Race Evaluation
US Individual Champs, Day 1: Red X
Nadim
| 1. |
Did not like map Bad map reading Bad distance judgement +06:00 | 0-1 Eight minutes to the circle but just a little low, I wandered six more minutes looking. Does this qualify as ground for spousal abuse? Peggy set the courses but I never saw any of the map until my race started. My start was the first for Red X, (9:20am). It was cold and bright. I felt fine once I got running. Taking trails, Peggy took my picture at the bridge that she knew I'd be crossing. Going straight into the woods at the bend and crossing the next trail, I hit the intermittent trail. I paused somewhat longer than needed there because I wasn't sure I'd hit the right trail. It soon curled and dropped me at the bottom of the creek. Going up the hill, there was some downfall in the way. Looking at my map, I saw some left of the line and figured I somehow had gone too far over. "Correcting," I went around to the right. What I hadn't noticed was that a small patch of green was under the line and that represented what I'd really hit. Upon realizing that I'd missed, rather than figure out the terrain, I ran around in a search pattern, finally going up high enough to see the control hidden in the ditch. | |||||
| 2. |
Bad distance judgement +00:20 | 1-2 Angling down the reentrant, I hit the creek near a bridge for the High Meadow Trail. Rough compassing my way up, as the valley narrowed, I climbed a bit. I noticed the gully and went what seemed a few steps more to find and cross the intermittent trail. Not seeing it, I halted at the reentrant w/the stream, came up and back to the control. | |||||
| 3. |
Bad route choice Underrated difficulty Bad compass work Confused parallel features +06:30 | 2-3 My plan was to drop to the reentrant, climb it to the fork, and climb to the knoll for an attack point. Trying to make-up time. I angled across expecting to be in the reentrant but some downfall made me climb out and stay to the left. I kept doing this, then at the fork I'd gone too high to see it. I climbed a knoll not checking my compass, went past it and realized something was wrong. I saw an intermittent trail and got more confused. I was then almost as far from the control as when I'd started, just SE of it instead of NE of it at #2. Another older runner came by. I ignored him, then followed the trail a few steps to the road and realized what I'd done. Using the road, I came all the way to a point W of the #3-#4 line and dropped-in using the curve of the road as an attack point. The folly of this attack point quickly became evident. I got entangled in the green and eventually came around to hit it as if I'd gone straight from #2 to #3. | |||||
| 4. |
Took a chance Bad compass work Lacked confidence +00:40 | 3-4 Leaving #3, I again got tangled in the green and tried to get out by going west. I expected to hit the trail but when I started dropping and saw no trail, I realized that I had to go more east first. Hitting the trail, the safe thing to do would have been to go to the creek turn left and count the reentrants. Instead, as the trail started dropping to the creek, I cut across again, expecting to hit the correct reentrant. With good visibility, it wasn't where I thought it'd be so I cut right toward the creek. Realizing that the reentrant forked and I was in the place, I cut left again and could see it. | |||||
| 5. | +01:00 | 4-5 Angling down, I dropped into the stream valley, passing some controls along the way. At the big rock, I went further just a bit, then cut right over the creek and ridge. I soon came out in the wide valley of S. Fork Quantico Creek. I followed this up to the reentrant and control. In hind sight, using the trail would have been good but I didn't see it on the map and couldn't remember that I'd run on it before many years ago. The green was wider at the bend near the control. Just before I got there, James Scarborough came down the hill on the Blue course to punch in front of me. | |||||
| 6. | James Scarborough took off down the trail along the creek and I followed quickly. Not in-shape to keep up this pace, James pulled ahead but not before finding a good log to cross the creek on, and climbing a ridge NW of the control. Two other people were ahead of us. James passed them and turned-off to the left. I passed them albeit much later. Hugging the left side of the ridge, I could see a spur-like place, then could see it from a long way off. | ||||||
| 7. | Using reentrants, I navigated slowly across the ridges, a little to the right of the line. I used big reentrants to both relocate and guide me. I spiked it. | ||||||
| 8. | +02:00 | Pleased with my #6 to #7 navigation, I took off down the hill. Only, I had gotten doubley confused. I thought I was starting from #8 and had done a 180. I corrected after about a minute and used the norther edge of the drop-off to identify the ridge before dropping down. | |||||
| 9. | +03:00 | Not pleased w/my flub on #8 and my execution earlier, I was feeling very unconfident. I agonized then chose the very safe trail run all the way around to #11, then came down the stream. | |||||
| 10. | I ran up to the creek and crossed the near the junction with the next stream. I followed the nebulous ridge, got a little past it and paused on an unmapped stony ground. Going up a little more, I found it. | ||||||
| 11. | Going straight, I knew what to look for but still ran cautiously, checking my bearing a lot. | ||||||
| 12. | I ran left of straight, along reentrants. I cut left down the distinct V-shaped one, then across a few more smaller reentrants. I paused thinking I'd missed but going one more, I spiked it. | ||||||
| 13. | Running down the ridge, I planned to keep moving to the road or the creek, then follow either to the intersection. I hit a trail at a bridge that I hadn't read on the map so I paused to find out what happened. The trail took me to the road which I ran up to where the reentrant along side of it ran out. Cutting left and straight, I hit the big reentrant just after catching and passing another guy coming in from the left. I paused again to read how the reentrant forked before spiking it. | ||||||
| 14. | +01:00 | I stopped short, not having counted reentrants correctly. Had I been pace counting I would have known better. I hit it going straight after that. | |||||
| 15. | I ran to the left of the fallen tree and came out left of the control to some cheers. | ||||||
| F. | More cheeers! I enjoyed Peggy's course but wish I'd run it better. |
Total Time Lost - 00:20:30