Carter Caves, KY. U.S. Long Champs. Brown (everyone under 70): 3.9 km, 120m climb, 9c. 4th in M65 (6th overall on the course). Missed 3rd (D.Hunter) by 1:03, 2nd (B.Cheatum) by 1:33. Walter was 4:21 ahead in first.
Low 30's at the start, but the cold never bothered me; indeed, overheated a bit with a long sleeve shirt on.
Plan was to take my time, learn something about these woods, maybe be in a better position to do well in Sunday's Middle. But after taking trails for most of the first 3 legs, realized there were trail options on almost every leg (#7 was the exception) and took them every chance I could - which was a good move in some cases, not so good in others. The strategy might have gotten me a silver medal, but leaving #5, I never found the trail I was looking for, got very befuddled, and squandered two minutes feeling lost before finding my way to another trail. Also lost a minute on #1 when I apparently went right to where I thought the control should be, and it was there, but I didn't see it.
Ran pretty hard from #5 on - a lot of energy spent for just missing a medal.
Two copies of the course, one with my route and one without, are
here.
Wasn’t sure what to wear given the near-freezing temperature - had to stay somewhat warm, but it’s so easy for me to overheat. Wore my long sleeve, turtle neck running top under an O-shirt, had smart wool tights under my O-pants, rubberized booties over a pair of short Thurlows and my golf gloves. All of that was good, except the long sleeve top was a little much: by the time I left #1, wished I had something lighter on.
For the 2nd day in a row, failed to think about starting my Garmin until less than two minutes to my actual start, and once again it failed to get a signal.
1. Hadn’t thought to look to see which way Brown runners ahead of me went, but figured out quickly I needed to go NW on the trail. First thought was to follow the trail all the way to behind the control but then realized it would save distance and climb to go through the parking lot. Spotting the building at the far end meant I could relax through the lot, plan the rest of the leg and also the next one. Past the building, straight, jump on the trail, realize that it would be pretty safe to save distance by leaving the trail and contouring W, which I did. Counted reentrants, pace counted, got right to what I thought would be the correct reentrant (and someone was slowly walking up it from below), but no bag. Could see another reentrant not far ahead, went to that one, no bag. Looking at the reentrant running W below and to the left, definitely had gone to far, but there wasn’t a bag in the first reentrant, so what to do? After a few seconds, went back, but a little higher - and there was the bag below me. How could I have missed it the first time??? Note: After the race, Paul Clatterbuck told me he got into the correct reentrant, couldn’t see the bag, then saw it only 2m away. Later, I read Mary Jo’s log and she said the bag was hidden from her view by a large tree until she was 2m away from it. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t see it the first time. Lost one minute.
2. Had worked this leg out earlier, so without hesitation, went up the reentrant, crossed the first trail, turned left at the second. Followed the trail (dirt road, really) around the bend, but didn’t see the junction. Quickly arrived at the junction I wanted, but my pace count was way short, so I stopped and double checked the map before proceeding. (I think what happened is that, having not seen the previous junction, I misjudged the middle of the bend and started my pace count too late.) On this trail to the cutoff under the red line and then left to the W tip of the curve. Took a careful bearing and went downhill. Saw a bag ahead but well to the left. Couldn’t see a ditch there so couldn’t be sure it was mine, so figured I’d better go a little further straight to see if there is another bag ahead, but pretty soon veered left and the one I’d seen from a distance was indeed it. Probably lost :10 - :12 between the hesitation at the junction, the stop for a careful bearing and the extra distance veering to the left. But had the 2nd best split, :13 behind Walter.
3. Straight looked too scary. While on trails going to #2, considered the trail, but after punching #2, felt like maybe that was too far out of the way. But after a couple of seconds, decided it would be much easier for me to take the trail. The uphill part was tough and muddy and I had to walk some. Easily identified the bend I wanted, contoured and saw people dead ahead at the control. Had the fastest split.
