Red X Sprint at NAOC 2012, set by Sam Reed.
After Saturday's long red, I wasn't even sure I would be able to run. I woke up with a sore back. I still had to walk up hills but I was able to run! Some minor muscle spasms in my back during the race, but it wasn't too bad. (The bus ride back to the campground had some sharp, shooting pains. Nothing bad on the 9.5 hour trip home, though. Go figure.)
A really fun course. I didn't see the trail right of the line on 11-12, and I wasn't about to go into that thin green patch, so I took the paved road far to the left. Joe Bratigam passed me at 13 going about twice my speed.
I got to 15, punched, then misread the next control and headed to 5. Figured it out after about 30 seconds, went back towards 15, (lost 70 seconds), then realized 16 was a trap leg and I needed to miss the uncrossable marsh. It felt like minutes, but I know it wasn't.
Punched 16, knew in my head where 17 was (2nd yurt on the left, far side), but paused to read the map anyway. It felt like I was screwing up ***so badly***. I have long advocated for legs like this---very short, with a trivial but at least a two-step route. It gives you the "sprint feeling". I screwed this one up, and it just stomped on my buzz. I'd be surprised if I lost 5 or 8 seconds, but it felt like minutes. It was a knife to my pride.
I left 17 to the right, looked at the map and saw the "U"-shaped fence near 18. I passed that between 3 and 4, but I think watching the M21s finish made me believe that 18 was up on the hill rather than down by the "U" fence. This was worse than 17---ten or fifteen seconds that felt like minutes, and I just couldn't get my brain to connect the map to the real world. I finally said, "There is no U-fence on that hill", and turned left and saw the control.
19 and 20 were quick and mostly painless. I had seen enough of them during the M and F21 finishes.
I was going so slow through 90 percent of the course, then I got to the crux finale and just totally blew it. I'm talking a total of maybe 90 seconds, but it felt like I lost.
So: Sam Reed 1, cedarcreek 0 --- A
really fun course. If I was asked to nitpick, I would complain (1) about control 9, because of the deadfall (I had a really close call---I saw myself in a hospital bed for a split second---major adrenaline rush), (2) about the control numbers around the event center---I would have moved 5 and put the 15-16-17 numbers south of the circles, so they look more like 12-13-14, and (3) I would have not used the leg 6-7---it just seemed too easy, although I admit I was going **really slow**---fast might have been harder. (These are true nitpicks, though---I loved the course.)