2017 Scottish 6-Days. Day 1 - Glen Tanar
This day could have gone quite badly, but it did not. I was a little hampered by the fact that my luggage did not make it to Scotland with me. I had smartly packed an O-kit in my carryon, but I neglected to pack contact lenses. So, the question was should I run with or without my glasses, which are for long distance. I can't read at all with them, so there would have been a lot of flipping them up. Without the glasses, I can't see very well -- enough to not run into trees but not enough to pick up terrain subtleties. I chose to run without, and I think it did hurt me in a few areas. I ended up in 11th place, out of 43, but I'm running the W55 short course, so maybe the competition is not so fierce.
Other than the vision issue, I did fine. I found all of the controls, but maybe with a bit too much hesitation on the way to a few of them, and a few bearings that went too far from the straight-line. The woods were pretty open; we haven't gotten to the bracken yet.
It was nice to see some Americans here - Rick and Eileen Breseman, Charlie Bleau, Ron Birks, Rob Wilkerson, and Jim Eagleton. And it's so nice to be back to my third Scottish 6-Days. I am wildly in love with Scotland, so it felt good to be back. Mikell and I are staying in a loft apartment on
Wark Farm. We are surrounded by banded cows, Hebridean sheep, and geese. It's lovely.