SLOC S-F

Bagged an overall win today in the SLOC Orienteering meet at S-F Scout Ranch. That's not really setting the bar very high since the only other locals who can match my nav on technical terrain are Rick Armstrong (who's well over 60) and David Frei (who has ALS). Still it's always better to win than to lose. More importantly, I felt like I was navigating fairly well, which was a pleasant surprise given how little practice I've put in lately.

The boom going to 2 was simply inattention; it was easy to fix once I realized I'd gone too far. Five was a more serious problem. At least part of it can be blamed on the fact that the map is pretty old and the vegetation boundaries have moved a bit. Mostly, though, it was just a classic case of missing. What I like about that leg is that I didn't spend anty time wandering. I immediately realized I'd missed and took the hit relocating off the trail. That's the difference between a 2-minute and 10-minute mistake. Hoping that you'll fix it quickly by looking around is not a sound strategy; if it was an easy fix, you wouldn't have missed it in the first place.

The boom at 13 looks way worse than it was. I intentionally aimed off to the right knowing the lake would catch me. When it did, the adjustment was trivial. Because I was running full speed the whole leg, I don't think I lost more than 30 seconds on that one.

I love S-F. I've always said it's our best map (though I certainly understand the case for Hawn). I was happy to run fairly well today. It was a very fine day in the woods.