Training Log Archive: fpb

Event: UNO Boulder Dash
 

Event: Pumpkingaine
 

Pumpkingaine with David Prytherch. 4th year in a row we've done a southern Ohio fall rogaine, first time for a COAR (as opposed to NSF) event.

Flew into Cleveland to visit my brother and his family, then rented a car for the drive south. On the way I came to a dead halt on the highway for about 40 minutes. I assumed it was a fiery wreck, but I think it was just people going to the Circleville Pumpkin Festival to see the 1,312 pound pumpkin.

All campsites at Pike Lake State Park were booked by leaf-peepers (odd that in a 12,000 acre forest, they pack all the campsites into less than 1 acre, with none dedicated to tents), so we went to the nearest private campground. Here I think we were the only non-permanent residents - it definitely pushed the boundary between trailer park and campsite. The senior residents zipped around on golf carts visiting each other, sometimes traveling as little as 50 meters, but otherwise it was quiet.

Race day was cool and mostly rainy, with a constant stream of falling leaves. Our navigation was rockier than last year - worst problem was following a deep, slick, twisty gully ("reentrant") all the way to its mouth, then trying the next two upstream before giving up and moving on - but then seeing another team exiting the original one - somehow we had passed right by it. While some of the control flags were seriously faded and duller than the surrounding leaves, I still don't understand how this happened. Probably 15 minutes lost here.

The race director was concerned about a pack of loose dogs at the property that most teams would need to pass to get from one side of the park to the other. When we got there (along with one other team), he drove his pickup between us and the dogs until we had passed. I don't know how many other teams got that treatment. There may have been an invisible fence, in any case.

For a long time we thought we were on track to get 18 of the 20 controls. One of the last controls was on a very high spur amongst very thick vegetation, so we had to cut it to 16 and run back the last mile. Ended up 1 minute overtime for a score of 15, good enough for a somewhat distant second place.

No back pain at all, right hamstring was a bit balky, no major soreness as I write this on Sunday evening. I've tentatively talked David into having next year's race be the Ellicottville 6-hour so I don't have to fly.

At Cleveland Metroparks Zoo with my brother and his 2-year old niece. A fair amount of walking, but I don't think it even rates a 1.

Looking for features that haven't been used before, mostly on south side of Game Farm Rd.

A few laps around the Service Road.