Training Log Archive: TomN

What devil did I cross? Whoever he is, I hope he's satisfied.

Here's my run: fast and straight off the start, punched two controls, then I noticed that the second one wasn't on my course... and that meant neither was the first one.... So with the devil on my shoulder, I consulted the other side of the map, figured out where I was, and visited the actual first 3 controls. Then with the map upside down I ran 300m in the wrong direction, wondering why this awful crap was marked light green, cresting a hill and seeing... what?? Jeez, what a mess. So, falling into old patterns, I blundered around after that, hardly ever sure where I was, tentative at every step. It was hard work to finish the course, but what's this? Missed #10? Yes, I had punched at the wrong rootstock, and didn't check the number (I had actually seen it on the approach to #9 and therefore knew it had to be right). That's fitting.

But hey, let's look at the good side: how great is it to be running around in nice woods in short sleeves in December?

Red - Splits

Around the Goddard perimeter road. Sunny, windy, high 40s. A few wet and muddy spots from the rain the last couple of days. It was a little tough going out against the wind, but fun coming back with it. This run felt really good.

17th SVO Stumble, at Rocky Ridge. The weather turned out much better than it looked when I got up this morning, cloudy but no rain at the park, and yes, it did rain all day back home. I ran well, following when convenient and passing when it seemed profitable. The woods were nice, the rocks interesting, and overall a much better experience than the last time I was here (2009, and both the map and I have improved since then).

I was on my own heading to the first window, went in low and took them A-B-C-D, running with Ben Ahlswede for most of the window. Controls were visible from some distance away. Fast up the hill and alone to 9-10-11, where I caught Mihai Veres. I passed him up the hill to 12, and ran with Ryan Stasiowski in the next window, H-G-F-E.

Bad route to 17 (went up past 12, along the ridge to the clearing, then dropped down) and found Mihai and Ben at 17. Ryan ran away from us going up the trail, Mihai and Ben went low, and I went all the way up to the road. I almost chased down Istvan Nagy on the road, finishing 1 sec behind him. The others were slower on the low route in.

5th overall in the Short, not a bad result.

Short Stumble - Splits