Ryan here:
After a couple days of recovery, Hansel and I are quite excited that we had the opportunity to race in this year's race. Hansel was recruited on a very good relay team that finished in fourth place and he did the 26 mile road bike section, had a small break, and then did the orienteering section for his team. I only learned about the race 2 weeks before the event and was recruited to a team that needed an orienteer runner. The orienteer section was not all that complex as it consisted of a map that was given to you at the start of the leg that had 3 checkpoints and 2 safety checks which had to be located and you had to place a poker chip with your team number in a box at the point. This leg is approximately 11 miles in total.
My training for the race was not even close to being up to par but I knew I could finish. The race started out pretty simply on a township dirt road and turned onto a game lands road. A few miles of scenic double track eventually led to the area where I needed to locate the first checkpoint. I knew exactly where I was but I didn't trust myself. There was a trail that I took that I thought would lead right to the point but I doubted my thought and began to backtrack in order to regroup on my exact position. After wasting some good time trying to convince myself that I knew where I was and losing one of my Nathan bottles from my running belt (lesson learned) another racer was headed to the point that I was initially on track for. We confirmed locations on the map together and after a few minutes of searching the checkpoint was found. As I approached the point, 3 runners were departing from the point and the gentleman that helped me figure out where the box was were already running towards the next point. So 4 miles in and I was just passed by 4 runners and I lost one of my bottles, great.
With 3 bottles left and 4 chips to drop, I chomped on some Gatorade energy chews, gulped some water, and pressed on. The great thing about being passed by a few people is that the trail is rather beat down in parts and you can see where others had been already. I knew going into the race that this wasn't a good plan of attack but these tracks were going where I thought I should be going and was a good mental boost. As I cut across a clearing, not only did the other runners tracks disappear but so did the terrain. I wasn't 100% on my exact location because the topo map wasn't updated for a couple of years and I had to make a decision based on what I could see off in the distance. I could see a valley that was east-to-west orientation and I knew the direction of travel that I just came from, so I took a gamble and headed straight down the rather steep terrain. After twisting/rolling both my ankles I came across another double track game lands road, woohoo!
A few hundred yard jog and I reached one of the two safety checkpoints. Dropped my chip in the box, swigged some water and had another gatorade gummie. Then it was decision time: either cross a creek now (which meant getting wet) and try to shave off a quarter mile or run on an established path this side of creek and try to locate a good creek crossing closer to the point. I decided on the later and ran on the hip-high grass-covered road until I knew I was directly across from the second checkpoint. It was at this time that I assumed that whoever put this checkpoint across the creek was a bit loony because I had to come back across the stream to get to my next point. A cold ford across a rather orange creek led me right to the point and crossing back over at exactly the same spot, I continued running on the "road".
After the water squished out of my shoes I had really started to feel the pains coming on. My feet were starting to really cramp but everything else seemed to be okay. Over half-way through the race I started to feel like I was really getting somewhere and then I realized I was out of water. I had gatorade in one bottle and water in 3 but lost one of the waters so I was desperate for some H2O. A fresh stream from the hillside, that I confirmed with my map had only mountainside origins, was my mid-run sanctuary. I quick refill of my water and I was gone again, sort of. With the foot cramping issue going on, I had really slowed my pace at this point and was running only about 50 percent on good surface. When the terrain changed or mud became prevalent, I was walking. So it took a good while to get to the next safety check.
The safety check was at an intersection of trails and a hard-packed dirt road so I had a 2 minute siesta on the guardrail wondering why I signed up for the race. Yeah I was only on the trail for 8 miles or so but I was getting kinda bored without anyone to talk to. 2 more gatorade gummies, a swig of water, and liquid gatorade chaser was my power for the last bit of the race. A good look at the map and only one more checkpoint to go, I gathered my thoughts and aching feet and started off again. This is that point in the race that you realize that the map is not exactly representative of the surrounding landscape and I had to turn around after a quarter mile jog up a new road.
Finding the appropriate path, I heard some voices coming from the direction of the safety check: sure enough, 2 more runners. I kept ahead of them on a single track trail for over a half mile until the pace of their run/walk caught up to my walk/run. A quick chat on the hoof broke up a mile or so until we came across the area of the last checkpoint. We headed up through a gulch laden with big rocks and small boulders and located the last point together. One of the runners and I headed back down to the trail and the other cut across the woods to try to gain a little distance on us. A few hundred yards down the trail we met up with the other guy again.
The single track worked its way through some beautiful hemlock and hardwood stands and eventually put us out on a dirt road that was our finish. I tagged my teammate that was running the last leg of the race and finally realized I didn't have to run anymore. My feet were hurting and I was quite thirsty. Overall it was a great run and it was an awesome event to be a part of. Next year I have some higher ambitions for myself and this race so let the training begin!
Thanks to my mom and Jody for being our support crew and great job to Hansel for being a hoss and doing 2 legs of the race.
This is the results this year's race.
This is more info on the race.
*Please note that I left out direction of travel and exact data points to maintain some anonymity with the course. You're lucky I told you I crossed the creek and I was on a single track trail. If I like you or you are on my team, we can get more specific, otherwise - good luck!
