Training Log Archive: dlevine

Dragon hunting (Tactics) on Animal Adventure. 1,326,931 points. Nineteenth overall out of eighty-seven; eighth out of twenty age group. First (of two) all-time at the Y (by 611K.) P:111; C:51.

Event: Raid the Rib Adventure Run
 

Raid the Hammer (team name: Heading Yeast) with my daughter Sarah and a fellow pastry-chef friend Grace - both rookies.

We made it through the muddy sprint and headed to the Cat In-Cat Out where Grace got a taste of thick woods for the first time. It went fairly well and we headed to the matrix with the girls going for 'c' and 'd' while I went for the other two. I bobbled and ultimately met them on the road with tales of Grace having gone in to thigh-deep water to get 'd'; spirits were high nonetheless. After a bit of conversation, the girls wanted the Bermuda Triangle so that they could say they did a "double-black diamond" even though it was worth only 50 points (what was the thinking behind that - it was just too short?) We made it to B3 only to find two (then three) other teams claiming it was B2. Yelling "Check the numbers! Check the numbers carefully!" we finished this section quite cleanly. Took a long slog to the other map and made our only real error going for 'b' in the "blue square triplet" [Came out, crossed the road and turned west instead of east when the flag wasn't at the first cliff; lost 2-3 minutes.] Time was low and ankles were sore, so we bagged the second triplet, got #3, and #4 and went for the bonus controls (see comment on Bash's log) before finishing. Girls slept the whole way home after we cleared customs, but later said that it was a great race!

Grace, who had never done any orienteering before, commented that of all the things that most surprised her, the kindness, encouragement, support and general friendliness of the other competitors - especially the truly 'competitive ones' - was at the top of the list. She said that the attitude of the other racers made the race much more fun - more so than the road races (which are also much shorter) that she runs. Shout out to all involved for creating such a great atmosphere!

P.S. I will say that while I am no longer surprised by this behavior, it is one reason that I keep coming back as often as my schedule will permit!

Dragon hunting (Tactics) on Maze Mania. 451,318 points. Fourth out of twenty-three overall; first of six age group. First of two all-time at the Y (by 246K!). P:128; C:57.

Dragon hunting (Tactics) on Dragons Return. 505,260 points. Eighteenth out of fifty-seven overall; sixth out of fourteen age group. First (out of two) all-time at the Y (by 124K). P:151; C:53.

Dragon hunting (Tactics) on Dragons Revenge. 334,886 points. Sixth out of eighteen overall; first out of four age group. One and only all-time at the Y. P:129; C:55.

Coin hunting (Tactics) on Outpost. 474,251 points. Ninth out of nineteen overall; first out of five age group. One and only all-time at the Y. P:143; C:51.