Race Evaluation
Valley Forge Battle to the End O' Marathon: Marathon
Charlie
| 1. | +01:00 | With the 7 am start and determined to do the whole thing with Rhonda. Up to the road and then along the path to near the bend. Couldn't read the map well enough to see what we were looking for, and clues in my pocket, so got in with a bunch of guys worrying some wire flags looking for a punch, before seeing the flag 25 meters further along. | |||||
| 2. | Up to the road, and could see Clint punching from a distance. | ||||||
| 3. | Trail | ||||||
| 4. | Trail for a bit, then trail and road S to lower road, then angle through high grass (walking because too tough to run) to next road, cut off just before parking lot and deer trail down to the ride along houses. Could see J-J and many others heading from 4 to 5 | ||||||
| 5. | Ride, and then across road and on an angle for bend in upper road, aiming for old cabins, then along road to western bend, down hill NW to road headed west, taking trail past parking lot along river. | ||||||
| 6. | Road around, approaching from S | ||||||
| 7. | Paved path S to corner, then S through field finding path through green to upper path. | ||||||
| 8. | Left of line through parking lots and paths to road, through parking lot and path again. | ||||||
| 9. | +02:00 | Path right of line, considering three route choices. Tried to cut off even with rough open and go through there, but stream was not crossable, so back to path.Thought about road to left trying to get up through unmapped area to upper trail, but decided to go through yellow patches past fence and to trail approaching from S. | |||||
| 10. | Easy | ||||||
| 11. | Easy. Water too cold to drink much. Gave me a headache. | ||||||
| 12. | Easy | ||||||
| 13. | Just following trails | ||||||
| 14. | Tried to go to northern trail through field, but fence intervened, so back to other trail and around on trail. | ||||||
| 15. | Trail | ||||||
| 16. | Trail | ||||||
| 17. | Path | ||||||
| 18. | Along back of condos to path | ||||||
| 19. | Path under highway, then trail | ||||||
| 20. | Trail, field edge, trail | ||||||
| 21. | Trail | ||||||
| 22. | Field edge | ||||||
| 23. | Trail along river. Up and down over the top not appealing. Starting to walk a lot. | ||||||
| 24. | Trail | ||||||
| 25. | Easy | ||||||
| 26. | A little slow getting going. Couldn't drink much because way too cold and gave me a headache. Rhonda ran into Gail and got into a spirited conversation until I could pry her away. Control was easy. | ||||||
| 27. | Easy | ||||||
| 28. | Starting to cramp pretty hard. Damn. Way too early for this, and had to walk most of it. | ||||||
| 29. | +01:00 | Climbed all the way to the RR tracks, which appears to have been excessive. Really nasty trying to move along the riprap. | |||||
| 30. | Long trail slog, walking most of it. Could see Ross across the river motoring toward #28. | ||||||
| 31. | +01:00 | Lost my glove punching at 30 and had to go back for it. Otherwise uneventful | |||||
| 32. | Up to dike, jumping off at right point. Just fine. | ||||||
| 33. | Trying to follow little trails and getting frustrated, so just punched out to big trail and along that to ride. Ross was punching as we approached. | ||||||
| 34. | Up and over dike on ride and then trail. Even Ross walked up the dike. | ||||||
| 35. | This was horrible, and walked most of it. Saw first Clem and then Lachezar crossing the field on Fatlands, with Lachezar still visible in front crossing the field on the Mill Grove map. | ||||||
| 36. | Easy | ||||||
| 37. | Across field to parking lot through thousands of geese. At water stop passed by Matt Hoelle. Again water and gatorade too cold to drink more than sips and crashing ice cream headache from it. | ||||||
| 38. | Path uphill and then trail, counting off junctions. Iliana passed just before control and we though she was Pavi. | ||||||
| 39. | Trail to path just left of line through gate at corner and into condos on small trail, through parking lots. Matt Hoelle went by twice more. | ||||||
| 40. | Through back of condos, with Matt calling from behind to find out if we had found #39, along trail to SW getting passed by Peter and Hillary. They took road W, but we went left to follow edge of green and yellow to trail. Saw Matt H again getting on trail ahead of us. | ||||||
| 41. | Trail under highway. Saw Corrine Porter at control, but she was just using it as a water stop on the way to #35. | ||||||
| 42. | Much walking. A little weirded out by the paved paths with fences along them where the map shows trails. | ||||||
| 43. | Lower, winding trail. | ||||||
| 44. | Trail. Passed by Wyatt, who inquired about Hillary and Peter. | ||||||
| 45. | Up hill to paved path and across on trail. Not sure which trail I got on, because I saw the bag through the woods and just went for it. | ||||||
| 46. | Trails, very muddy, then paved path to fence opening. | ||||||
| 47. | +02:00 | Lower trail to paved road. James Rayburn passed as we were walking. Got confused reading map at the end and climbed up instead of going under road under construction, then worked our way down steep hill through brambles and sumac on other side. Yuck! Otherwise uneventful and mostly walking. | |||||
| 48. | Having trouble on trails, so climbed up through fields to the road, then down through fields again. I don't think Rhonda was that amused, because she was liking the fields better. | ||||||
| 49. | Very straight route through fields, bottom of white/green area and more fields. Again, Rhonda not that amused by it, and just walking. | ||||||
| F. | Tried to jog in, but could only do it intermittently. |
Total Time Lost - 00:07:00