Here is the Susquehanna Stumble '06, Fair Hill map.
And here are
a handful of pics.
I was able to spectate this race at 4 different points on the course. As I usually
am running myself, it is otherwise hard to spectate, so this was a nice treat. So,
here is another incentive to course set.
The first point was just south of the road on the first loop, on the right route choice
on the long leg between windows. Eddie was leading, followed by Ken and then Clem; no
more than a minute separating the three of them. A minute or two further back were
Nadim and Ted.
The next spectating point was in the field between #16 and #17; Eddie came out of the
forest first, on a right route, followed by Ken on a left route. Eddie tried to
punch thru to #17, while Ken went around the green to the left. Eddie's first punch
thru failed, and I'm not sure if he punched thru elsewhere or went around, or who got
to the control first. I was watching Clem coming next, who did manage to punch thru
and gain a little ground. Still less than a minute separating the three. No sign
of Nadim and Ted.
Next point was at #31, where I hid behind a tree, trying to take pics with a 1/15
shutter spend and no tripod. Needless to say, they didn't make the cut. Anyway,
Ken came in first along the stream; Clem came in about 15 seconds later, but on top,
and since it was 3.5m earthbank, foot of, lost a bit of time climbing down. Ken
then took the low route towards #32, while Clem appeared to be taking the more
direct, higher route (tho he may have changed once hitting the trail a few lines
above the stream). Clem seemed about 25 seconds behind, and appeared to look for
Ken on the low route, but he was out of contact (as far as I could tell). No
sign of Eddie after a minute or two so I left to get to
the next point, since, with the bum knee, I had to walk pretty slowly.
#31 to #32 is intentionally the way it is: a slower, safer left route and a
faster, higher more direct route that is more risky to execute. It would have
been easy to make the safer route more expensive, but I did it this way. It
is what it is. Anyway, I was curious if Clem was going for the high route to
make up the time, (or if he was going that way at all), and if he would, in
fact, make it up. My next watch point was the GO control, where Ken had a
minute lead on Clem. I don't know what they did, but the limited spectating
was fun in any case.
Well, since I'm injured, loyal reader(s) know what that means, and that is that
I have to write about music. Everytime I do, the injury resolves itself, therefore
I should continue doing so. And people wonder why primitive man developed
superstition. I don't, but do wonder why modern man does, and why he further
builds it into such baroque structures that he'd go to war over, but that is
a topic for another time. Anyway, were I not to write about music, I'd write
about wine, and if I did that, I'd recommend (for under $10) the Two Vines
Columbia-Crest 2003 shiraz [sic]; but, I'm probably the wrong person to write
about wine. Good stuff tho -- I've had it on 2 separate occasions, and I think
its a keeper.
Onto the music, no specific band to write about tonite, but the first few
songs of one of the many mix albums I've built from downloads seem worth
mentioning. I think the following songs are a killer way to start a download
album --
- Workers Song by Dropkick Murphys
- Better Off On My Own by Sum 41
- Fall Behind Me by The Donnas
- The Hunger by The Distillers
- Mexican Wine by Fountains of Wayne
- Coma Girl by Joe Strummer and the Mescelaros
- Portions for Foxes by Rilo Kiley
