Running warm up/down (Terrain) 3:30 [2] 0.35 mi (10:00 / mi) +1m 9:55 / mi
slept:6.0 weight:187.5lbs
Patapsco State Park, McKeldin Area. I warmed-up from the parking lot to the rest rooms and the start.
Orienteering 43:41 [4] *** 4.6 km (9:30 / km) +255m 7:26 / km
spiked:10/13c
QOC: Patapsco State Park, McKeldin Area. I hadn't read through the notes and we were a bit late arriving. I thought about doing the Green course along with the Memory-O but Peggy convinced me otherwise (to do Brown), with the kids being with us and it being cold.
I felt pretty well starting out. Sleeping well probably helped. I spiked the first few controls. #1 was physical and I went though the forest instead of using the road. I went straight at #2 and was right on the line going over the ridge at an intersection. I came down and was still going well as I nearly caught some others. I was still chasing them on the short leg across the road. We'd done close versions of leg #4 many times. I took the trail and went a little lower than a faster guy. I seemed to hold my ground or gain on him.
For #5, I contoured around the hill and reentrant to get right to the road corner. I went in from there and recognized the green area. Going around it, I spiked the control.
For #6, I went straight. On the drive up, I could see others running here and figured that the road might be a good option. I didn't bother though it might have saved me time. I stopped one reentrant early. The leg line obscured some of a key contour and I couldn't read it until I stopped for a while. The low vegetation on the map was also not so bad as it seemed to be mapped. Finding a deer trail helped. Once over the last hill I found the control in the reentrant a little higher than I was.
For #7, I again stayed in the forest. I spied the ruin to my right, and read the control description to know the control was inside.
For #8, I went left, climbing the dirt road. It seemed that the control was placed further right and that cost me a little time.
For #9, after getting into the areas, I saw Peggy and another guy running toward me. The control wasn't visible. I ran past them and started fumbling too. My glasses fogged-up. I read the contours on the ridge above us and concluded I was in the right place without seeing it. Meanwhile, Peggy had circled back. She was closer to the ridge than and she saw it first.
For #10, I passed Peggy and ran on bearing. Though the control looked to be in the middle of a black blob with my foggy glasses, the control description said, it'd be placed on the far side. I kept right of my bearing to not get hung-up in the rocks too soon and climbed. I saw boulders I think I've been to several times before and saw it there above me.
Going to #11, I angled the hillside starting out. Getting on trails, I climbed the ridge and went down the reentrant on the other side. I found remnants of the trail but couldn't see anything from the trail intersection. Once the creek took a bend, I began to climb. I was low at the end, but could see it above, between some boulders.
I ran straight toward #12, passing Chris Gross as I climbed. I read the contours getting to the edge of the forest and kept my bearing going down. I could see Patti Mace coming across the hillside from my right. I spiked it.
For #13, I ran down to the trail along the river, then stayed mostly on trails until just past the bend south of the control. I got as far as the depression and cut back to the right. Chris Gross had been coming from above again and I didn't know he was going for the same control as our paths crossed. I was too far left, thinking that the control lined-up with the trail that I'd run up, but I had read that incorrectly. Not seeing anything where I was headed, I had been able to see Chris get to it, so I pursued.
Going to the finish, I watched Chris far ahead but kept to a similar straight route. If he hadn't been there, I probably would have taken the trail. I walked some, but managed to run and pickup speed in the fields.