Orienteering race 1:25:09 [4] 5.9 km (14:26 / km) +240m 12:00 / km
shoes: Northface Hydrotrak Water Sho
WPOC Keystone Capers A-event: Green - Deer Lake - Saturday
Janet Porter was working the start line. I was scheduled to start 10 minutes after Bob Huebner. As he was called up Janet asked me if I wanted to go out earlier. "Sure", I said. There was no point in just standing there. Bedsides, I would love a shot at catching Bob and engaging in a race. She asked, "Are you ready now"? And so, I started 2 minutes after Bob.
The first leg was a trail run up and around a hill. The bag was off a bend in the trail and way down a steep spur. I pace counted from a trail junction but the map may be off a bit. As a result I over ran the descent location. I stopped because it looked wrong. I wondered if the trail junction was a bad point to measure from and came to a full stop, looking off to my right and rear I see Bob struggling to get back up the hill. Bingo! There's no feature better than a competitor you know and trust to point the way. (I was going that way anyway).
It was with effort I worked my way down to the bag and climbed back up again. I might not have closed the two minutes but my spirit was high. Shortly I had caught Bob. He and I worked hard for several controls leveraging for an advantage. I took risks I would not normally take. I ran hard when the temptation was overwhelming to rest. Control after control, there was Bob, to my right, my left, in front, or right behind.
Unfortunately for me I made a kindergarten mistake at control 10. The path to ten went directly over 11. In my brain dead exercise I transposed my destination to the circle for 11. I arrived near 11 and then looked back at the map at 10. Both controls were related to a reentrant, but 90ยบ from each other. This drove me mad as I tried to get the ground to match my map. My marginal 2 minute lead over Bob vanished. I lost maybe 5 minutes relocating this sorry bag of bones. Coupling that with another error; looking for a single tree toward the finish instead of a copse, I ultimately lost another couple minutes and finished 5 full minutes behind the Mr. Bob Huebner.
But, Boy did I enjoy that run.