Training Log Archive: GlenT

Event: QOC McKeldin
 

Red course at QOC local event at Patapsco-McKeldin. 7.3k, 270m. Fairly open woods but steep in places although the footing was generally good. Overcast but temperature was near 50F - nice for running. Course had lots of short legs which reduced the route choice and resulted in lots of unavoidable climb. Vido started about 20sec behind me on the same course and we flip-flopped for most of the course, so we helped each other find controls much of the time. Good practice racing head-to-head and working on not being distracted (but keeping an eye on the other guy whenever he's helpful).

Red - Splits

Around the neighborhood, checking out the latest new construction.

A bit of a slog. 35F, sunny. Roads mostly clear, shoulders were not.

Extreme-O at Mistletoe SP, Short course as a team with Janet. Nominally 7.7km. Cold (upper 20s when we started, low 30s when we were done) but bright and sunny. Start and finish at the beach house, the same place we were the last two days for the Navigator Cup.

First three controls were on a simple park map along the lake shore, ending on an island (actually connected by land since the lake level is low). Several bags were hung on the island, so we had to search for the correct one. The next leg followed the lakeshore for about 500m where we picked up a map for the next two controls showing only the area near the control circles. Three controls following an azimuth, although the third involved sighting the control across the lake and needing to follow the lakeshore around to get to it. Four controls on a short corridor using a 1:2500 map with 1m contours. Then a leg on a map with no contours to a "bridge" (actually a log across a gully with the control flag hung on a rope halfway across). Three controls using an aerial photo (overlapping some with the no-contours map, so we knew where trails were). Next two were points plotted from grid coordinates (although with the control descriptions no actual plotting was needed). From here we followed a streamered route into a very large gully, then followed the gully, picking up 4 puzzle pieces which were a photo of our next control location. At one point along the gully we had a choice of climbing a 2m vertical cliff or climbing up the steep side of the gully (~5m) to get around the cliff - we did the around route. In addition to being muddy, the gully had some "puddles" which apparently were up to waist deep - I accidently checked out a knee-deep one. Short leg to the building shown in our puzzle photo where we got a sheet with 6 more photos (4 were actually from the park) which had to be followed in sequence to get to the next control. The map there showed our final two controls, to be done from memory (pretty simple - follow the road, then head down hill and follow a streambed to a marsh by the lake. And then just 400m to the finish, but with a catch. We were given a wire tie which we had to fasten loosely around a rope and then follow the rope holding on to the wire tie. The rope went under a couple of tarps spread over the marsh and then under a log spanning a knee deep water channel. The marsh would have been muddier had it not been partially frozen. And the water was pretty darn cold. Fortunately this part of the adventure was planned to be at the end.

Nice job by the crew who organizes the Extreme-O event. Thanks to all of them who planned the event and then spent several hours out in the cold making sure we all got through it safely.