Is it Now?

Circuit of Glenmacnass

I had high hopes for this race, figuring I'd have a chance of a 6th, 7th,8th sort of placing, to go with my 7th from Ballybraid, and thus move up the ranking in the Leinster Championship. I was basing this on the fact that the field can be sparse on this longer race (19k), and its notorious for people going astray, which I figured my recent recce would help me avoid. About 30 or 40 set off on a very misty day, visibility was going to be very poor up on the mountains. I took a few (legal!) shortcuts through vegetation, and caught up with the leaders after a k or so. Once we got onto Brockagh, the mist and cloud were thick, so runners started to go astray at this early stage. I followed the leading pack a bit, until I felt they were going off course, and my compass was backing up this hunch, so I ceased my chase and took off down another track. Managed to get back to the proper Brockagh West summit, and set off for Tonlagee. I was mainly relying on my compass for direction, and thankfully I managed to find the racing paths I had from my recce. Hit the climb for Ton, and again everything was going to plan.
But at the summit, confusion reigned! You could hardly see two meters ahead, and runners had maps out, one guy darted off down to the left, I took my line from Wednesday's line of stones, and set off down the hill. Down the exact path two runners were doubling back up! This was a bit disconcerting, but the compass had been working so far, so I figured I'd trust it, and bolted down. Wasn't too long before I got a bad feeling, and I mulled over climbing back to the summit (like the other two) and trying again. But in the heat of a race, its all too easy to push ahead, and before long I was lost. I figured I'd gone the wrong way round the lake, and was progressing cautiously because I knew there was a steep drop into the lake somewhere about (and I was still running in a cloud). After maybe 10 minutes of wilderness, I knew I had DNF'ed the race, and my compass told me I was way off. I got to some high ground to see if I could scout any landmarks, and just saw a road in the distance through the cloud. It might have been the road to Glenmacnass waterfall, so I ran towards it. As I passed a group of 12 or so middle aged hikers, I asked them was this the road to the waterfall?
-Frank, Frank, is this the road to the waterfall, he want's to know?
-Which waterfall? said Frank, happy to show off his navigation skills to his group.
-Glenmacnass, says I
-O, you're way off. WAY off, says Frank, thrilled to have the chance to put someone right; this is the Wicklow Gap!
-Alright, cheers, I said, and ran off towards the road, with a bleating chorus of delighted harpies repeating "WAY off! Way off!" as I ran past.

Either this is Karma biting me in the ass for what I said about hikers a few posts back, or just proves my point that hikers are lower down the pecking order and have a chip on their shoulder...;)

Anyway, I hit the road, recognized where I was, and head off for Laragh. Along the way I went via St Kevin's trail, which I'd never done before, very nice. No consolation for how bad I felt handing back my number, and getting a DNF recorded though:mad: In summary, its my own fault, I'm pi$$ed because I was felling great on the top of Ton, and was confident of a good place, but fell victim to my own stupidity. It's going to be a long year waiting to put this result right... and now I need to run well at Mount Leinster AND Fraughan Rock Glen, in order to get a decent score in the championship.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. About 30k 28k in total.

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Not like you Paul - but put it down to experience and motor on!

Cheers, that's about all I can do!

I'm doubly pi$$ed now, I'm studying the contours of the map now at home, versus my compass bearings, and I did take the correct route of Tonlagee after all, shoulda just went with my gut instinct, instead of doubting when I saw the two guys walking up. I then went too far east, and got lost, and ended up doubling back. GRRR!

Stark wrote: »

I think you were the guy I called back at one point on the way to Brockagh West (I had just realised my own mistake at that point).

Thanks for that Stark! It was a mess up there, nothing to see at all.

Stark wrote: »

Problem with over-relying on the compass is the grid lines on the Harvey's map point to True North I think rather than Magnetic North so you need to add about 6 degrees of correction.

Bingo! That's a basic navigation error I made then. All the times I used to compass to mimic my recce bearings, worked, and all the times I used the compass off the map, had an error. I've been scratching my head trying to work out how I went wrong off Ton, those few degrees would have given me the correct angle to the waterfall. Ah well, as you say, roll on the Nav challenge!

Great result there SJ, well done! It was weird bumping into you on three occasions prior to Tonlagee. Buy us a pint some day and i'll show you those short cuts I took:D

Woddle wrote: »

That looks painful
I wish you a quick recovery

I'm now stuck on about 950 miles in the challenge- you said early on you were gunning to beat me... now's yer chance!:D

Ok, so its almost four weeks since my injury, and I finally got out for a jog tonight. 5 easy k, with my kids on their bikes for company, worth waiting for. Since I moved from barfly to runner three years ago, the running bug has implanted itself firmly. There's levels of addiction/obsession, and mine was I'd say middling, about the level where you plan your summer holidays around races. If the OH complains about the dates, you'd change them, but not without letting her know she owes you, big time. Like, you've got a pass for a brief affair, should the opportunity present itself.

Anyway, I never knew what an outlet running is to me, until I lost it. The physio said no running for 4-6 weeks, so I stuck to that, and even now I'm going back cautiously. I pooped a muscle in my calf, it seems better now, I've still a bit of soreness around the achilles tendon, and walk with a strange gait (other muscles compensate). In the back of my mind, I had considered a sneaky DM entry, thats out the window now. I've entered a 10k mid Sept, but there won't be any pb's there. From following other logs here in the past, it can be a big problem coming back too soon, so in that way I'm lucky in that the IMRA season is over now, and I've no real goals to tempt me back too quick. I'll take it handy for the next few weeks.


And then run 19.18 for the 200m, or become an archer in the process:)

--amadeus-- wrote: »

DP in Rotterdam: "I will never run another marathon"
Me: "Ah you say that but you will, wait and see"

It's still 1/nil to me in the wise-old-foreseeing-sage stakes, but I don't know for how long.

Anyway, it won't be this year, I'm still taking baby steps. The leg was hurting a bit from last week, so I kept off it a few days. No matter what, the desire is to lie to yourself that you can come back from injury too soon. In the back of my mind, I had myself starting a four week 10k program by now:rolleyes:, instead, I swam 1.5k in the local pool yesterday, and managed an easy 5k jog this evening. Lovely to drink that fresh autumnal air that's coming down. I may have to take out the bike for some long spins this week.

Got in my longest run yet, an easy 8k with a few small hills. Really just wanted to test the leg a bit. I felt good most of the way around, it is great to be running again, but I turned around for home before the 8k turned into a 14k loop- just as well because the leg started to tighten a bit before home. I was stiff after, but not too much pain today. Reckon I'll be babying this ankle for a while!