Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Sunday, December 15, 2002 Respect the greenYesterday I wrote that after an O' technique session you should ask yourself, "what did I learn today?"Today I learned to respect the green, especially at Landahl Park. Landahl is an area on the east side of Kansas City. It's a decent map (needs some updates to show the new mountain bike trails). It has some of the thicker/thornier terrain in the Kansas City area. Mary and I ran at Landahl this morning. The map below shows a big boom I made on the third control of our course (my route is marked with red arrows on trails and red dashes in the forest). The control itself is easy. But, the route choice is difficult. There is not easy way to get straight to the control. 
I started off fine. I stuck to the mountain bike trails and kept track of where I was going. About half way through the leg, I bumped into a major new trail. At first I thought about following it (it was running straight whereas the trails I was using wound a lot). After a hesitation, I decided to just stick to my plan. My plan was to go to the point marked "A", cut through a hundred meters or so of green (going north east), then pick up the trail to the control. It seems like the best route. The problem with a route is that it has to be both a good decision and well executed. I screwed it up. I didn't have enough respect for the green. When I left the trail at "A", I immediately hit a fallen tree and some thorns. I started thinking about getting through the thick woods and about moving. I stopped thinking about navigating. I left myself be lead by the thickness of the forest (i.e. going where it was less thick). Instead of going due north-east, I went just a bit east of due north. It didn't take long to realize I was off, but I didn't see any point in just standing and trying to relocated. I knew I was in a bland, green area with lots of thorns. The best idea seemed to be to just keep going and find a trail or at least some nicer woods. I saw a few old overgrown trails (not on the map) and eventually bumped into a mountain bike trail. I was clearly beyond the control and it didn't take long to see exactly where I was. I was a good 150+ meters north of the control. I could either go back through the green, or just run on the trail and go all the way around the green. I decided to go all the way around. My time for the leg, which is only about 750 meters, was 13:19! Ouch. My route wasn't so bad, but my execution was terrible. I should have known better than to stop thinking about where I was going when I was in the green. Mistakes in the green are especially easy to make and cost a lot of time. I should have known better. The rest of the course went much better! posted by Michael | 3:22 PM 
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