GAOC day 2, Brown X
I was discombobulated at the start, I was confused with how they called us up. Couldn’t get my descriptions in, took too long getting map, had 3 seconds on the line before starting. Not usual for me. So I was grateful that the “indistict” trail had been cleared! Helped me settle in on the way to the first control.
I was pushing harder today physically, walking as fast as I could, trying to keep a good pace while staying clean.
Contoured from 2 to 3 to stay above the gully but I never saw it. Got to the flat area and stopped. Looked around and saw some folks to my right. Headed over to find a tiny pile of rocks. I was lucky here and should have been warned that I was tired and making mistakes, but no….
I even made things a bit worse by deciding to run a few times. I couldn’t resist the beautiful woods. I ran downhill maybe 5 times throughout the course. I had fun but it wasn’t smart given my fitness.
Slogged the long leg to 6. I was tired going up the first hill and contouring along the rocky hillside. Crossed the trail, then the reentrant, then slogged over the spur to the reentrant with the control. Stood there looking for a minute to see if I could see the side reentrant heading north. Saw a rootstock and figured my control was to the right. As I headed into the reentrant I saw a trail out of the corner of my eye. That was a surprise and took me a minute to figure out I was too high. So now I headed down the reentrant. I saw several rootstocks and vegetation blobs but no control. Convinced myself I had gone too far and turned around. I was heading NE when I saw Mike heading SW. Another clue I ignored. Climbed all the way back up reentrant, climbed hill and then went SW on the ridge. Saw nothing. At this point my brain finally registered that I was looking for a stream bed, which I had not explored at all yet. Down to the stream, then followed it NE to the control. Terrible loss of process and focus. I lost at least 10 minutes. Disappointed in myself. Stopped and ate some raisins and drank some water. Time to soldier on.
Climbed the hill after 7, crossed the open area and what my brain figured was the road on the map (yeah, I was doing just great). Got stuck in some junk (literally) before I come out to the real road. I was confused until I stopped and looked at map again. Jeez!
After this I was actually clean and steady. Pulled off slightly to some other rootstock near 10 but that’s all. Now I was really tired. Slow walk into the finish.
Nice sunny day and slightly warmer temps meant it was nice to hang around and socialize. Loved the live results on our phones. And my foot felt fine, which was a pleasant surprise.