May 9, 2010 in South Umstead

Very good event, interesting courses and nice weather. And "no man-made features" map! I had a chance to try it this time and absolutely loved it, we should continue the practice.

I was also happy that my hip held up. I've been stretching "it band" in my left leg for almost two months and it looks like it is starting to show. After the last event I felt crippled, but I am fine after 1.5 hour run this time. Phew. But I was also very much out of shape (again...), so I ran slowly and often walked. All in all, I ended up with my "normal" speed for South Umstead.

I did help Ruth to set up advanced controls on Saturday, so you can say that I had an "unfair" advantage, but the funny thing was that one of my two mistakes was on a control I personally set. I walked right by and couldn't see it! So whatever I could have gained on other controls I lost on that one...

OK, here is my route:

#1: to the parking lot corner, then straight through the forest to the opening on the other side of the road and from there south-south-east while staying on the hill. After re-entrant on my right, turned south down the slope, across the creek, climbed up and continued south to the control.

#2: ran around the re-entrant, up the hill, followed it for a bit, then decided to go down so I could see gullies on the left. Did that and when passed the gullies went south to the re-entrant with the gully/control.

#3: down to the creek and followed it behind the bend. From there climbed up leaving re-entrant on my left. Continued up and across the hill, crossed a trail, noticed re-entrant on my right and went north from there.

#4: simply ran south-south-west, down the hill across the creek, up and over the spur and then scaled the slope to the dry-ditch with the control. Didn't see the control. Walked around, but still couldn't see it... Decided to double check and ran further south, found another set of dry-ditches and saw a glimpse of I-40. So I was in the right place, came back and immediately saw the control! I can swear I looked at this exact spot before!

#5: Walked across the spur, ran down to the creek, followed it, then crossed a side creek and went for the control from there.

#6: crossed the creek, went up a bit and proceeded along the slope. Passed the rock, then first re-entrant and attacked from there.

#7: walked across the hill and ran down to the bridge. Used trail for a bit and then walked up the re-entrant to the control.

#8: walked north-west then ran west down the slope, saw re-entrant on the left, crossed the creek and walked up diagonally to the re-entrant with the control.

#9: across the hill, crossed a trail, then re-entrant and located a gully on the other side. Followed the gully down to the big re-entrant and took the control on the other side.

#10: went north-north-east, crossed the trail and saw re-entrant forming on my right. Stayed on high ground, noticed double small re-entrants on my left, then crossed another small re-entrant with Orange control. Crossed powerline and made a mistake of going too much to the right. Almost reached the camp buildings, but saw re-entrant behind them and realized where I was. Turned left to the re-entrant with another Orange control and attacked from there. But didn't go high enough and spent time walking back and forth on the wrong elevation line... Decided to redo the approach. Went down again, took better compass bearing and counted steps up. Reached proper elevation and found the control there. Lost 5-6 mins there, I think.

#11: crossed the re-entrant and went east over the hill, then parallel to the slope. Had to cross several plausible unmapped gullies before I reached the big one with the control.

#12: crossed the creek and followed the slope for a bit, then went over the hill, saw re-entrant with gullies and rock pile. Attacked from the pile.

#13: simply across the hill

#14: decided to use the road instead of going straight. Went up to the road and used it until I passed the re-entrant on the left. From there turned into green, reached the big gully and followed it to the control.

#15: continued along the gully and then creek, reached the trail, used it to reach the gully/re-entrant with the control and walked up.

#16: across the hill, noticed pile of rocks on my left, crossed the trail and counted dry-ditches.

#17: down to the creek, walked up the hill and took compass bearing to the control (also noticed a small re-entrant on my right when approaching the control).

#18: across the hill and used the trail along the creek. When the creek turned, went up to another trail and used it to get to the well knows 3 piles of rocks. attacked the control from there. Reached Z-gully and followed a side dry-ditch from there.

and straight to the finish. Time: 91 minutes.

Here is my route (blue - mostly running, brown - mostly walking). Click on the image to enlarge.



Thanks to Ruth and Joseph for a very interesting event!