orienteering race 36:38 [4] *** 3.4 km (10:46 / km) +100m 9:24 / km
spiked:9/12c shoes: soccer shoes
Big contours were familiar to me, but not the slippery gullies. Coming out of 2, I climbed the spur while someone else climbed a ditch, and I was amazed at how much slower I got up the side of the gully.
To 4, I took the road to the junction while I practiced reading ahead. Then I took a bearing and was able to leave the control quickly with a plan. Crossed the stream, then had a nice trail run.
Ran trail on first half of 6, left on a bearing then was confused when I was on a skinny little ridge. Then I saw my marker was down and hopped off to my left, but I still couldn't make the contours match what I thought I was seeing on the ground. I kept going and saw the marker off to my left.
Quickly ran to road, where I made the rest of my plan: run the trail to the corner of the parking lot, aim for the tip of the first gully, then run to the tip of the 2nd gully. I left the parking lot and was on a pace count, but I did not know how many paces it was to the first gully. By the time I started to get worried, I saw a marker. I ran to it, and it was my number 8. I took a short bearing and hit 7 easily. I ended up with a 5:06 on the leg, which was a reasonable time; I think I may have lost a minute.
Then I got careless on my way to number 8, since I'd already been there and because of the shortness of the leg. This time, I was not pace counting. I was running with someone else, and I was trying not to get left behind. If he was on my course, he punched without me realizing. I ended up too far left and hit a trail before the downhill to the stream started. I stood for awhile trying to look at the trails, but they were confusing me. Then, I finally only payed attention to the direction of the trail in front of me. I took a bearing and started to see countours again, and I found my marker. I probably lost about 3 min. This will be easier to judge when the splits get posted.
Ran to the trail, ran down the spur from right before the trail bend, saw Mike and Nadim running from different directions to my rootstock. I was able to follow Mike up the horrible slippery hill instead of trying to keep track of where the marker was while also trying to climb.
We had the same idea for my 10, which was cross the ditch and take the trail to the marker, having bypassed the trail bends that looked like bunny-rabbit ears. I saw him catch sight of the marker, which made me able to run to it without hesitation.
While they were running off really fast from the control, I was confused about if I should use the trail at all to the next marker. I should've just ignored it, since I wasted so much time debating about it. I ended up just taking a bearing. I had a pretty obvious thicket to find, with a trail as a catching feature behind it. It didn't cause me any problems.
Finally, I took a rough bearing to the field where the go control was. I was worried about missing it, but I looked right and saw the grass from far away; a slight adjustment was all I needed, and it cost me a minimal amount of time.
Overall, this was a successful course, but 7 and 8 reminded me that I can never let my guard down on what seems like a simple leg.