Training Log Archive: PG

So I suppose there should be a proper review of, well, for lack of a fancy title we'll just go with the mundane, "Life is Always Exciting: A long weekend with Valerie."

-- She arrived Thursday early afternoon, and right away we took care of one of the reasons for the trip, a very little bit of tax consulting.
-- A training session, the traditional up to the power line and back.
-- A late evening trip out to the film house, when we normally would be falling asleep, with popcorn for one of us.
-- A Friday morning trip to the zip lines, her and Gail only, I was too chicken.
-- Another training session, up to the power line (and a little farther) and back.
-- A trip to Vermont, her first ever, for a Thai dinner, also her first ever.
-- A couple hours of training at Norwottuck Saturday morning, followed immediately, and I mean immediately, by a trip to McDonalds for a double cheeseburger (I was driving, and I got my orders), followed by a trip to the supermarket to lay in supplies for dinner (including two boxes of a very rich fudge brownie mix), followed by a trip to the bookstore for something to read, followed by various preparations for dinner, and the arrival of Peter Goodwin, and Alex Jospe, and Ali, and SGB, and Presto, the best behaved dog ever. And a very fine evening....
-- And then the Billygoat, and she makes it around successfully, and then goes to work on the e-punch data for a bit while I go fetch a few controls, and then she loads it all on her computer and we head home, with, of course, a stop at the Northampton McDonalds for another double cheeseburger, where I'm having such a fine time chatting up the girl at the first window where we're paying that when we're done there I'm almost out of the lot before Valerie yells to remind me that it might be a good idea to go back to the second window and actually get the food we've paid for.
-- And then she works until after midnight trying to sort out the data, wonder woman that she is.
-- And then up early this morning to head off to the airport for her flight back to DC.

I was very tired today, I thought from yesterday's Billygoat. Though, on reflection, it may just be from trying to keep up with Valerie. She is amazing, and fabulous.

C • Gagarin Retreat Weekend 2

Event: Billygoat Run at Mt. Tom
 

Billygoat at Mt. Tom, thanks to Phil Bricker, head goat for this 32nd edition of the BG. The course seemed great to me. Not just a longish Blue course. Back to how Billygoats were early on, a mix of hard and not so hard orienteering, definitely less technical than many advanced courses that we normally have. And also a chance to visit parts of the map that most folks haven't seen. I think I even went a couple places I hadn't seen, around #s 3 and 4. And there certainly was a lot of climb. But then, it is the Billygoat.

And my run? The verdict is in and it only takes one word -- fabulous. :-)

No, seriously, it was better than I had any reason to expect. Virtually no mistakes. Tired, of course, but not as bad as I anticipated (we did have 800m of drop). And a placing high enough that, well, if Joe Brautigam, next year's head goat, designs a course with a reasonable number of controls, one of them near the end may have PG on it. (There was a PG control today, though that was a salute to Peter Grollman.)

Nice win by Boris, nipping Ross by 5 seconds as they took different forks right at the end, first win by Boris after several runner-ups, though disappointing I'm sure for Ross. Samantha led the women again, with an out-of-retirement Hilary close behind. Big Eddie was first old men, Tracy Olafsen frst of the old ladies, Carl Underwood and Meg Parson first juniors, Luke Lyons the youngest ever BG finisher at age 8, one of 6 members of the Lyons family to finish the course.

Thanks again to Phil. It's a good bit of work putting this on, and then you have to hope that no controls get taken and no one gets badly hurt, so it's a stressful weekend. But he did an A+ job.

The course.

My routes. Skipped #15 (had been thinking of skipping 7, but decided 15 was a better choice), took the right fork at the end.

C • Mt. Tom 5

And then a nice late-afternoon stroll around the lower elevations picking up 14 controls. Very pleasant.

Billygoat - Splits

Hanging streamers at Norwottuck, mainly for Ross and Sam for training. Had Valerie for company. A pleasant walk, except for the continual reminders that my legs have no energy at all.

Hanging streamers can be interesting. It's one thing when you are course setting and you go out to fieldcheck the points -- if something doesn't seem right, or the feature is not sufficiently distinct, then you just don't use it. But when the course is already determined, then you just have to hang it in the right place, even if it is bogus. Had just one really bogus one today, so not so bad.

