Training Log Archive: bl

Event: USMA West Point A-Meet 2010
 

Middle, 3.5k, 110 climb 38:40. Reasonable run, messed up 2 controls on hillsides, rather bland ones at that - both small 1m rockfaces. On #4, was above so could not see & other features were hard to read for positive location - not much recourse in such a situation. On #9, there were some unmapped features that threw me off. Came to #118 & reasoned where that had to be & continued onto control but didn't like map feedback. Had to be more cautious than I was. Also, #6, went right to center of circle but was looking for barerock - a flat feature in my mind. Lynette & Bill Shannon also looking, L found first*. Control was really by a small rocky knoll to my mind - I'd have mapped it differently. Maybe 2.5' errors. Temp around 70F, really quite perfect with a 0911 start & short run. 2nd M60 after PG; 50 & 55s on X.

* later told me that was not her control

Surveying the damage (if any)

Sprint - hot at 1:40! Messed up 2nd & 3rd - looked second leg over later & boulder was mapped some 25 deg off & only 4' est higher than boulder I'd just run by (w/ control) - map indicated about 2 2.5m contours needed to get to correct height. Flubbed next, needed better sense of distance & was a bit "cloudy-visioned" in my desire to be lickety-spit. From #7, went to #10, noted the code & had a fairly long haul over to 7 (that mistake was a back breaker, weighed down with irrefutable stupidity) - & when I got on peninsula, ran straight to control I could see, not mine - there were 2, so 60m lost. Jeff S mp'd there - assuming one control & not looking at code. Rest ok.

Dinner at Okinawa Hall. more substantial than Barth. Silent auction - got a Silva compass for $16 - orig value prob $50. Beth's sweater that she knitted around '82 caught the attention of a few cadets & there was a taker for the only Lopi handknit O sweater extant:). Fun to introduce him to the knitter, point out that it was made before he was born - yet it was about as good as new.

Green Y Middle Distance - Splits

Or/Br/Gr Sprint - Splits

Very pleasant drive (285mi) with Beth & dogs via 9/202 to 91S, west on Mass pike to TSP to 84W & south on 9W thru ailing Newburgh. Temp at 7p was mid70s in downtown N'burgh, right out of a summer night. A lot more foliage here, sunset 8:02. TSP a rolling green jewel. Camping at Buckner in a new place. No bugs, lots of peepers. Good start.

C • no bugs 4

Bright, brisk DP. Picked up 4 controls in very SE, Beth got one. Had no compass or map which was generally ok but got mixed up after going thru thickish area & not emerging into anything recognizable...flat, swampy, mt laurel. Panic was setting in, sun had let me down...how stupid could I look, to dogs at least, who were having a fine time running in circles. Finally went right, saw contours & then familiarity. Had I used the same routes as previously, it should have been straightforward.

Cat-eyes Mocha by the first control

C • Mocha 2

Fisk, CCW, NW windy! Gust to 45 kts @ IOS. First half upwind, more or less uphill, then the opposite.

3 controls in very west, farthest at base of Great Hill. No dogs, kept home by the dog nurse so they can nurse their stiffness. Flakes coming out of what looked like a blue sky, quickly gray & more flakes - nothing sticking to speak of but strange with all the burgeoning green. Stopped to appreciate the view from the Gt. Hill spur - rolling gray weather over rolling green terrain. Came down right next to Berman's house & neighbor's - good that neither apparently has dogs as the 2 houses are about 120m apart with a patch of woods between.

Noon SloGo with Diane - light rain turned steady. First time Diane has run in rain with me...washes off the makeup. Bit chilly. Up to Water Tower. A pm break from control gathering.

4 control DP. A few newish routes, refreshing views of forest. No people, squirrels etc. Still trying to rain.

Short noon loop, spitting a bit. Only interesting part was brief departure from road onto/across field. Track group but by 4:30 there was a cold rain.

Beth went to fetch 2 controls from Sunday which is most helpful. Zoe will have to be scraped off the floor until the am when she'll demand more.

Ferns & hostas coming up. Will make an effort to keep deer from eating latter.

Picked up 4 controls. Beth came, cleaned up the water stop. Very nice by the Meadow. Did not rain.

Score O points

West on Clinton & then into SPS woods on old path, join XC & continue. Diane got stuck at work. Entered CT A meet on last penalty-free day. Hate myself when/if I miss - would have been beside myself with self-loathing! Paper noted a 5 acre forest fire Saturday night (wasn't lightening) on Catamount Hill at Bear Brook - know the hill & just off the new mapping.

Faraway Series, photos from elsewhere, #13:

Red Sea Realty, Suakin, Sudan, 1990

Event: Nottingcook Score O/beginners' events
 

Put out/picked up W-Y controls before & after. 2 happy dogs.

Nottingcook meet, decent day, almost glaring sun, black flies present, no rain - comes later tonight. Decent turnout for UNO local, maybe 40, some from quite far. Farthest goes to Alar who calls B.C. home when he's there but currently staying at Bundschuh's. Hans came from Camden, Carl C & Andrew & Ethan from Essex, Vt, Ken W from Chester, Roger Underwood & Carl from Woodstock, CT. Was able to give Hans his BG cap from last year for oldest finisher. Sent Carl Underwood a check last week for $25 for breaking 2:05 for the half. That was my challenge; it did not take him long at all to do it. He also broke 4:30 for the mile in a relay - that may be subject to another $25 (same challenge) tho it was a running relay start so not quite so cut & dried. Old NEOCers present, back to mid-70s: Olaf & Mette (grandson accepted to West Point!), Hans, Roger and myself.

Meet went fine, no significant glitches. Reported a control w/o code by more than one finisher. Felt sure I'd noted all codes in hanging them. UNO envelopes & organization for keeping track of controls is pretty good. Have 4 days to pick them up. Beth & I did meet pretty much ourselves. S/F/registration was 2 tables a few feet apart & cars were parked w/in 50-75m.

60' & 90' score O - Andrew & Ernst both got 22/26 controls, Andrew back in 81+, Ernst 87+. 90' is plenty - recall doing a 4 hour score O at Pawtuckaway on a July day, 'cramps & all', maybe 10 years ago.

Some takers on the W-Y. One young man, maybe 18, emailed re instruction. Some kind of military activity this summer & wanted a head start. Came early with his dad. I showed them what I could with time I had. In leaving to go out, he asked me what a knoll was. He came back quite pleased with what he'd picked up about compass, sense of direction etc. Almost always fun to hear of the adventures of the neophytes provided the challenge is fair. Good course to save for intro to O for Bow residents - something I need to do.

Usual staging area