US Masters, day 2, Letchworth east
Ah, not my best day. I struggled to get into the map and wandered a bit at 1. Found three other controls first, and confused people who saw me standing still near their control. I was surprised when I finally found the control, which is never a good sign. Still not really sure of what I was doing on the way to 2 and again I stopped too soon.
This was a physical course. The stream near 2 was shoe-sucking mud; the woods were full of downed trees. I agree with Gail, it's getting hard to hop up and get my butt on a tree trunk. I swear it took me almost a minute to cross one! I might have to try Sandy's belly-flop method next time.
I was surprised to see Peggy before I got to 1 (she started ahead of me). I was more surprised to see her again as I was returning to 5. I figured I had messed up enough that she was far ahead of me by then.
5 was frustrating, I was trying to keep in contact but then I got tired and just sort of went "that way". Fortunately, I stopped when I hit the stream beyond the control. I paused, had some food and water, and got some oxygen in my brain. That helped a lot. I still wasn't completely focused on the map and made small mistakes, but fortunately, no more big mistakes after that.
I wasn't happy with my race, but glad that I survived. I was really surprised to finish 2nd in my age class, and move up into 3rd overall for the weekend. A nice bonus!
I enjoyed the weekend in the woods and especially enjoyed visiting with all our friends.
Part 1 (controls 1-6)

Part 2 (controls 6 to finish)
