Day 1: Dalrulzion (3.0 km 175 m climb 11 controls 75:51)
Roger and I finally arrived in Edinburgh one day plus one hour late after leaving JFK (New York) about one day plus 2:20 late. Bumped into First Class (FC) seats. Waiting for a plane to leave, was just as stressful as sitting in the back of the plane, albeit, a bit more comfortable. The problem – the FC toilet was broken.
By the time we got in the air, we didn’t even want the meal or even the wine/port options. I waited until we were in the air long enough to leave our seats, used the recently repaired bathroom, took a sleeping pill, and slept on and off until breakfast was served. Roused myself enough to have breakfast, since I knew I needed to think about food in relationship to my start time, and it was quite good/adequate.
Landed safely, went through passport control (painless), and then through Customs (also painless since no one was there).
Sandy was waiting for us in the arrival area, and we were finally off to Dulrulzion near Blairgowrie. Huge props to Sandy for coming back down many miles to pick us up. Miles magnified by the fact that she was driving on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission on the other side of what we are used to in the U.S.
We arrived at the meet site before 12:30, important since each day’s event involved a one way entry into and out of the meet site. You had to be there before 12:30, and then you could not leave before 12:30.
I stretched my legs with the walk to the start which was about 2200 meters and took ~30 minutes. My start time arrived, I punched the start box, and then I picked up my map.
I tried to be careful, and I don’t really remember much about this day, though it turned out to be my highest placement of the week – 39/80. I wasn’t clean, but mostly I kept my act together.
The route choice from 4-5 was not a good one, but it was a safe one for me to go up and follow the fence line, especially after the error from 3-4 shook me up a little. I wouldn’t see the ride to the right until Sandy pointed it out later.
It would turn out that a theme of sorts for the week would be fences – good, bad, and ugly. So, in that vein, I navigated correctly to the mandatory fence crossing leading into the last two controls. From the last control to the finish, I took a spectacular tumble, but I managed to roll out of the way of the all of the runners following close behind me. Unfortunately, both calves cramped up, and I was unable to get up and continue for a minute or so.
Finished and downloaded.
Sandy sprained her ankle but completed her course and would be able to complete the rest of the week. I found Roger waiting for her outside of the medic vehicle.
Roger really enjoyed the time he spent in the finish area. He talked to people in the club tents and to the rep from Trimtex.
The drive from the meet site to our lodgings at the Logierait Pine Lodges was a bit hairy. With Roger behind the wheel, we drove many miles on a “minor” road. It was very frightening with many cars coming towards us at high speed on the curvy, narrow roads. We scraped the side of the car on a fence. At least we didn’t hit another car, or a squirrel…see bottom of the sign in the picture below.
We stopped at the Co-op in Pitlochry and got dinner ingredient so that Roger could cook. Then it was off to our lodging for the week. We stayed in the Logierait Pine Lodges.
