Not Dead Yet !: a rogaine: tough but fair :-)

Today, Deb & I spend six hours on a rogaine. That is, six hours walking in Julimar Forest, following a map & using a compass, looking for controls.

We walk 19km in six hours, with about 20 minutes of that just sitting, eating a late lunch. Overall average speed: 3.1kph -- which is the speed that we have been walking for years.

So for me -- and this blog: I'm pleased with the time & distance. Yes, it was a 12 hour rogaine, we would -- historically -- have walked at the same speed but for 10 or 11 hours. At the end of this six hours I am so tired that I can barely walk up hill. Still... I did not expect to walk so far, I would not have believed I *could* walk so far.

I am pleased with my level of "bush walking" fitness.

And I have discovered -- rediscovered -- that physical exhaustion does not always relate to sleepiness. I am blogging because I am not sleepy. Adrenaline? Endorphins? Whatever it is... I'll remind myself of this discovery when next I am too tired to go for a run :-)

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And now I'll write up some other interesting bits of the rogaine. Nothing to do with the theme of this blog. Just some points -- my eternal self-analysis -- which need clearing from my mind. Writing them down clears them from my mind... and I enjoy the writing.

When I am tired and can hardly walk up the final hill, Deb walks too fast. It's always like that, Deb walks faster on tracks, I walk faster through the bush. Today, Deb walks behind me -- despite being on a wide road. That way, I can set the pace without having the constant feeling that I must keep up with Deb. It works.

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For most of the event my navigation is good. I'm always the navigator, Deb corrects me when I go wrong. Today, though, Deb doesn't notice when I head off in exactly the wrong direction. Not often that I do that! Within a minute I realise my mistake, we head off in the correct direction. But I am showing signs of being tired.

A couple more successful control finds. I am now feeling tired and decide to drop one planned control, to head home a little sooner. We follow a convenient trail-bike track... which leads the wrong way. I get off that track, head in a better direction... and realise that I am completely lost.

Now here's something interesting about my attitude to being lost... starting with some explanation:

Deb & I enjoy rogaining with Deb's sister. She has joined our team several times in the last few years. Not this time; she and her husband are away. The sister is good company, with interesting conversation. When the three-way conversation lags, she and Deb chat like... well, like sisters, I guess.

For me there is an added bonus. My standards for attractive women include, If a woman looks like Deb then that woman is attractive. Deb and her sister look enough alike to obviously be sisters so there is an automatic attraction. The fact that they are so clearly different just adds to the attraction. So I am walking through the bush with two attractive women.

Today -- when I am lost -- I realise that there is a major difference in my attitude to the two women. Well, I already knew that. Today just provides an obvious example.

When we are lost -- just Deb & me -- I am worried about being lost. I know that Deb does not like being lost so I worry because I know that Deb is worried. I don't like it when Deb is worried. For myself, I know that I will eventually work out where I am. I know that "lost" is only temporary. Yet I am worried because I know that Deb is worried.

I am also annoyed because I like to show off my navigational skills. I enjoy the occasional praise from Deb, when I successfully find a difficult control.

With the sister, it is my navigational success which is more important. This is me, showing off my skills with map and compass :-) Look at the size of my... navigational brain! The sister -- as far as I can tell -- shares my understanding that lost is only temporary. So I don't worry that she is worrying. Yet I prefer to preen my navigational feathers -- for both these attractive women -- by *not* getting lost.

Different women, different attitude. I knew that. Today gives me a clear example of the difference.

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For myself, being tired affects my navigation. Yes, it makes me more likely to make mistakes. Worse than that, being tired makes me less likely to want to correct my mistakes...

Less likely to want to correct my mistakes?! Rogaining involves using a map and compass to find controls -- markers -- in the bush. Find as many -- or as few -- as you can, in a given time. If you are running out of time you can simply head to the finish without finding any more controls.

So when I am tired -- I don't want to look for any more controls. I just want to... get to the finish, so I can relax. Today -- when I am lost -- I focus all my efforts on getting to a track, identifying which track it is -- and following it to the finish.

What a mess! What a shemozzle, what a navigational failure :-( Back home, I look at the map and work out where we actually went.

When we are lost, I focus on finding a track to the control that I want to find... and walk within easy range of another control! I want a control to the north, so all my efforts get us to the north. If I had travelled a short distance west, I would have found a different track... probably worked out where we were -- then found that nearby control. Even the control to the north would have been easy from that western track.

Instead, I fix my mind on one control, don't look carefully enough at the map, miss one control before finally becoming un-lost. And then -- in my tired and cranky state -- I refuse to even look for the control which is within a five-minute walk.

So I miss one control which I should have noticed was nearby, then I miss another which I *know* is nearby. And take the easy -- follow-the-track -- walk to the finish.

Oh tsk, tsk. How embarrassing :-(

I've done that before, when I'm tired. Refused to leave the straight path for fear of being lost. But I believe that today's example is my worst... so far!

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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