Right Ankle

I'm not so sure about my walking plans for this weekend. I think I pushed it just a little too much Thursday night. I probably should have taken the night off. The bottom line is that my right ankle is now sore. It doesn't hurt if I don't put weight on it but when I do it hurts quite a bit. I added insult to injury by walking to the metro Friday morning.

I'm gonna play it by ear but as of right now it looks doubtful that I will be walking any great distance this weekend.

Walking Challenge

I've been walking a lot lately, a whole lot. For a couple weeks now I've been averaging 50+ miles per week. This weekend I'm planning to do a 22-24 mile walk and the following weekend a 28-30 mile walk. Labor Day weekend I want to do my own personal Takoma Park to Shirlington challenge: walk from my apartment to the office and back, which should be 32-34 miles.

I'm probably my own worst enemy. I have a tendency to push myself too hard and injure myself. So far so good. So long as I continue to focus on my form and stop pushing myself to walk faster I think I should be able to do all of these walks.

Walk fast and I won't last. That's my new mantra

Jug Bay Beer Chase - Jun 3, 2012

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The weather was warm but not too warm or too humid for the 2012 Beer Chase.

I forgot to bring my boots so I orienteered in the old pair of walking shoes that I put on that morning. I got my feet a little wet and muddy but not excessively so. The wetlands were not as wet as they often are.

For the most part I did fairly well when it came to finding controls. I made a few mistakes. When leaving the first control in the first loop I made a 45 degree error. I headed ESE when I should have headed ENE. I realized my mistake when I spotted a field that should not have been there. The problem wasn't that I set my compass wrong just that I didn't take notice of how I had the map oriented in my hand.

While searching for the 2nd control on the 2nd Loop I arrived at a control that was on the 3rd loop. Forgetting that I had the map for the 3rd loop on the flip side of the 2nd loop map I took a guess as to where I was and headed off in the wrong direction. It wasn't until after I spent 5 minutes searching for the control unsuccessfully that it occurred toe to flip the map over. After that I found the control fairly quickly.

I overshot the 1st control of the 3rd loop. It was much closer to the field I was coming from than I thought it would be. Also the stream bed on the map where the control was supposed to be was more or less non-existent in reality. So I kept walking east until I found a stream bed, the wrong stream bed. I searched along it for a few minutes without finding the control. After studying the map again it became clear to me that I was searching the wrong stream bed. I headed west and found the control fairly quickly.

I felt pretty good about my performance at the chase but I still finished next to last in my group, not counting MPs and DNFs. I guess the more things change the more they remain the same. I managed to finish ahead of 2 or 3 people who opted to do the short course.

Loop: 1 [6 controls; 2.8 km 85 m]
Time: 47:12

Loop: 2 [5 controls; 1.9 km; 30m]
Time: 38:06

Loop: 3 [5 controls; 1.7 km, 20m]
Time: 30:45

WinSplits - RouteGadget

Photos: Jug Bay 2012

Glen Artney - May 20, 2012

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It was hot, very hot. I should have taken some water with me. I also should have had a little more to eat before I stepped off. I probably made some poor decisions on account of this oversight.

I'm glad I got an early start. It took me just over 4 hours to finish the blue course. That's 1 hour longer than the person who finished just ahead of me. I did have some help. I had company when looking for the first 5 controls but then I was on my own for the next 5. I started to see people again starting with the 11th control.

Some of the controls were well hidden. I found the 12th one fairly easily because I approached it from an odd angle. If I had taken the fastest route to it then I would not have spotted it from quite so far away.

In looking at the results I'm surprised by how many DNFs and MPs there are by experienced orienteers. It wasn't easy but I didn't think it was that difficult. It was more physically challenging than it was navigationally challenging.

Course: Blue [20 controls; 10.1 km; 420 m]
Time: 4:01:36 - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Balls Bluff - May 12, 2012

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It was hot. There were bugs everywhere. I brought a tick home with me.

The course wasn't too difficult although I still managed to make a couple mistakes. I committed my biggest error when I was looking for the 3rd control. The map may be partly to blame; it ain't perfect. My mistake probably cost me 5 or more minutes.

I ran into what might be some unmapped re-entrants when I was looking for the 7th control. I think I ran into the same problem last time I was at Balls Bluff. If I had just stuck with the trail instead of trying to take a short cut I probably would have found that control faster.

Course: Red [16 controls; 7.2 km; 255 m]
Time: 2:19:42 - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Rosaryville - Apr 28, 2012

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In one sense this was probably my least productive orienteering experience ever. I arrived on time. I registered for the blue course and within 10 minutes was on my way. The first two controls were fairly easy to find. They were more or less out in the open and people led me directly to them.
The third control was in a wooded area. To avoid following the person who led me to the first two controls I took a more interesting but less optimal route than I otherwise might have tried. In the process of finding the third control I had to cross a couple deep re-entrants. When I got to the third control I realized that my e-punch had slipped off my finger. I felt like I was just getting started. I was just starting to work up a sweat. My boots were still fairly clean. If I was in a NASCAR race the equivalent would have been wiping out in the first few laps. That's how I felt. I could have finished the course without my e-punch but at the time it felt like that would be a pointless exercise. I tried retracing my path from 2 to 3, unsuccessfully; I did not find my missing e-punch. After searching for about 20 minutes I gave up and headed back to the start. I checked in and let Valerie know I was done and that I had lost my e-punch. I changed my shoes, got in my car, and drove home. That night I got an e-mail from Valerie telling me that someone had found my e-punch.


The weird part is the calm way in which I took it all. I was disappointed but I didn't beat myself up over it. Course: Blue [19 controls; 8.6 km; 220 m] Time: DNF - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Mason Neck - Apr 22, 2012

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I was warned that this was a difficult place to orienteer and that was what I experienced today. What made it difficult is that there were fewer pronounced terrain features than at any other park that I can think of. The fact that it was cold and raining didn't help.

I found all the controls but two of them (6/113 and 14/111) really tested my patience. The first few controls were relatively easy to find. Starting with 6 the level of difficulty increased as the distances between controls became longer and the terrain less distinct.

I misjudged how far I had gone when I was looking for 6 and started circling sooner than I should have. I eventually found a good attack point, a line of telephone poles. Even with the help of the telephone poles I might have walked right past it if it weren't for another orienteer who ran right up to it just when I was about to walk past it. At the time the control was no more than 20 feet from me.

I almost gave up on 14 after circling around a few times. I must have passed very close to it two or more times before I finally found it. I think I got lucky with most of the other controls between 6 and 14. In other words I got into the general vicinity of where they were and then spotted them fairly quickly.

The weather was crappy. It was cold (enough) and it rained the whole time I was out there. I got completely soaked. My fingers were numb and didn't want to function properly when I noticed one of boots had come undone. It took me a few minutes to retie it. I was very happy that I brought a full change of clothes. The floor in the rest room where I changed was very cold but I felt so much better after I did.

I am very happy that I found all the controls. The only thing worse than getting soaked would have been getting soaked and not completing the course.

Course: Red [16 controls; 6.9 km; 50 m]
Time: 2:53:14 - WinSplits - RouteGadget