Lazy Weekend

Rather than squeeze in one more monster training, we all decided to scale things back and take advantage of the taper theory. That didn't keep us from doing a little somethin somethin though.

For Lisa & I, Saturday night was spent running around in the woods with our spouses at the Georgia Orienteering Club's annual night-O even at Cochran Mill. It was chilly and dark at the start, but our Niterider Moabs always do a ridiculously good job of turning night into day, so spotting the controls wasn't so bad. It was a mass-start, score-O format with a 90 minute time limit, which essentially means you can go in any order and the winner is whoever gets the most number of punches in the least amount of time. Not wanting to get wet in the cold, my wife Eva instituted a "no river crossing" restriction so our route choice was largely governed by that, but after hearing a few horror stories it probably was a good thing we stayed on the south side. We still managed to bag 16 controls and came in with 30 seconds to spare. Chris and Lisa bagged 16 as well, but they crossed the river which I heard by a few people was a tougher section to locate points.

It was the first time I'd attended a meet since GAOC purchased their E-punch system and it was pretty darn cool not having to fumble for my punchcard at each control. Even better, it's the same system that will be used at the USARA Nationals this Friday. They even printed out our results & split times within a minute of finishing. The coolest part about the system is that a day later, once the data was all loaded, you can view everybody's order/route choice via the internet and watch an animated version of everyone. It doesn't track people by GPS, so you have to manually draw in your specific route, but since the system keeps track of the split times, it generally is fairly accurate with your route:
http://www.forreststokes.com/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.pl
This is a great analysis tool for anyone wanting to learn more about the techniques that orienteerers use. Months ago, I guess there was a debate on whether GAOC should procure the E-punch system, but I'm so glad they did. It really does enrich the whole experience.

Yesterday, Eva and I visited Kennesaw Mountain for a little tourist hiking at sunset. Not quite epic, but I was a great evening to be out instead of sitting at home watching foosball on TV.

Not sure what James was up to, but knowing him, he probably bagged a triple century with his roadie crew.

Last night was spent packing food and gear for the big trip. T-minus 3 days.