Training Log Archive: maprunner

No luggage. Have compass, no dipstick. Wearing jeans and sneakers. Should be interesting without my magnifying glasses

Luggage update: Mike and I went shopping this morning and got some clothes and shoes. I was styling. :). Peter lent me a WCOC o top and I rented a dipstick. Came back to hotel a 2:00 to find my suitcase (yeah !) but not Mike's (boo)

C • Yeah! 3

Middle course, NAOC. After shopping for clothes and getting a rental e-punch, I had to get my head into the game. I figured this would be good practice, to see how I could deal with strange circumstances. They had a long walk to the start, plus a great warm-up area with small map. Both of those helped me get focused for this race.

I took it really slow and easy to the first 3 controls, because it was hard for me to read this map (kept seeing things that were just under 2.5 meters, and therefore, not mapped). But I was clean.

From 3 to 4 I got cocky, and thought I could just wing it through the woods (instead of taking the safe route around on the trails). I wandered, slowly, crossed a trail (but didn't stop to consider) and finally stopped when I hit a hill. Stood still and began to guess where I was. Confirmed when I went around the hill and found my marker for 5. Duh! At least I could now follow the elephant trail back to 4, and then back to 5.

As a result of this huge mistake, I was too cautious later, and took the trail to 12 on purpose, to attack 11. Probably unnecessary.
Way down on the results today. Need to focus better tomorrow.

Since my Garmin had not yet arrived, I had to do the old-fashioned system: draw my course with a red pen. Not entirely sure where I went from 3 to 5, so that's a dotted line

Middle - Course 6a - Splits

Event: NAOC2014 (North American Champs/Ottawa O-Fest)
 

Up early to travel to Ottawa. So excited for these races. 35+ women in F45! Again, my goal is three clean races. And have lots of fun!

Travel woes continue. Unexpected long security lines. Was told to stay in line, all was fine with our flight. Not. Seats were given away. Rebooked on much later flight, arriving in YOW at 11:30 pm. Ugh.

Survived our long layover in Newark. Will board for Ottawa soon, be in Arnprior about 1AM. Key question: will our luggage be waiting for us? (It left KC on original flight)

C • I sure hope so! 1

Legs were tired and sore from the weekend, so I got a massage tonight. Ahhh!

Weekend entries have now been updated with maps and notes. Had to post from google. Anyone else having problems connecting to Doma?

C • DOMA 1

US Champs, Middle distance

I really wanted to get back into the groove, and have a clean race. Went really slow to the first control, and happily, things just clicked after that.

Small bobble at 9 when I stupidly got pulled off by others towards the powerline.

And a very silly bobble at 12, when I misread the feature as a boulder rather than knoll. There was a very visible statue, and I ran right to it. No marker! Where am I? Stepped out to the road to confirm I was at the right corner, looked at the control description and Duh! Back to the knoll.

Pushed into the finish and stood there catching my breath. After the heart rate slowed a bit and I started thinking again, I realized: that was a good run! I was so happy. Lately I have had real issues with middle courses. This felt good.

Until Kissy beat me my 19 seconds :)

Nah, it still felt good!

My route

Nice weekend, good course, good organization. Great to visit with Raymond and Jenny on Fri night, and Peter, Gail, Phil and Kris on Sat night. Fun but brief breakfasts with Carl and Ethan, and Eileen and Rick. Even got to chat with Valerie and Cristina for a few minutes. Real fun to catch up with Dan Ellsworth, who was so incredibly helpful to me when I visited Alaska in 1989. And 2.5 good races for me. Such fun.

Middle Green X - Splits