Training Log Archive: kissy

Swampfox and I had a leisurely drive to Denver after the US Champs on Sunday, and then an enjoyable dinner with the esteemed Gagarins...and Clem. Today was a travel day back home, and back to reality. :-(

Day 2 US Champs, Green Short. This was not as good a day as Day 1. I started off by turning over the map and saying "Oh my god!" I was hesitant going to #1 just because I didn't want to start off badly. Things went well until #7, where I started looking for the control too far north (i.e., too soon). I finally relocated off of the big wraparound cliff and then went right to the control. My other big blunder was on #11. I was so happy to think that I was almost finished with this hellacious course, that I let my guard down. I wound up going up a wrong reentrant, wandered around some fields for a bit, and ended up back on the road east of the control! At least I finally knew where I was, and once again, went right into the control. It was still good enough to hold onto first place in F40, but just barely over Susan DeWitt.

C • exclamations 11

Green S Day 2 - Splits

Event: US Classic Champs
 

Day 1 of US Champs, Green Short course (women's course). I had a pretty clean run, although I was feeling the effects of the higher-than-Laramie altitude and was not motoring up the hills. Although, I did push myself harder than I had been in Laramie, so felt good about the amount of running I did do today. I missed a few seconds at #7 (came in a little low) and a little more at #8. I stopped too short there and couldn't make total sense of the rock features. Finally decided I just had to keep going, and then I found it. The last third of the course was definitely at a slower pace than the first third. I was second on the Green course, about 2 mins. behind Anna Shaffer-Skelton and about 2 mins. ahead of Susan DeWitt.

Green S Day 1 - Splits

Middle distance day at 1000 Day. A dismal start by badly missing #1 quickly put me in the mood that this was basically going to be a low key run. I had already seen the times on Red, and knew there was no way I was going to make up any time. So, didn't push it the rest of the way, instead concentrating on reading the map and spiking the rest of the controls. This was basically true except for a small bobble on #5.

First leg for the Quantico B team with Karen Strat, Valerie Meyer and Sam Listwak in the Crystal Relay. I did something today that I *never* do...I didn't check one of the control codes. If I had, I would have seen that I had gone to #16 instead of #15, which is where I was supposed to go. Instead, I wandered around, wondering why everyone in my train was going to the top of the hill instead of looking for the copse in the reentrant. Oh, well. As soon as I figured out what happened, I went back to get #15, losing many places for my team. Other that that, the navigation was fine. I wasn't going as fast as I would have liked, but I don't know that I ever do that. All in all, it was a fine time, fun courses, accurate map and a stellar venue.

I helped out at the Team Sprint today and was not at all motivated to run the race. I helped collect donations to the Team, and we raised over $600! After all of the festivities (sprint, Team sprint relay, and prairie golf), I went for a trail run at Happy Jack. There was a smattering of rain and lightning, which caused a small forest fire across I-80.

After a packed day of activities, we ended up at Yellow Pine campground for hashing (just as spectators) and pizza sumption (active participants). It was quite an enjoyable time except for some scurrilous comments from the G gallery. The plan of revenge is already well under way.

C • Just more reinforcement of the... 1

Event: US Night Champs
 

Night O Champs on the Lights of Cheyenne map. First, let me just say that my start time was at approximately my normal bedtime, and it was cold as crap. But, I still managed to have a fine run. After falling about 50 meters out of the start and thinking "This is not good," I managed to stay on my feet for the rest of the race. After about 5 minutes of getting used to running in the dark, everything went smoothly. I had a small bobble on #4 (I was too high to see the reentrant), but after that everything flowed well. I even spiked #7, which was a dicey proposition. I ended up 9th on Green, first in F40.

Green Night-O - Splits

Day 2 of the Western Champs. I ran Red today and it was fine. I made some silly bobbles in the area for #5 and #7, and then made a doozie of a parallel error on the way to #14. Just a total lack of concentration. I went out of the control due west instead of southwest and ended up going up a line of aspens to the north of the one I really wanted. So, when I popped up out of the aspens, nothing matched up...bummer! I quickly re-located, but was still feeling deflated. Oh, well. It was a beautiful day, and an enjoyable course.

Red 2 - Splits

Day 1 of Western Champs A meet. I was signed up to run Red, but after working the Finish for far too long and with rainy, cold and windy weather, I dropped to Green. Had a perfectly fine run, with just a small hesitation to #2. I took the route choice to the right from 8 to 9, but after closer inspection, think the choice to the left, up the trail, would have been better. Still a little slow on the uphills, but getting better. Seventh overall on Green, first woman.

Green 1 - Splits

The Prologue at the 1000 Day. This was a really good race. I could have gotten screwed up on #1, but I was careful and went right to it. After that, they were all right on except for #7, where I let young John Frederickson lead me astray. After I saw him standing on top of the boulders, uttering a not-so-nice word, I realized he was on the wrong boulders and headed left to the right boulders. Otherwise, I was very happy with this race. Even beat Tom Strat, to his amazement, by...1 second!

The Chase of the 1000 Day. Definitely not as good, or fun, a run for me as the morning. I'm just not a big fan of running in trains, with next to no navigation needed. However, I dropped off the train on the way to #7 and then had a nice little run the rest of the way, with no issues at all in finding the controls. However, I did run out of steam on the way to #14, so wasn't too, too swift from there through the finish. All in all, though, I ended up happy with the day. And had a lot of fun on some very interesting courses and very fine maps.

Prologue - Splits

Chase - Splits

Today definitely went better than yesterday even though mass starts are not my favorite. I had already decided to just run my race and not worry about everyone else. This was a fine strategy for the first two loops because it was so chaotic out there anyway, it was easiest just to do your own thing. On the last loop, though, I found myself running with George Walker off and on for a few of the first controls, and steadily for the last 6. Then he threw me off by telling me that the pentultimate control (which we could see from the control before it) could be a dummy control. So, of course, I slowed down to double-check and he took off, to beat me into the finish. I'll have to be less trusting next time!

C • Certainly less trusting of old... 5

Event: Rocky Mountain 1000 Day
 

Quite an inauspicious start to the 1000 Day. I can only attribute it to not being ready to race. It was like one of those O nightmares where you're not ready, but you have to go out soon. I was not focused from the beginning and it just got worse. I bobbled 2, 3 and 4; did okay on 5 - 8; and totally blew 9, a pit. I had to go out to the big field south of 9, see the 10th control and backtrack from there. I'll hope for a better day tomorrow.