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This was my third year of competing in this 3 day event. Friday was a standalone o-meet at McIntosh Reserve Park. Time to dust off the ole compass and work on my nav skills as I work towards my big A event in October, USARA Nationals in Bend, Oregon!
Temps were in the low 50's ... perfect! I had just gotten my Tifosi prescription eyewear and was wearing them for the first time. My brain was a little slow in adjusting to the prescription, so when the gun went off, I had a little difficulty in seeing the map. I shoulda just taken a bearing, but there were trails, so I started off on them, figuring I would pace count and then attack. Welp, 15 minutes later, I finally found the damn thing. I did not go far enough on the trail before I attacked and then went to far and hit another trail that served as a handrail. Jeezy-pete! My brain just did not want to wake the f up!
Fortunately, I was able to get the remaining 13 controls with ease, each taking about 2-4 minutes. Total time was 58:53, good enough for third in my class. The one plus I had was the ability to move much quicker off-trail, as compared to last year. I could actually run, hold a bearing, and hit the controls spot on or within 20 meters. I attributed this to all the time spent running the Cumberland Trail.
Saturday and Sunday both took place at Chattahoochee Bend State Park. Saturday's temps were the same, but with cloudy conditions and wind, I layered a little more. Saturday's course was on the eastern side of the park, I was told that the course designer said it was one of the hardest he had ever created. That gave me pause for concern. The first 2 controls I nabbed in no time. The 3rd one gave me a little trouble, as it was hidden in a thicket of small pines at the edge of a large slab of granite. I found the correct slab, but had a hard time seeing the control. There were a few of us looking for the same one and eventually a fella saw it. This one took me a little over 9 minutes to get, my hardest for the day. The others seemed to fly by and I was so proud of my ability to hold a bearing and see features on the map, as I was running by them.
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My time for Saturday was 1:16:47, only 4 minutes off 1st place. And since the actual CUP was a cumulative time for just Saturday and Sunday, perhaps I had a chance to challenge Patty Carrigan.
The temperature for Sunday was a lot cooler, in the 30's. Why I was so fearful of being cold, I dunno. I layered perfect and my extremities were happy the entire time. Navigating to the first control caused me a bit of a headache, as there was almost too much information on the map: multiple trails, roads, campgrounds, which caused my head to sping. I had to keep stopping and orienting myself. In hindsight, it probably would have been faster running up the road, but you don't get a chance to preview the map. You don't get to turn your map over until the gun goes off. CP1 was an easy find; it just took 2 minutes longer than it should have.
The terrain was a lot flatter than Saturday's, so it behooved me to stay on my bearing. Of course, this caused me to go a bit slower. I was doing good until I went for CP8, about 450 meters from CP7, almost due North. Had I been holding my bearing, I shoulda passed by the water station, on a hilltop. Never saw that. I think I ended up straying a bit NW, as I started seeing what I thought was the approach to the river. I did come upon a control; it was CP9! Yep, strayed way off course. At least now, I could shoot a bearing back to CP8, about 250m away. Nabbed 8, then reversed and went back to 9. This mistake cost me 5-7 minutes.
The last 2 controls were quickly obtained. I finished with a time of 1:17:30, bested by first by 11 minutes. Dang it!
Overall, I finished in 2nd place. I had an absolute blast. And hopefully learned from my hiccups.
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