Orienteering race (Middle) 1:29:55 [4] ***** 4.56 km (19:43 / km) +345m 14:18 / km
20c (sick)
Today was the middle distance courses for Run Black Diamond, at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. I ran red.
With this course, my troubles started immediately. I think that I attacked #1 fairly well, but when I got to the control location, I ran right by it, because it was hidden in a very steep reentrant. I looked around the entire area before finally finding it.
I left #1 on a bad bearing and found the wrong trail. I had to relocate, and I lost significant time again.
After this I proceeded with caution. I made no serious mistakes to #3, but I did get there very slowly.
Numbers 4,5 and 6 were quite difficult in terms of navigation and the terrain was also very difficult to get through. Each of these I got to very slowly.
After this, my race really started to improve. I felt as though I understood the map more, and I also was moving through the terrain faster. I made it to numbers 7,8,9 and 10 with no real mistakes.
After this however, I began to feel much more tired physically. This is partially due to the cold that's been bothering me for a few days. For the rest of the race, I didn't really have any navigational difficulties, but I felt completely exhausted.
I finished 17th out of 29 finishers.