Race Evaluation
Billygoat Run: 27th Annual
jjcote
| 1. | Started promptly on the trail heading south, and was out with a substantial lead for a while. Headed into the woods just after the intersection, and went pretty much south, popping out on the E-W power line near the intersection. Cut the corner between the power lines and went down the reentrant. | ||||||
| 2. | Ran down in the general direction of the lake, and got on the trail that heads roughly E from the north side of it. Wasn't positive where I was at first, but followed the trail until it was about to cross a marsh, NNW of the control. Headed up the hill, and made the mistake of veering a bit to the right when I saw people coming in from that side, but they were still on their way up. | ||||||
| 3. | With a substantial crowd in here, trying to read the map, but not fall too far behind. About 2/3 of the way there, a lot of people seemed to be going too far left, but I pushed through some green in what turned out to be the right direction, and made made up a little time. | ||||||
| 4. | Slog up the reentrant. I was up on the left side, going about the same speed as Pavlina and some others, who were down in the bottom and apparently having an easier time of it. Went a few steps too far before turning left to go up to the control. I had been contemplating skipping #5, but then wavered. Once I got up into the basalt, though, my mind was made up. | ||||||
| 5. | Skip! I hate contouring on this hillside. I hate this hillside in general. | ||||||
| 6. | Cruised down the hillside, picking up the trail at the bend, and ran it to the bottom. Turned right at the intersection, and ran the trail until I was almost south of the control, then went for a minor slog up the hill. Nobody in sight when I got there. | ||||||
| 7. | +02:00 | Hightailed it down the hill, occasionally glancing at my compass to make sure I was still heading south. No idea where I was, and I'd occasionally encounter small trails that I might use, or not, if they seemed to be heading my way. Finally hit the big trail a couple of hundred meters SW of the lake. Managed to follow stone walls from there to the vicinity of the control, though I missed it the first time through, hit the trail behind it, and got it second try. | |||||
| 8. | Reasonably straight. Got to the stone wall east of the one I wanted first, and it was clear where to go from there. | ||||||
| 9. | Close to the line the whole way. Somewhat greener in here than the map shows, and there are also unmapped MTB trails. Three guys on bikes were going through there, and I ran for a while ahead of the third one, until the trail veered off. Saw the cliff S of the control, and attacked from there. | ||||||
| 10. | +03:00 | Not a good leg. Didn't read the map well when I hit the stream, and wound up going up the reentrant with the trail in it that passes 200 m north of the control (the trail was kind of faint). I was thinking that I was in the reentrants W of the control, but when I went up to where I was expecting the control to be, things didn't look right. Figured out where I was, and headed S to the proper spot. Encountered Jeremy Colgan, first orienteer I'd seen since #4. | |||||
| 11. | More or less straight, with Jeremy in the general vicinity. I now had 10 punches, exactly half of what I needed. I also noted that more than half of the available time had expired. | ||||||
| 12. | +01:00 | Jeremy went north through the white, while I climbed NW through the light green. Saw him off and on through this leg. Hit the trail, followed it NE to get past the bulk of the hill, then headed NW to the control. Should have spiked it, but somehow walked right past the boulder and went up to about the edge of the circle. Saw Angelica to my NE, and she headed my way, as I turned around and saw the boulder down behind me. Angelica was with me most of the time from here until #19. | |||||
| 13. | +00:30 | Easy leg, but I managed to go though some unnecessary green near the end. | |||||
| 14. | Stopped for a minute to take on some calories and moisture. Peter Polivko was arriving as Angelica and I left. Sanna was coming by (on her way to #13, I think) as we hit #14, and maybe there was somebody else with her. | ||||||
| 15. | Many people skipping this one, we figured. On the trail for a smidge, then around the base of Rattlesnake Knob, and over to the trail. Trail running much of the way from there, with the water tank as a nice confirming feature. | ||||||
| 16. | More or less straight. Jeremy was coming down the first trail, and apparently thought the control was to the west of there. Last we saw of him. I was perplexed after crossing the trail, because the terrain seemed way flatter than I was expecting from the map. Hit the trail at the stream crossing, and everything made sense from there. | ||||||
| 17. | I had thought about skipping this one. Would have been nice. A total grind up the hill, and Angelica had an easier time with it than I did. Contoured from where we crossed the trail, and I spotted the flag from a long way off, and pointed it out. Jim Pugh arrived behind us, and I wasn't looking forward to trying to keep up with the two of them. But we didn't see Jim after that. | ||||||
| 18. | Downhill can be pretty nice, and this was a great example. Whee! Stayed left to avoid the reentrant. | ||||||
| 19. | Straight at it, feeling pretty tired on the last rise. | ||||||
| 20. | Don't know what Angelica did, but I swung left around the worst of the green, and crossed the power line at the towers (ran under them, because the vegetation was better there). Hit the trail at the bridge, straight to the reentrant, and trudged up it. | ||||||
| 21. | Slightly right of the line, using the fitness course trail. I think I must have made it to the end of the nonexistent clearing, and decided I'd better read the contours instead of the vegetation. | ||||||
| F. | Not being aware of any clearing, I went left to the trail, and wound up coming through the finish line backwards. |
Total Time Lost - 00:06:30