TVOC Chiltern Challenge, Wendover Woods, SHort brown 7.2km / 285m
Taped up bad heel/Achilles, for the first time, to help support it on this steep area.
Also other ankle sprained, so hobbled by double taping; unable to run free - I'm turning into one of those broken old men who stagger / creep through the forest. well, not quite.
Slow and crap start, unsure of the map & paths; overshot a bit on no 1, and was generally creeping up & along slopes to protect the heel. Resultantly I was 2 mins down on Clive after 8 minutes - jeez!!!
no 5 I skipped down the gentle hill in 62 seconds and won the leg; how Michael Hallett took nearly 3 minutes on this leg I will never know. I then struggled a bit with form & fitness, plus foot twinges, leading me to "lock" my foot in a "pointy" position on path runs, but generally, no mistakes of any significance (helped by a damn fine map) and finished OK, winning later legs as presumably Clive became tired.
Great route choice to no 11 - much discussion afterwards - my route was the safe road option, partly chosen to give my Achilles a rest from the terrain for a bit; I galloped in bad, ungainly and slightly uncomfortable style along the verge of the road. My Garmin beeped out a 4:15km on that stage. Oh! Really? Urm..... but my route wasn't best - Roger Thetford's was IMO - part descent. Roger knows the area well!
2nd to Clive; 3:21 behind; I'll take that; good course; good event; well worth the long long drive. Happy enough for next w/e. I've lost my edge , though - c'est la vie.
results:
http://www.tvoc.org.uk/application/documents/event...https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1140431...http://www.tvoc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#86&cour...