Looking at the relay results, I'm satisfied with how we did. I think it would have been a better strategy to run me on the first leg and Peggy on the third leg though. I am sure I could have been in the top few on the first leg giving mean gene a steady stream of folks to follow on the second leg. Peggy would have done no worse than I did on the third leg. My unfamiliarity with the terrain did not help. Mook did a very good job with the second fastest time on the last leg. I am confused by the splits and am pretty sure they are incorrect. I had a big mistake (1 1/2-2 Mins) on the 7th leg and yet the splits have Spike beating me on the 6th leg and not the 7th. I don't believe that could have been correct. I believe Spike would have beaten me on the 7th leg and not on the 6th. I also had anothet mistake on the 5th leg that cost me 1 1/2-2 mins. Both controls that I missed, I missed by not more than 10 meters and ran right by them because they were hidden behind some thick shrubbery (not shown on the map at #5 but shown at #7). I hope we will all be health in 2002 and finally bring home the Gold for OK. How did everybody else feel about the relay?

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), December 12, 2001

Answers

I'd say OK did pretty well. The 4-point team's 5th place is a good result. Mook's run was fantastic - reminiscent of his anchor leg run last year in Mass. The 8-point team was up-and-down. Mary's run on the yellow leg was strong.

Personally, I found it very tough to be unable to run. I'd have liked to be on the 4-point team. Given just a week or so more time, I think I could have helped the team.

It seemed to me that the club's preparation wasn't as good as it has been in the past few years. While people were doing a lot of training and racing on their own, we didn't have an OK training camp, for example. Part of that is my fault. I should have taken a bit of initiative and organized some training sessions around KC (or even a training camp some other place). My only excuse is that I was struggling with my bum knee/leg.

I came away from the Los Angeles relays pleased with the 4-point team's result and looking forward to the next relay champs in Vermont.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 12, 2001.

I believe Spike would have beaten me on the 7th leg and not on the 6th.

I didn't look at the splits on the web, but on the splits that they gave us at the finish, I beat you on 7th leg (5:32 compared to 7:07) and you beat me on the 6th leg.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 12, 2001.

Here are some pics from the champs...

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/okansas.geo/lst? &.dir=/US+relay+champs&.src=ph&.view=t&.last=1

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 12, 2001.

OK, they had the numbers for the legs moved over so that 1 was at the top of the column for Leg 2, 2 was at the top of leg 3, etc.

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), December 12, 2001.

I had lots of fun supporting and cheering the team. I even had fun on my leg, even though I don't like the pressure of relays.

Mook was definitely the star of the day. Here's how the 4 pt team placed after each leg:

9-8-7-5

but here's the placing based on eligible teams (some teams MP): 9/15 - 8/15 - 7/13 - 5/13

On a ratio basis, the 4 pt team was: 1.66 - 1.875 - 1.86 - 2.60

Mook made a huge difference. Good job Mark!

For the 8 pt team, the numbers are: 16 - 15 - 11 - 10 16/18 - 15/18 - 11/14 - 10/14 1.125 - 1.2 - 1.27 - 1.4

-- Mary (maprunner@juno.com), December 12, 2001.

I think we did alright in LA. This year has been a hard one for OK and to some extent just getting teams there, staying in the forefront and making an impression (I shudder to think that we were the only club to bring a gazebo), were enough for a good year. The format got stacked against us too. I think we would prefer that red and green courses are normal length and winning times (or at least those courses could be in correct proportion to the yellow and orange courses). I don't know what the thinking was with that.

I should have been a few minutes faster over my course. I really don't think I could have been 6.5 minutes faster though.

PS --- Welcome to the Triple Digit Club Mary! You've joined some pretty elite company, I must say!

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 12, 2001.

What is the triple digit club? Thanks to everyone on the teams for helping me with Melissa. She is a handful and always on the go. I really appreciate all your help during the weekend.

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), December 12, 2001.

I guess I should weigh in, not just lurk as usual. I was really happy with our result, given replacing stud Spike with steady Mean Gene. Mook had a great run, mine was pretty steady, and Snorkel and Mean Gene had fine runs (ie, I doubt we would have moved up if they both had had clean runs [but I haven't analyzed the splits so perhaps I'm wrong...]). Interesting concept, to switch Dan and me. My knee was bothering me a lot and that may have slowed me over a leg with fewer people to keep me moving. It still hurts so much today that I notice it walking, can't run. So, that might have had a negative effect.

One question I have regards the placement vs non-eligible teams. I know there were some ahead of us after at least the first two legs (eg, Nadim & Paul's) -- but Mary's listing has us as 9th both for eligible and non-eligble (or did I read that wrong?).

Anyway, we could have done a bit better but overall I was very pleased. Next year perhaps we'll all be healthy and well-trained!

-- Peggy (Pdickison@aol.com), December 13, 2001.

Sorry about the confusion over "eligible" teams. I did not use it to mean eligible for US title--I meant eligible in that all 4 runners finished the course. The other teams were ineligible because someone mispunched or DNF'd.

-- Mary (maprunner@juno.com), December 14, 2001.

Relay runs will never be clean for me. #2 was done with a lose of focus - it was stop and go trying to figure out the indistinct trail. Point & shoot (run on a bearing) could have worked for me if I had recognized the control description (trail/stream junction). Forgetting basics like CAR (control - attack point - route). However, #3 was a boom - 5 minutes of wasted time. Actually ran past #8, fished around way beyond before "Eureka! #8, go back - go back". Glad to hear at least we moved up a place. Really PO'd at the end of the run, about relays, etc. But now it has become a challenge to train for the next relay and to run under pressure. Melissa was great to have around - certainly helped keep from getting too worked up before the start.

-- mean gene (gmw@ku.edu), December 14, 2001.

The map with my routes is at:

http://www.geocities.com/okansas.geo/maps/laoc.html

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), December 15, 2001.

Here are some photos (courtesy of Mook).

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/1570/relays01/relays.html

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), December 18, 2001.