Training Log Archive: Rainbow Unicorn

Warmup and cool down.

Possum Trot XV at Shawnee Mission Park (Mass Start)
Flipped over the map and thought hard about skipping at the start to #2. Thought it a bad move tactically, so went with the crowd to #1. Mark Everett ran through the field like the deer along side him, and I remember Tom, PeteC, Dre, and I trying to keep up. Really wanted to try and follow through the first few controls just to see if I could keep up the Everett pace. I think his goal was to get off to a lead early on and hopefully leave everyone in the dust by the 3rd control. His pace lessened when we hit the trees and I ran with him more easily there.
We went through the first few controls together - I ran along side him in the woods and I think he perhaps found that annoying. Mark chose to skip CP 7 and I didn't want to part ways with him yet, so followed suit. It was a good enough skip anyway and I figured we could keep running at a good pace together.
We took separate routes to 10, him going low to the road/trail and me staying up higher on the foot trail. I kept my eye out in his direction just to see if he had decided to skip since there was a gap, but we came back together near CP10.
We then ran 11, 12, and 13 together, and he seemed to let me take the lead on those later controls. When we hit the water stop at 13, I had the distinct feeling that he was waiting for me to make my move.
I thought about skipping to 15, but knew that he would likely head to 14 and then be running on my tail the rest of the race. I chose to run toward 14, and as I suspected, Mark ran toward 15. I yelled back at him "Skipping 14, huh?" but it seemed to be the norm that I received no response.
Part of me wanted to do a double take and just follow him to 15 anyway, but I didn't want to be a jerk and that would have been a certain A-hole move.
Running the rest of the race on my own, PTrot became a regular O-meet - running and navigating and trying to push oneself without certainty of where the competition is.
I ran through most of the controls without much issue. Had a few reservations as to which skip I should take and thought about 20 and 21 as well. Finally went with 23 since I thought the elevation profile was more significant and ran straight from 22 up the reentrant to 24. When I punched at 24 the box took slightly longer to beep, and I thought for an instant that I could have passed Mark on that skip.
I ran the next few controls with renewed urgency and the beeps at the controls were similarly delayed. I was pushing the pace well, but knew that I was getting tired and would be prone to making mistakes. On my way to 30, I could see the far side of the reentrant face but couldn't make out the right drainage. Got pulled further north by a large drainage and hopped over a fence to scope it out. My shoe was untied too, so I took a moment to breathe and tie it back up. I felt like I was heading in the wrong direction, so headed back toward where I had initially been running to and spotted CP 30. I knew I had blown a minute or two on the CP but hoped it wasn't a deal breaker. When I looked back down into the reentrant however, I saw Mark Everett coming up the drainage toward me - Yikes!
I knew neither of us had skips remaining so it was going to be a foot race to the finish with 4 CPs and the finish to go.
I tried to keep the legs going up the hill after 30, and despite what I felt was a slowish pace due to fatigue, I didn't see Mark when I crested the hill. I wasn't sure where he was and I thought he was trying the round about trail route to evade my sight.
I was able to take a straight route to 31 and had no problems finding the CP. Everett still wasn't in sight but I couldn't get a good look while running forward through the woods.
Through CPs 32-34 I would look back before hitting the wooded areas, but I didn't see anyone in front of me or behind me. Made the push up the final "dam" hill at a hike since no one was in sight and my legs were starting to feel a bit crampy from the final effort. Ran the last 100 meters into the finish and ended up pulling off the WIN!
Really great feeling to finally win a Possum Trot event. Have been close (and not so close) at a few others, but was able to put together a clean enough run this year.

Awesome weekend for the MNOC folks too, as we took down several top spots against the other midwest O-clubs. Mo Mo took 2nd for the women, which was superb - really proud of her.

Just a great weekend overall hanging out with my really cool, nerdy, fantastic O-friends. It doesn't get much better than that. Lots of luv to my O-club!

C • Cool, nerdy, fantastic 7

Possum Trot - Splits

Event: Possum Trot Weekend
 

Warm up / cool down.

OK sprint at KU campus with MNOC crew. Good run overall. Bobbled 17 for a few seconds, but nothing major. Felt like I lost a few seconds at each punch though. Better system needed for sprint next time.

Run to work.

Bike to work.

Bike home.

Bike to work.

Bike home.

Bike to work.

Bike home.

Bike to work. Snow tires definitely slower and heavier.

Bike from work to the U for soccer. Good warmup!

Good match up against another solid team with Mo and PeteW. Ended up pulling out the 3-1 win, although the game was close at only 2-1 through most all of the second half. Felt like we squeaked it out in the end, but our team is playing well together so that's a plus.
Only 1 man-sub this game and I think I forgot to sub in the 2nd half. Will work to do better on that next time, as I definitely felt tired at the end.

Bowling matchup with Gear Junkie Stephen and Tecnu Captain Kyle. Pulled off a decent rally in the last few frames to make it close, but was outdone by Stephen's Turkey (30 pins) in the tenth frame. Awesome!
Lots of stellar talk about the AR scene (races and otherwise) with those two....