Training Log Archive: Swampfox

I was up again as organizer for the day's training, so after everyone else started, I headed out to explore off the NE edge of the map; if you looked at the NE edge of the Superfly Marsh map, you'd never guess what lies just beyond (hint: it's not Disneyland!). I ran over there until I reckoned it was safe to pick up the first 6 controls of the course, then headed back to parking and hung around and talked with folks until everyone took off. Then I picked up the last of the controls, and headed off to finish up the day with some mapping where I am working on the NE corner of the Diamond Bay base.

It was very sunny all day long, with decent wind as well. Felt like summer again.

Club training at East Pelican, course and streamers (sometimes--ha, Neal!) courtesy of Neal Barlow. I ran as hard as the navigation would allow me, and a bit too hard for the navigation at #18, which I will blame for having been juiced from watching the Women's WOC Relay last night. A convenient scapegoat if ever there was one. Okay, either that, or the more usual being sloppy sort of thing. And the boulder serving as #21 was an especially delicate object of desire, being 99% concealed by a perfectly placed fallen pine tree, demanding some kind of superform vision for spotting it. Some people only spotted the streamer, and never noticed the rock, which has to be the first time that has ever happened with one of Neal's streamers.

It was goodbye time for Amy and John for these parts, as they are soon headed for the Land of Fire and Smoke, aka the Bay Area. Hopefully Hazel will keep them in line out there. Given John's progression from Houston to Denver to the Bay Area, I expect a mere few years will suffice to have them anchored somewhere in the frigid Aleutians for their next tour of duty.

It was a perfect day for running. It also somehow had the feel of the first day of Fall, with an occasional cool undertone in the air the wind was blowing through the area, and lenticular clouds above.

Hung controls for Sunday in the morning; responsible for club training in the late afternoon. We got lucky with the weather as a large thunderstorm w/ good sized hail skirted off to the north of where we were running, and we got only a few raindrops before starting.

After starting everyone, I ran trails for a little while and then picked up the first 7 controls of the training course.

Hung streamers for club training on Friday at Forrest Meadows.

Laramie is off the beaten track, but occasionally an old O' compadre passes through. Today's guest runner was former US Team team mate Steve Tarry, seen here with Betsy (and Tyler), parked about where the Finish was at the Granite Planite day last year:



Steve let me know in advance he would be passing through and wondered if it would be possible to get a map to run on. I told him we could do better than that, and I streamered the Red course from Granite Planite. The map choice was clear cut, given that Steve hails from New Hampshire.

I had been planning on running the course as well, but given the hit my knee took the day before, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to run at all--it was sore when I woke up in the morning. But the more I used it, the more it seems it was just some pain from the abrasion, and that everything deeper in was fine. So I warmed up carefully and was able to see that it felt okay to run on. So run I did, letting Steve and Tyler go first while I continued warming up.

The run went amazingly well. I don't think I had a wasted step out there, and I pressed about as hard as seemed possible. It certainly helped that by the time I got started, it was mostly overcast and cooler than it had been earlier in the day. I ended up getting around in 29:02, which was faster than I had guessed might be possible for me. I was really happy with that, and how I was able to push along the whole way.

After streamering controls, felt like running some more, so I forayed out along a jeep trail into an area of inquisitive cows. After chasing them around a bit and having them chase me, too, I headed back. My day was not quite done yet, though, as I hit a section of tilted jeep trail coated liberally with ball bearing like granite pebbles. I wasn't really paying attention to footing at that point, and I paid the price with a nice sliding fall resulting in multiple abrasions, and hit one knee pretty good. I looked around for someone to blame but the cows were not having any of it--"Not our fault," they said. There was a nice new hole in the knee area of the O' pants I had on, and I didn't have to look to know there was going to be a skin hole underneath that as well.

My knee was pretty sore in the evening, but as far as I could tell--and hope--it was just pain from the abrasion and maybe some very localized swelling.

Inconvenient, as the reason I had been streamering as a guest runner was passing through the area and I was setting out a course for him which I was planning on running as well.