1. | +01:30 | Got on the wrong trail 50 m out of the start, and heard the whistle 1 minute after my start from very close. Darn! Executed ok from there. Up through light green to field. NE to trail at far field corner, then NE down hill to cross road into next field at power line. As I headed uphill, I looked back and saw Phil coming, who had started two minutes behind. Between green blobs to field corner and down trail segment. Checked off first rootstock, and then blew right by the one with the control, having to come back up hill when I hit the trail. | |||||
2. | +03:00 | Tried to hard to cut the corner to the bridge, and got hung up in the green and on the wrong side of the steep reentrant. Somehow I had discounted the nice easy trail in the yellow around to the left, and embarked instead on contouring across the field E of the bridge to pick up the SE-NW trail going up the ridge S of the control. My plan was to pick up the trail that headed N toward the control, but I didn't find it, and somehow crossed the stream and headed up the slope a few lines before figuring it out and heading back. Partly an up and down problem, as I thought I had been looking for a rock on an E facing spur instead of a W facing reentrant. Peter later told me he had planned out most of the course on the long trail run around to the left. Wouldn't that have been nice! | |||||
3. | Up to the trail on an angle, looking for the rootstock, and following the line of rootstocks down to the control. Easy. | ||||||
4. | Back to the trail, W to the junction, S to the stream and then straight in. Easy. | ||||||
5. | SE to the forest corner, then SW to field corner, scrambling with difficulty down the steep hillside. Up the trail opposite to the field corner. Across the saddle in the field, and then on compass to the trail/stream jct and on compass from there. Easy, but seemed like it took a long time. There must have been a better way. | ||||||
6. | +02:30 | Lousy, lousy route! S to the big trail, through all kinds of junk, instead of W to trail and down. Paved road to bridge and across, trail to left of house and up through green to field N of control. Down steep and gnarly hillside, and then up from stream to boulder. Thought I saw Phil up ahead, but based on times, it must have been Peter, who had the combination of a better route and faster legs. | |||||
7. | +00:30 | Straight up to field corner, then leaving lone trees on my left to trail entry into woods, from bend in trail picking up eastern trail across stream, then contouring. Sucked in by larger reentrant to the S before heading back in. Moving pretty well the whole way, though. | |||||
8. | +00:20 | Got confused by doubling back on the last leg, and left #7 in the wrong direction before correcting. Saw a bunch of other course runners on the way to this one. | |||||
9. | Grit the teeth, straight up hill on compass | ||||||
10. | +00:20 | For some reason got spooked and went for a conservative route on trails around to the left, going straight from where the trail hit the second field corner. Not necessary. This would have been pretty easy to attack directly. | |||||
11. | +00:15 | Saw several runners in the field on the way to the bridge, including Nancy K. Straight to the forest corner, and on trail to where I cut off to go downhill toward control. Thought I had spotted it, but then stopped to read map a bit before just going in and punching | |||||
12. | +02:00 | Climbed up really nasty stuff to look for upper trail, but didn't find it and started to fear I had gone by it. Ended up slogging around through the woods generally W, veering back and forth in search of the elusive trail. I was N of it the whole time. Once I got it found the trail pretty quick on the other side of the road and in to the control. I thought I was looking for the westernmost rootstock, and started for one beyond the one with the control, but stopped to confirm I needed a 2 meter one, and so was ok. | |||||
13. | Pretty much along the line across the field to the trail jct at the forest corner. On smaller NW trail to sharp bend, then along gully to next trail bend, where I chickened out and followed the trail around to the left. After crossing stream had to be careful to get on right trail, but then it was easy to find. | ||||||
14. | Ran hard N to trail and then left and in. | ||||||
F. | Really pushing, but 4s slower than yesterday. Obviously pretty tired. |
Total Time Lost - 00:10:25