Destruct-O at Lake Johnson

I loved it! Even despite the cold. We should do it more often.

Below is my route: dark blue is Score-O part, light-blue is Destruct part. My strategy was the following:
-- I didn't want to compete with fast runners like Brendan and Mihai for 60th and 50th in the east part of the map - I wouldn't stand a chance there. So I decided to do only Score-O run out there and pick up 70th in the western part.
-- I wasn't sure if I would have time to get all controls, so I didn't go for easy 40th by the start and left them till the end of Score-O with a thought to pick some of them later if time allows.
-- I wasn't going for the farthest 70 control

The strategy worked just fine: I didn't have competition for my 70th and I indeed didn't have time to pick all 40th, so it was good that I skipped them. But I still didn't win :)

One mistake I made was allowing too much time for the western 70th. I allowed 10 mins for them, but it took me only 7 mins to take them all, so theoretically I could have scored 43, 44 and 47 too (it would still didn't allow me to win though). Other then that I don't think I could have done any better.

P.S. was able to cut through the dried lake twice. The first time was fine. The second was quite disastrous - I got knee deep in the mud. Ouch :)

Nov 14 results

The results are up.

And I am back to Mexico... Will miss Dec 5 event, but hope to be here for the Destruct-O on Dec 19.

October 31 2010 at South Umstead

All right, I am buying protecting glasses for the next event. No point in arguing with fate...

After I got pocked into the eye during the last meet I ignored the warning thinking that it was the only time in 15 years, so I shouldn't be too worried. What a flawed logic... After the first control I got poked into the right eye again (and as I found out later on, tore the lens). The lens stayed in the eye, but during the whole run I felt something else in there too, which was very uncomfortable (it was a torn piece of the lens). And if that wasn't enough I got another twig into the same eye around control #8. That one actually stuck in, but, fortunately, went sideways, so I didn't get any serious damage and was able to carefully extract it and keep running.
Anyway, I am buying glasses.

OK, back to the meet.
The weather was great, a little too warm, but still. The course wasn't very hard.
Actually some of the legs looked too easy for advanced courses, but then Ruth offered me a "non-man-made-features" map and suddenly the course became very interesting.
In fact the legs I was grumpy about became the hardest ones. I ran cleanly, but not very fast with a few "non-optimal" legs and one delay caused by a misplaced control.
So the resulting time was OK, but not spectacular. I enjoyed the course, and that's what counts anyway.

Here is how I ran (on green course):

#1: north west, crossed the re-entrant at the top and went down to the creek, used the trail on the other side for a bit and then proceeded north-north-east without loosing elevation.
Noticed re-entrant on the left and went into the next one from the top to the control.

#2: tried to keep the same elevation when going south-east. Finally crossed the re-entrant around the side dry ditches and went up to the trail (which I knew was there).
Used the trail until the bend, then crossed the re-entrant, hill and another re-entrant and went up to the earth bank. Followed the earth bank to the end and found the dry ditch,
but the control wasn't there! Circled around for 2-3 mins and almost decided to abandon the search, but then saw the control further north east. In was misplaced.

#3: ran to the trail, cut to the bridge and followed the trail on the other side on the creek past the marsh. As soon as I passed the marsh, went up the hill to the ruins with the control.

#4: went south-west and crossed the creek just below the dam, walked up the hill and then proceeded west keeping the elevation. Noticed re-entrant on the left and then went down
to the re-entrant with the control. Didn't see the control right away despite being right there and the control being in the open (interestingly Josef complained about it too).

#5: walked up, noticed re-entrant on the left, then crossed the big re-entrant on the right and went north-east-east in order to reach the other side of the hill south from the control.
It worked as planned. Reached the other side and proceeded north till I saw the gully and then the control.

#6: crossed the creek and went up the hill between two re-entrants.Then crossed another re-entrant and took very careful compas bearing (I made a big "parallel" features mistake in this exact area on one of the previous meets and didn't want to repeat it).
Went east, noticed re-entrant on the right, reached the other side of the hill and proceeded north to the control.

#7: walked on the side of the hill and then up. Crossed the re-entrant and proceeded south to the gully with the control.

#8: probably didn't do this one in an optimal way. But I got scared by the thick vegetation on the direct route and ended up walking around the green area. Saw the bridge from the hill and used that as an attack point.

#9: went to the trail, run to the bridge, went up, reached the trail again and used it until the re-entrant with the control. Went up the re-entrant (if it can be called that) and found the control up there. Probably lost a minute or so there too.

#10: ran south west, crossed the creek and proceeded south till I saw the rock piles and the control right behind them.

#11: this was probably the easiest leg on the normal map, but it became the hardest one of the "non-man-made-features" one. First I went south and reached the gully, decided not to cross it and went around, staying out of the dark green area.
Finally reached the road, crossed it, then crossed the power line. Decided to keep going south and then turn west - this way I was hoping not to miss the gully with the control. It was somewhat risky as I didn't know exactly how far south I went (I usually don't keep pace count...), but it worked.

#12: ran north-west-west, reached the road and proceeded to the intersection. From there into the re-entrant with the control.

#13: went up to the road by the parking lot and used it.Then went to the open field and to the side re-entrant behind it.

And back to the shelter. It took me 71 mins.

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



Huge thank you to all people who organized this event: Michael, Joseph, Ruth, Mihai.

