Race Evaluation
Susquehanna Stumble: Long Stumble
donkst
| 1. |
Followed others | Start - C - In a group that includes Ken Walker Sr and Randy Hall. | |||||
| 2. |
Followed others | C - A | |||||
| 3. |
Followed others +00:30 | A - B - Ken Walker and I are a little high and have to cut back down to control. I see Pat Zerfas, my ROGAINE partner, punch a few seconds before. She's looking strong and focused. Lost about 30 seconds. | |||||
| 4. |
Followed others | B - D | |||||
| 5. |
Followed others | D - 5 | |||||
| 6. |
Followed others | 5 - E - The group I'm in starts to break up. There are about three of us that bail to the main trail to the east and down to the bend a little NE of (E). It's a straight shot from there. | |||||
| 7. |
Lacked confidence +04:00 | E - H - First time I really have to orienteer on my own. My compass bearing says to go left, as one runner is doing, but the two guys I've been moving along with go right so I split the difference and end up wandering for several minutes. When I find the bag. I discover it was right on my original bearing. Should trust my instincts. Lost a good 4 mins. | |||||
| 8. | H - G - I run into Tim Good and several other runners at the junction. First I've seen of Tim. | ||||||
| 9. | G - I - Tom Overbaugh and I hit the bag about the same time. We will chase each other for most of the first loop (I'll actually be chasing him much more than he does me.) | ||||||
| 10. | I - F - I'm by myself again for a little while following the trail to the NW of (I) to the trail's break-up. From there I angled in and find the bag. | ||||||
| 11. | F - 11 - Up through the saddle and a little left of Willis Knob. No problem. Almost dead on. I meet Tom once again. I'm off running a couple of seconds before Tom. | ||||||
| 12. | 11 - 12 - Tom and I head straight through the mass of boulders in a straight line for the control. I'm behind him about 5-20 meters at all times. We hit the control almost dead on. | ||||||
| 13. | 12 - 13 - On our way out of 12 (heading SW-straight to 13), we see Peggy Dickison with Viktoria Brautigam in tow about 10 meters behind headed into 12 from the bend in the trail where Tom and I are heading. They both look strong. We hit 13 almost dead on. | ||||||
| 14. | 13 - 14 - Straight down the hill to the indistinct trail NW of 14 and over the stream where I promptly take a nose dive and get soaked. Just a quick button hook curl to the knoll. Tom hits it quickly and is gone from sight. Right before I get to the bag, Tim Good sneaks in from the opposite direction and punches a few seconds ahead of me. | ||||||
| 15. | 14 - 15 - I straight line it while Tim takes a little different route. He's there about 5 seconds ahead of me. | ||||||
| 16. | 15 - In - I'm right on Tim's heels and I find out that Peggy Dickison is right on my heels. It feels good to be hanging with this talented and fast company. | ||||||
| 17. |
Tired | Transition (0:45 split) Downed the rest of my first bottle of Gatorade. Grabbed a new bottle, switched bandanas and was off following, in this order, Tim, Peggy, and, in a few seconds, Viktoria. Tran - 16 (7:29 split) Everyone starts out running up the trail, but by the first uphill we are all walking. Fatigue has finally gotten the best of me. I will do very little running on the second loop from here on out. HMMM, perhaps the Short Stumble would have been smarter? | |||||
| 18. |
Tired | 16 - 17- Tim, Peggy and Viktoria are gone running. I can't keep up, and I'm all by myself again walking uphill. Right before I contour around to the bag, Randy Hall crosses in front to contour around first. | |||||
| 19. |
Tired +02:00 | 17 - 18 - Walking by myself. Hit the main trail that's SW of 18 and do a little jogging, but then it's back to walking. Take a bearing off the bend in the trail and pace count down and am a little right of the control. About two minutes of back tracking and I'm at the bag. | |||||
| 20. | 18 - 19 - No problems, just a straight bearing and pace count. | ||||||
| 21. |
Lacked concentration +03:00 | 19 - K - Up the main road to the trail opposite the house. Took the trial until it ran out just NE of (K.) I'm a little low and search around for about three minutes. Then Viktoria suddenly appears, asks if I'm headed to (K) (I replied in the affirmative), and follows me into the control. I'm totally surprised because I thought she and the others had left me in the dust. I'll be even more surprised when I see Tim Good in a couple more controls. | |||||
| 22. | K - J - No problems, I just straight line it through the green and hit the boulder dead on. Right before I get there, Randy Hall comes dashing in from the NE and punches a few seconds before. | ||||||
| 23. | J - L - Randy chooses the East side of the stream system. I choose the West side and go up to the trail and cut in at the indistinct trail and find the bag no problem. But I don't see Randy, so he must have beaten me to the bag. | ||||||
| 24. | L - M - Leaving (L), I run across Tim Good heading into (L). He asks me if I just got here and I reply (thinking that he means the entire window) "No, I've only got one more left in the window." I'm really surprised to see Tim. I must be doing better than I thought. I have to button hook around to the knoll a little, but no real problems. | ||||||
| 25. |
Tired | M - 24 - I just angle up to the road in a SW manner and hit it about 200 meters N of the main trail that's west of the road. I'm walking as usual and all alone, when all of the sudden Viktoria comes jogging up behind me with Tim Good walking in tow. At the trail, I take a bearing, start running downhill, pass Eddie Bergeron, who is obviously checking on the water supply at 24, and hit the bag right on. Viktoria hits almost simultaneously. | |||||
| 26. |
Tired Not thinking clearly | 24 - 25 - I don't want to climb anymore so I head straight down the hill in a SE manner, while Viktoria heads back up to the road (?), and then, instead of hitting the main trail, I continue up through the mass of boulders and slowly climb to the eastern road. While I initially think this is a bad decision, I'm surprised to discover that Viktoria gets to the road intersection only about 10 seconds ahead of me. And there are a couple of other people just ahead of her, including Ken Walker, Sr. I follow them to the charcoal pit. | |||||
| 27. |
Did not check features en route +03:00 | 25 - 26 - Everyone looses me again while I start walking toward 26. I overshoot it a little and have to search for about three minutes. | |||||
| 28. | +04:00 | 26 - A - I start leaving 26 to the N, but decide to cut back down to the SE to hit the lower bend in the trail so that I can straight line it into (A). This is a bad decision as it takes me seemingly forever to get through the boulder field NW of the trail. Lost about 4 mins. | |||||
| 29. |
Underrated difficulty +12:00 | A - B - I overshoot the control by about 150 meters. I guess I should have been paying closer attention during the beginning of the race instead of just blindly following. I spent almost 12 minutes in red light mode hunting and hoping. | |||||
| 30. | B - D - Straight down, no problem | ||||||
| 31. |
Lacked confidence +02:00 | D - C - Leaving (D), I see Sandy Fillebrown and another orienteer heading into (D). Heading into (C) with a pace count, I see Mark Frank who says "He's (refering to me) almost finished!" I'm a bit slow finding this control because I run across what seems to be an unmapped boulder field east of C and it confuses me and breaks my concentration. However, I finally recover and punch. Lost about 2 minutes. | |||||
| F. | C - Fin - Thank God it's over, I'm dead! Sandy Fillebrown has beaten me in. My real cumulative time, with fractions of seconds, equals 249:02. Thanks to the organizers for a challenging and fun race. |
Total Time Lost - 00:30:30