4. Considered going straight, but lots of medium green plus had no confidence I’d know where I was when I got to the final trail. Plus, trails seemed to have worked fine so far, so decided to take trails as much as I could. Contoured back, took the trail down, cut off a little of the corner and ran the trail. No problem identifying the ditch crossing. Pace counted from there, also looking for the little trail siding on the left. At the point the pace count ran out, thought I saw the side trail (Mary Jo used the reentrant on that side), so headed straight up hill at a walk. Could see I was between reentrants, so kept my eye on the left one and eventually saw the depression and the bag. Thought I did all of this pretty well, but it appears I lost about 1:15 to some of the other leaders. I believe they went straighter, but that wouldn’t have worked for me. However, instead of going down the first trail, I could have gone straight N, saved 100m (perhaps half a minute) and still known where I was when I arrived at the trail.
5. Planned this while climbing to #4. Contoured to the trail, turned right, to the third bend (the trail was hard to see in places; George M said he missed it entirely). The mapped light green patch was pretty thick, so continued on a few meters before taking a bearing towards the control. Down, then looked up the hill on my bearing but couldn’t see any rocks so hesitated a bit. Not much else to do, so started up and finally saw some rocks, but still bothered that I couldn’t see the 2m boulder. Persevered, finally saw it, kept pushing up the hill, meanwhile examining the next, very long leg. Lost :05.
6. Once again, opted for the trail route. Had I executed it well, might have finished 2nd overall on the course. Contoured S towards the trail. Saw a bag in what looked like one of the two mapped reentrants. Got well beyond my pace count, but still hadn’t seen the trail. Should have just kept going S, at worst hitting the ditch and then going to the trail (which actually would have been the optimal route), but I was just dumbfounded and didn’t know what to do. I think what happened was that I’d unknowingly angled down the hill some and actually hadn’t gotten as far as the trail. Found myself in a flattish area but I guess my brain was panicking and I couldn’t identify the area. Moving very slowly, not sure what to do, finally saw a ditch and beyond that someone looking like they were running on a trail, realized where I was, went S and hit the trail-ditch junction I’d crossed on the way to #4, and then ran the trails all the way around to SSW of #6. Contoured into the reentrant, went along the left side of the bottom, soon saw the reentrant on the left. Surprised how high up the bag was (wonder if it was misplaced a bit). Peggy, who took the route I wanted to take, ran almost as fast as Walter, who went ”straight”. Lost at least 2:15, possibly as much as 2:40.
7. Straight down the hill (after punching in just ahead of Lou Pataki), contour on the other side, climbing a little, and come out just above the rocks I was aiming for. Compass and contour, staying in the broken ground. A tall sleek guy went by me early, but then I saw him pull up a bit short and start looking. He turned and looked at me and I saw it’s Brian Ellis. As I approached him, I saw directly beyond him, where I expected the bag to be, a few people congregating, and then I saw the bag, and Brian did too. Leslie aws there when I punch in. Natalia was :30 ahead of me on this leg, but also :17 ahead of the next fastest (Cheatum & Peggy). I was 4th. Peter and Brian (on the other Brown) were a few seconds behind Natalia.
8. Again, didn’t want to go through the green (but it was light green) or climb (but only 2 contours and I had plenty left, and the trails had been working, so wanted to drop to the road, but that seemed so far out of the way. But then noticed the indistinct trail, which would cut off a good chunk, so opted for that, and ran hard. Coming to the junction in the road, couldn’t read the trails heading towards #9 well enough, so just decided to go straight, crossing the little canyon. Had enough strength to get up the other side, so this was a good choice. Went to the corner of the parking lot SSW of #8, took a careful bearing, nailed it. However, 1:10 behind Natalia and :49 behind Walter. Going straight would have worked for me since all I needed to do was get down the other side anywhere near the road bend. So, lost :45 or maybe a drop more.
9. Really couldn’t see any details of the second half of the leg, and there could’ve easily been a trap, but lots of people were running that way, so just headed off hoping for the best. Without much ado, saw the bag on the bridge and ran hard for it.