Local race at Tall Oaks. I signed up for red because I wanted a long practice. But I regretted it as I went towards 1. I forgot how crappy the woods are here: lots of underbrush and thorns. I should have done a shorter course. Also, I forgot to bring any gel shots or food with me on the course, and definitely needed it by the end.
Loss of concentration at 4 and 5 led to me over shooting the control. On 7, I over thought it a bit. I figured, with this being a local meet, the control could be in any reenetrant. So I decided to go across the top and look in every one. But somehow I missed it on the first pass. In retrospect, I should have stayed on the east side until I saw the control across the way (visibility was good here).
By 13, I was getting tired. I was a bit dismayed to see the long leg to 14. But I slogged on to the finish.
Good thing I started early. Later, a park employee decided we shouldn't have controls on the challenge course (14-17), and she just took them down. How frustrating for the late runners to get to the end of the course, and find no controls. Poor PTOC having to have all of these DNFs on the courses.
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