Camp Prairie Schooner (Sept 16, 07)

Sunday - day 2 - got the chills the night before and almost missed this one. Slow start and didn't have a great plan on route selection. At gun, thought either 3 or 2 would be a good starting point; opted for 2, got crowded at 1, so I skipped (why?) 1 figuring I might not finish the course and call it quits about 30 min. Anyway, Larry Rink missed the turn to go to 15, so Paul Clatterbuck and I headed north to 15, then Larry zoomed by us. I couldn't keep up with either of them and decided picking up 16 would save me the climb later (west to 16, then retraced steps to trail to 15, then almost missed the faint trail to get to 21. Area is very reminiscent of Camp Naish with faint trails, clusters of hue rocks broken off from outcrop lines; lots of campsite pads and small buildings. Mary Jones left 21 before I did on her way to 24. I was trying to slide up to 18, but ended up verring on to the trail to 24; then up to 18, 23, 14, 19, up 13, trail to 20, 8, 11, followed Kelly Sumner to 10, then 17, then on way to 22 saw the stupidity in getting 17 first, then fearing the darker green up from 17, took the trail by 10 and all the trails to 7. Then seeing I had a lot of time left to finish in under an hour, went to 9 (clearly botched the route choices), then 6, 5, 4, 3, and 1.

49:11. 3rd. OK for a sicky.

Harrisonville Score O

Having only entered 2 O' meets last season, the 2007 season started off with 2 event the same weekend (Sept 15-16). The Jerry Tabb Road Trip Orienteering Event was held at the Harrisonville (MO) city park - a 1:7500 map made by Kelly Sumner - and the event was listed as not a PTOC event, so refreshing to have a new meet director and event sponsor.

My route: 24-23-22-21-18, then wanted to go to 20, but made a parallel error going to 19, then headed east like I was leaving 20 for 19. Mucked around before figuring out the problem. Then continued: 20-19-17-16-14-13-12-11-10-9, ran back to 5, then was sloppy and missed 6 and 7, so headed to 8, then picked up 7-6-4-3-2-1.

Lee's Eighth Promise

Reading William Poy Lee's Eighth Promise. Lee is a Toisan-American and the similarities of his growing up experiences, even though he was in San Francisco and I in Wichita, are more than our differences.
Toisan perceived by many as the hick dialect of Chinese - yea.
Herbal soups were a battle ground with my Mom, too.
I could figure out most of his romanized Toisan words; this is digging back to 50-year ago.
He's had more success in blossoming into a lawyer, activist and writer. Is the Toisan roots that important for every Toisan-American to get his act together?
Would a visit to the home village be enlightening or as some who've gone back, a trial of grubby "relatives" demanding tribute to those you suffered and did not get away?

Upscale Indian Restaurants

The NY Times reported on a few upscale Indian Restaurants in London and mentioned Hot Stuff as a great less pricey traditional small establishment to try.

Psycho Wyco - Runners with Loose Screws?

Are they crazy to run on icy trails on the hills at Wyandotte County Lake Park? The event name is Psycho Wyco. The sponsors are the Kansas City Trail Nerds. Trail running is catching on around the country and the Feb 10th event proved these die hard serious, fun runners know what they're doing.

Loose screws? If you were doing the 50K (3 lap) race and came into the first lap aid station, you may have lost your screws. The ones on the bottom of your shoes. Trail Nerds had been heralding this simple fix to fight the icy trail conditions all winter. At the aid station like any horse out for a long run, you need to be reshod. A team of volunteers with power drills and ample supply of ammo "screwed" any runner's shoe in need of a fix.

This created the miracle on ice - traction on a sloped skating rink. But there were plenty of falls - some harder than others.

For Lawrencians, Psycho Wyco's aid station support is like an Octoginta for trail runners. A a laid-back attitude, along with serious prep (screws), good food and great support crews - all make this event your should put on your calendars for next year.