Tracking my wanderlust need to get out of town once a month

Track my O progress here

Mike and I spent the weekend in Laramie WY, training with Mikell and Mook. It is always fun to train there, because the areas are open but technical. Plus, there are many maps to choose from and Mikell does a good job of setting courses and hanging streamers for us. The only problem (for me) is the altitude. Running at 7000 feet is a bit tough.

The first day, I walked around a green course from May Daze. I had problems reading rock features. When there is little or no contour detail, and many rock features, I have a hard time figuring out which boulders are mapped an which are not. I also have a hard time seeing a tall group of boulders as a "hill", as mapped. I took it very slow, due to the altitude, and difficulty adjusting to the map.

After lunch and a quick nap, we went out on a control picking course. They area was completely flat, and I was feeling better. I managed to jog about half the course, and walked the other half. This was fun.

On Sunday, we started with the chase event from last year's 1000 days. This was a tough course for me to navigate. I also walked very slowly, because I was not feeling very well (upset stomach, also maybe a bit dehydrated). I made a few booms, again on rock features.

After a break (I wasn't feeling well enough to eat lunch) we did another control picking course. We each hung 3 or 4 tapes on our loop, then ran the other loops. I like the practice of hanging tapes; it forces you to really concentrate on the map detail. I finished my loop, then walked along Mook's loop, which had three rock feature controls. After two days among the rocks, I was getting better at reading the map, but it's still not easy for me. I guess I need a few more days on these maps!

It was a fun training camp, all in all. It's nice spending more time with Mikell and Mook. The scary thing is, I'm beginning to understand their senses of humor!!!!
posted by Mary 11:42 AM [edit]