Endeavor 2014 Night time

Night time events, Sleep? Night Time Orienteering Another change from last years program, we were going to do our Night Navigation from the staging area downhill toward Spicer Reservoir. This was another good change. This presented the ETC staff with fewer transportation logistics. A minor change that affected us, was the addition of one of the daytime time orientation targets along with as many of the 10 possible night time targets. We would have to go back over the day time target area to find one of ten predetermined targets before heading down toward Spicer. We received #9, one very close to Alpine Reservoir, over 2 miles away, up hill. But the good news was, it was one we had been to just an hour prior, we knew where and how to get there. As we headed out on the shoulder of Hwy 4 I started feeling a minor burning in the soul of my right foot. I had felt the same in my left foot shortly after exiting the swim at Bear Valley Lake hours earlier, but I had shaken it off as gravel in my insole or sock. I had changed socks, cleaned the inside of my shoe, and patched the pain with mole skin. It felt pretty good. now I was starting to feel the same issue on my right foot. No problem, I will take a look at it after Night Nav. We had about 12-14 miles to go, surely the gravel would move away and give me peace soon. We sang a short song as we scampered down the SlickRock Trail at every other team we passed. We told them not to worry about us passing them on the rocks because "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack just be jumping the forest sticks..." We had fun. We found targets, we knew where we were, and where we were going. The only minor issue was the gravel in my shoe and some of the targets solar powered lights must not have received enough sunlight throughout the day. It was like looking for targets in the dark. Ok the dark, with high powered flashlights and a full moon. Oh yeah we used that full moon to its full potential. On a few targets we found without anyone observing us, we were able to hold our position as teams passed us and escape from the area undetected using only the moon light and our stealth. True, it was a little underhanded, and sneaky, but we weren't sure if these were close competition or who. Plus I had been warned about assisting other teams already, (by Jack.) See, he's the competitive one, not me. After coming out on Spicer Reservoir Rd, we made the choice to travel up it about a mile to grab marker #15. As a mile turned into a mile and half, Jack outpaced me as I was really starting to feel the 'gravel' in my shoe as we ran on the smooth pavement. I was more comfortable on the uneven rock and dirt roads in the woods. Jack had found the target, sans solar light, and we were heading back down the road around 1:30 in the morning and I was cringing at every step. As we approached the Utica/ Union road turnoff I made the call to stop so I could check / fix my foot before we carried on to get any more targets. I elevated my foot for a while. I took off my shoe and sock and had Jack do some minor moleskin and duct tape surgery. As he flinched when he looked at and described what he saw on my foot I knew I needed more attention on my 'good' foot. We would have to skip running the extra 3-4 miles to get any more targets and just hobble down to the Night Nav finish location for medical attention and rest before heading out in a couple hours for Final Run. We were the first team in with our 6 acquired Night targets. That put us in 6th for that event. After a quick weight check (I was down to 85.5) and blood test, and more minor moleskin and duct tape repair. The 'gravel' turned out to be a silver dollar sized blister under the balls of the toes on each foot. We grabbed some grub, built our lean-to, unrolled our bags and settled in for a good winters nap. We needed to be ready for Final Run and Battle Drill in 2 and half hours.