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

Track my O progress here

We're back from LA, and I have mixed feelings about my mixed results.

Day one was not so good. I had a hard time getting in to the map at first, due to all the rock detail. It took me a while to figure out the contours. I had some bobbles early on, but I stuck to my plan of bailing out right away, and quickly relocated. But I was slow, since I was walking and there were big hills.

Despite taking it easy, I think I must have gotten too tired, because I made a huge mistake on number 10. It turned out to be a parallel error. When I finally relocated, I had to walk all the way around some huge rock features. I must have done 1.3 km instead of 500 meters on this leg. I am very disappointed in myself, because I did not stick to my plan to bail out when things don't make sense. Instead, I continued blindly on, not paying attention until it was too late. I spent 33 minutes on a ~12 minute leg.

There were some positives on day one: I spiked a few controls and I was much improved on reading rock features. I was comfortable with the map and ready for the relays.

The Relays:
I was running the second leg, a yellow course. My goal was to make no mistakes, and to jog as much of the course as I could. I was able to watch earlier runners on the course, and could tell the start and finish directions, as well as the location of one control (on the side of a big hill). I knew I'd have to walk the hill, and everyone could see me the whole way! Ugh!

The fastest runners were taking 20 minutes on the yellow, so I told Dick I would take 40-42 minutes (DIck was running the third leg.)

Nancy took longer than expected on the first leg, so I had warmed up for twice my usual time. I was very nervous at the start--I don't like the pressure of relays. Gene had run the yellow already--he told me to be careful on numbers 2 and 3. I was glad he warned me; the trails were very confusing in that area, so I used other features to navigate. I was alone on the course through the third leg. I picked up another runner (a woman) at the third control. I was glad to have someone to motivate me!

The 4th control was on the hill, so I just put away my map and moved as directly and fast as I could. At the bottom of the hill, I could see someone at the top punching the control--a young boy. The other woman was still just a step behind me, which helped motivate me to move at a steady rate. (And I was right about being watched--Mike said he watched me with binoculars the whole time I was on the hill.)

After I reached the top of the hill, I was able to start jogging again. The other woman and I soon caught the young boy who had been ahead of us. He and I stayed together for the rest of the course; we lost the woman some where along the way. The boy and I kept moving well, alternating jogging and walking. We took the same routes except for one control. As we neared the finish, he took off like a shot, while I continued to slowly jog behind him.

This was when I looked at my watch to see how I was doing, and I couldn't believe it. I had only been out ~30 minutes and I was approaching the finish. I could hear my team mates cheering me on, and I ran in to tag Dick in 32:49.

I was thrilled with my time. I had a clean run, and I had jogged about half the course. What a fine finish to the O year! Especially since my year's training had been geared to the Oringen and Relay. I ran my leg in 1.57 times the fastest time on the course. I met my goal in a big way--very satisfying!


posted by Mary 11:48 AM [edit]