to the semi-open area. I had mapped the feature as a stone-wall, small though it was. The clue was stony ground. Right next to it should have been a root stock which is much more prominent on the map but I didn't see it going through. I didn't look close but it should have been to the right a short way away.
5-6 - I went straightish getting through the green. I could have gone around the ridge on the trail but I went over, attacking off of the mapped campsite.
6-7 - I went a bit to the right to get around some green. I used the trail after crossing the dirt road. Leaving from the trail bend near the campsite, Going a little left around some greener terrain, I passed John Baker who I had seen pausing a few times ahead of me earlier on this leg. I saw the control and went right to it. Unlike last year when Peggy had set the courses here, the control was in the right place this time.
7-8 - I took the road around to the left, turned left at the footbridge and angled up from there. I felt slow. Slushy ice on the road was part of it but I was slower climbing.
8-9 - I took the high route on the trail to the right but have doubts about it being the right route. the lower trail would have required a climb at the end but might have had less climb overall. The control was fairly visible soon after leaving the trail.
9-10 - I used the trails to get close but in retrospect, I should have kept to the right until the end to avoid more green. After using the trails, I backed up a few steps to go around the green instead of following the wet and light green ditch to the end.
10-11 - I hunted a bit along the shore to find a decent crossing. Eventually I plunged across and it wasn't bad. After crossing, I climbed up along the reentrant before the control, walking the steeper parts of the hill.
11-12 - I angled downward intending all along to use the trail below. I wasn't on it long before angling up again. At the end I was worried about being too high and started to descend. I had to climb a little again.
12 - 13 - I angled downward for the trail, then found another fallen log to cross the creek. Once across, I just angled up the hill. I climbed too high and had to descend at the end. I think the control leg being short and green kept me from keeping better control of exactly where I was going. This happened throughout the course.
13-14 - I used the trails across the flat marshy ground before angling to cross the creek. I could see #10 and the orienteer whom I'd passed on leg 2. Once again I crossed the creek on a fallen log. It was not so easy to do this time with branches and flotsam on it. From there, I angled up the hillside into the reentrant, around the final green, and to the control.
14-15 - Angling down to the trail, I followed it until I could see the control. I guess the woods were nice and it setup the next leg.
15-16 - I used the trails, crossing the stream at the bridges. I went straight over the hill but in retrospect, going around to the left on the trail would have been faster. As it was, I got too close to the shopping center parking lot. The smell of food (chicken burritos?) was making me hungry.
16-17 - I ran the trail until I could see the control below.
17-18 - Straight. I saw the control as I was crossing the road and didn't have to wait much.
18-19 - I went to the right around the fence, the got on the trail that descended to the gravel road. Crossing the powerline ride, I stayed along the creek, using the trail for a short way. I left the trail and ran toward what had been a prominent root stock earlier when I mapped it. I was going to attack of it but had to go further around to the left to get around some green. Ahead some seasonal ponds that I'd never seen before were blocking the way and pushing me more to the right. Seeing a root stock, I got close enough to see it wasn't the one I wanted. I crossed the marsh to the left, glad that the ice held me most of the time and saw the control on a smaller root stock.
19-20 - Some legs one just has to push through. I crossed the stream and got on top of one of the fallen logs rather than fight my way through the green on the ground. The log got me to the rocks where I could cross remaining logs. I ran up the intermittent deer trail that I left off the map; I wanted to stay far enough away from the condo buildings and back yards. After crossing the hilltop and reentrant on the other side, I rounded the fences near the basketball court and construction. I knew the control feature was actually an intermittent trail that probably needs to be taken off the map. Russ had mistaken the short black line for a rock feature and clued it as stony ground. Fortunately, there was some stony ground just under the trail. A girl running a shorter course was hunting just above where the trail was but I clued her in.
20-21 - I just ran high until the reentrant, then angled down to the creek. Following the wet ditch, I got to the control. Another guy was there but he didn't seem to punch it.
21-22 - I walked most of this tiring leg but did managed some running once in the white woods. The control was visible a long way off.
22-23 - I felt much better running level and downhill. I got through the green by zig-zagging the fallen logs. Dan Do and others were hunting in the area. I turned to the left just where I thought it should be and Dan was just finishing punching there.
23-24 - I wasn't sure of the best way across the creek. The bank near #23 was too high. I ran further north, ducking under some of the fallen logs I'd passed on the way to #23, then saw one log crossing the creek. It was actually mapped but the control circle for #23 was hiding it. Once across on the log, I took trails to the hill and climbed toward the saddle, then more left to the knoll.
24-25 - This was a somewhat cruel leg near the end of the course. I ran down the knoll for #24, and pulled myself up the next steep hill.
25-26 - I angled over toward the control. I found an animal track that got me down to the gully but was able to cross it on a fallen log. From there it was up to the trail and to the fence.
26-F - Around the fence and through the mud. I was pretty tired so the mud made it harder. I tried to keep out of it where I could.
Overall, I enjoyed getting out. The short legs kept me from making errors.