Training Log Archive: Nadim

Summer Short Series:. Ted Good setup the first SSS event post QOC's regular season. It was partly to benefit those competing internationally but none of those competitors could make it. It was pretty fun and on the University of Maryland campus. My knee didn't feel so good starting out but it got better. The first course was a woods sprint. Having rained the night before, it was humid and damp in low lying places but not excessively. I was in a rush to get ready so I didn't even wear o-pants. Running in just a shirt and shorts turned-out to be fine, as long as I took some precautions. I started near another QOC runner and almost caught him at the first control. I did the longer wood sprint and I think the other guy was doing the shorter one--we were together trading leads up until #7 which I got to first. I actually missed #8 because I misunderstood the clue description for upper stairs. I went all around and inside the bottom of a parking lot garage stairwell and concluded someone must have taken the streamers. I made a mistake dropping down for #10. I corrected and saw Peggy approaching #12. At #13, I didn't read the clue and went to a building corner, then all the way around it (it was a shed-like building) before seeing it on the corner of a hillside spur. I did however find some bee hives at the building and managed not to get stung--Ted hadn't seen them. After leaving #16, I got ahead of Peggy by hitting #17 well. Something seemed a little off with the map there (I'm not sure) and Peggy was off to the right. I changed my route to #23 but got hung up in some green anyway. As I said, it was fun overall! I ran 4.8K for the 3.8K course.

SSS at UMD, College Park, MD. The second sprint was mostly across the UMD campus. Max's girlfriend Sammie did this with Max. I did well avoiding most traps. I went on the western route for #2 though I'm not sure that was the best route--I also made a small bobble turning-in one building gap too early, then quickly correcting it. I had trouble sometimes distinguishing colors correctly, such as the difference between a lone tree and a fountain. I did make a mistake getting to #8, but not for the obvious trap. I went right initially, to try to get through the upper level stairs to the inside corner, but that way was blocked; I was interpreting a purple narrow out-of-bounds area (partial purple Xs) as black fencing. I also paused at the mapped tunnel which I felt should have been mapped as a canopy. I left #9 kind of funny so I ended up taking the long way around a building rather than using a narrow passage trail. It was still fun. Later a lot of the group went to eat outdoors at a place called The Hall where more fun was had.