Score-O at Lake Johnson

It was so hot... And my knee hurts - 3.0 hours of controls setting/running/pick-up in one day is probably too much for me to handle it this point. But I did reasonably well on the course: 29 controls in 55 minutes, despite walking half of the time. I am also quite happy how we were able to pull this event up - everybody chipped in and everything went smoothly without a dedicated event director.

I decided against describing every control I took, but will outline some decisions I had to make before and during the run regarding the course. For me Score-Os are always about judging time and remaining strength and then making right decisions based on it.

From the very beginning I knew that I absolutely wanted to take all controls in the middle of the map (from the road up to 59). I figured that I would need about 30 mins to do that. So the question was where to spend the other half hour. One option was to go behind the road and take everything there (maybe with exception of 79). Another option was to take controls in the eastern part of the map and possibly take 52,53,54 (or 57) if time allows. Second option had potential for more points, but looked longer and I would have to run on a paved trail a lot - which I don't like doing. So I decided to take my chances with option 1 and went there right after the start.

I had a few small problems on 52, 62 and 73 - couldn't spot controls right away and spent extra 30-40 secs on each one, but everything else was OK. I was getting tired quickly though - heat... Anyway, I reached 78 at 17-18 minutes mark and had to make a decision regarding 79. I was worried that I soon won't be able to run anymore and would not have time for the middle section, 600 extra meters just for 1 control seemed too much. I decided against taking 79 (as it turned out I would have been better off taking it, so it wasn't a correct decision).

Anyway, I went back to the parking lot taking 3 remaining controls along the way and reached the parking lot at 29 mins mark. I had my 30 mins for the middle part - good! I couldn't run anymore - bad... Fortunately, the middle part proved to be smaller then I expected - I actually took everything there in 25 mins while mostly walking.

One good thing I did was to take 42 and 46 during the run east - it made the way to the finish very easy and without hills (44-43-41-40). I also took the first 4 controls in this order 42-48-46-56, thus avoiding tough green stretch between 42 and 46.

I reached 51 at 40 mins mark. 20 mins was more then enough to get back to the finish (that's where taking 79 would have helped). But alas, I had to spend extra 5 mins to go for 60, and it was painful because of the hill on a way there... I got it and had 17 mins to get back at that point. Quite enough, but not enough for risking 65 - so I didn't. Turned back and went to the finish taking controls along the shore. 7 mins later I was at 44 and realized that I can leisurely walk the rest of the way and still be on time. I walked and finished at 55:02 - extremely exhausted despite taking it easy at the end.

Here is my route (blue - mostly running, brown - mostly walking)