Sep 19, 2010 in North Umstead

North Umstead is my favorite "half" of the park. It's less hilly comparing to the "south", relatively open, thus it's usually a pleasure to run there. It would have been a pleasure today too - Artem and Holly set awesome courses - but right after the second control I got poked in a eye by a small twig and lost one of the contact lenses... That changed everything. Suddenly the course gained elements of a "survival" game. Double vision was no fun... A mixture of blur and perfect picture was quite unnerving, misleading and even dangerous. I actually felt better with one eye closed, but simply couldn't keep it shut. I could still see the map and read the forest and terrain, but observing my immediate surrounding became a challenge. Jumping over trees and ditches was tough - my brain refused to judge distance properly and I ended up falling a few times while attempting to jump over dried creeks. Also it became hard to avoid low branches and cobwebs as well as noticing the actual controls (fortunately Holly set them pretty high, thank you!). Finally I had to take into account my vision deficiency when choosing the routes.

But despite all that, I did rather good. No big mistakes, maybe two or three 1 minute ones. Orienteering was mostly easy with only a few hard legs. Of course, I didn't run uphill at all and also slowed down considerably at the end, but 64 mins on 5.3 km was decent. As far as choosing direction of the run, I picked the one which offered longer run before Red/Green decision point.

Here is how I ran:

#1: south-south-east, carefully watching for the re-entrant to start forming on the other side of the hill. When it was there, simply ran down.

#2: along the creek to the road and continued on the other side along the dry ditch but about 15 yards to the left on the slope. Got to the control, but couldn't spot it for a few seconds.

#3: south-east-east to the road, immediately crossed it and reached the trail. Used the trail thinking about cutting down from the first turn, but saw how many fallen trees were in the green area and continued on the trail until the next turn. From there went across the road and down to the control. Got poked in the eye and lost the lens... Spent some time trying to find it, couldn't and continued further down. Crossed the creek, up the little spur and went south on it looking for the control.

#4: south along the creek, crossed it and went up the hill bearing to the left, so I would be definitely to the left of the control. On the other side went to the right and took the control.

#5: down and long the creek for a bit but quickly went across the hill, re-entrant and up the slope. Then continued on the slope until the dry-ditch with the control.

#6: east, down the slope, crossed the creek, didn't see creeks crossing but could see the re-entrant, used the left slope to get to the control.

#7: tried to reach the road by going up the hill south-south-east, but ended up to far east and reached the road about 100 yards further than I wanted. Used the road until I saw the sharp bend and cut to the control.

#8: to the trail. I didn't even think about going uphill there, so used the trail as much as I could and when I reach the distinct bent went south-west carefully looking for the re-entrant to start forming, It was very flat and quite challenging, but I got there anyway.

#9: went down to the big creek without getting into the side re-entrant and reached the creek right at the junction. That was nice, I simply went up the slope and to the control.

#10: I was getting tired, plus my vision problem, so I decided to stay on Green. Walked up to the west and reached the opening with ruins. There I realized that barbed wire is somewhere in the area. I wouldn't be able to see it in my condition, so I decided to so a bit south so I could definitely avoid it. Then continued west, reached the road, crossed it and continued further west aiming to the hill between two re-entrants around the controls. Crossed the power line and went down the hill to the control.

#11: to the trail and used it as far as I could. However, I didn't realize that the trail is supposed to go away from the creek at the end and continued along the creek, over the rocks to the very dead end by the dam. There I finally realized what happened, but I didn't have much choice and had to literally rock clime out of there. That climb did me in... I was walking most of the way after that. Anyway, after I climbed up I immediately saw the re-entrant and went to the control.

#12: over the hill, crossed the re-entrant, over the next hill aiming a bit to the left, then went to the right to the control.

#13: up north, reached the big building, across the field. Decided to go around the green area from the south, so cut north right after the little building at the end of the field. Missed and reached the creek almost at the opening. Corrected the mistake and went east to the control.

#14: north-west carefully looking for the re-entrant to start forming. Finally reached it, but further north than I wanted. Had to return south a bit to the control.

#15: down to the road and to the control on the other side

and then up the hill crossing everything to the finish. It took me 63 mins 58 secs.

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



Huge thanks to Artem and Holly for the great event!

Aug 29 in Schenck Forest - Results

Got the results out

The data in the download box was a mess... I fixed it the best I could, but I am afraid that some data, like Charles' splits didn't get recorded at all.

Other than that I am happy with the way event went. I feel like my goal of making a challenging set of courses at Schenck was achieved. We always used to do something simple there: Score-Os and such, while in fact the forest has bigger potential. Especially during summer time.

P.S. And I got some fried chanterelle mushrooms out of it - got a bunch when setting up controls on Saturday :)

Ready

Everything is ready! I believe it is the first time I have every single control set a day before the event, so I can arrive at the same time as everybody else and still be on time :)

Tanya helped me to set controls this afternoon, so there will be some inconsistency in the controls high. She was merciful and set her controls about half meter from the ground, while mine are mostly lying on the ground with one corner slightly sticking up.

The idea of this course is that you absolutely have to find the small feature the control is on before you'll be able to see the control. No looking from far away or even from 10-15 meters away.

I also just realized that I missed two controls when designing the courses. That is I had 28 ribbons set, but used only 26 of them. Bummer...

Aug 29 in Schenck Forest event is approved

Just got an approval for the Aug 29 event and designed the courses. It won't be a score-O this time. Actually nothing tricky (well, almost, there will be some tough vegetation crossings), but the courses will be "sprinty" in nature. Just to give you a teaser:

• Blue: 6.6 km, 26 controls
• Red: 5.9 km, 23 controls
• Green: 5.1 km, 21 control
• Brown: 4.0 km, 17 controls