One thing you notice going slowly is how the map is. Norwottuck has the usual stuff you would see on almost any map -- you could quibble with the green, or the marshes, or the rocks, or the contours -- but mostly that stuff is within reasonable tolerances. The one thing that is really insufficient is the trail network, mostly the bike trails that have been added over the years (and mostly were being added during and just after Clint was doing the last update, so I'm definitely not picking on him). For anyone one using the map who has not orienteered too much, I would guess it would be a real problem, since trails are one of the main things you rely on.

Today's stroll.

C • One of the things I was run... 3

C • Thanks for hanging the stre... 3

At some point after last Sunday's run, where for some period of time I was heading for the wrong control, I was thinking about this bad habit of mine. And I was reminded of an event that could either be interpreted to be good news or bad news.

The event was the relay in the 1978 World Championships. I was running first leg for the USA. If I remember correctly, besides the obvious motivation to beat as many other countries as possible, there was also the motivation to have a better time -- even though our courses were forked, they were similar -- than the other members of the USA team. :-)

Here's my map. And the reason I mention it is that on the way from 1 to 2, I went to the right of the bunch of cliffs, and then after a bit I happened to notice that I was right on course to spike #9. I don't know what I thought at the moment of discovery -- yes, O' truly is "discovery," though this may not be the intended situation -- nor do I remember what I may have said to myself, since I'm pretty sure that at that long ago time WTF has not yet been invented.

I believe I corrected rather well, moved on to 2 without much loss of time, and in fact moved on around the course with very little loss of time, 77 minutes for a course that was about 10 km (results). The other thing I remember was running all the way up the hill on the way to 11, saying over and over, got to beat **, where ** was another member of our men's team. You get motivation where you can.

Anyway, if I am worried about the deterioration of my mental skills, then this is good news, because I have been doing this particular fuck-up now for over 30 years, and therefore I am no worse than ever. Though I suppose it could also be bad news, because if I have been doing this particular fuck-up for over 30 years, then it is pretty likely going to happen again. I can hardly wait.

C • Still running? 7

So a (very) few people are hoping to do a little training at Mt. Norwottuck, I'd be surprised if it's more than 6 or 8. My involvment is that I've offered to hang a few streamers.

And the following e-mail arrives this morning from Joanne Sankus --

Hi Peter,

Ross had requested permission to use NEOC maps for the training at Norwottuck on Saturday, presumably to make copies for anyone without an old Norwottuck map in their pile. (That's that old copyright problem.) As you are probably aware, small groups of less than 25 do not need a permit to use DCR property. Since the training has already been advertised on Attackpoint, it brings up the concern of how many people will actually show up. As a NEOC member I know you are invested in not jeopardizing the club's land use privileges, and DCR property makes up over half of our most useful maps.
What is your take on how these training events are seen (or not seen) by the rangers? Granted this is not a bunch of rowdies having fun at a park, but giving permission to use a NEOC map does infer responsibility by the club, even if "possession of this map does not constitute permission by the landowners".

Not a lot of fun when you have to think in these terms :). But that's part of the job description. Was there a rumor about you running for a club board seat ? :)
Joanne

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A valid point. But think of the e-mail that could have been written --

Hi Peter,

I hear there will be training at Norwottuck on Saturday. Sounds like fun. Wish I could make it. Have a great time!

Joanne

PS. I'm sure you know, but groups of 25 or more require a permit. I'm guessing you'll be well below that number, given that most people will be saving their energy for Sunday.

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And, no, I sure don't plan to run for the NEOC board.

C • friendly email 13

Short ride, more vigorous than intended, but I said I wouldn't be gone long -- big heading tonight, heading to Vermont for dinner because Valerie has never been in Vermont. She's psyched.

Went to see Exit through the Gift Shop at the local art house. Quite wonderful.

And Banksy's website.

C • exit through the gift shop 1

First ride in a while, and could feel it, quite exhausted after a short effort (actually quite exhausted well before the short effort was done).

C • Messier Catalog 10