orienteering 1:11:39 [3] 12.4 km (5:47 / km)
Long race. this one was pretty good. when I woke up my calf wasn't bothering me and I took some Ibuprofen for the ribs. took the trail around to 1, and ended going a little too far to the right to 2. on three I was convinced that going out to the road would be faster, and that's how I went but Sam has since convinced me that it wasn't so great after all. By the time I was headed to 5 I realized that woods were too open to ever not go straight, so I was really just going as straight as I could. Saw Sam, who had started 4 minutes ahead of me, at 9, but then I went straighter on the long leg. Maybe I shouldn't have, because Sam says she saw me cross in front of her on the way to 10, and I probably would have been able to run faster on the trail than she was going. I liked straight on 10 though, because the woods really were so runnable, I came through the marsh in the green on the way to the circle so I hit it right on. 11, I was a bit right, and12 too. on 12, I never saw the trail that I was trying to use, so it was lucky that I found the flag at all. 13 I overshot and had to come back, on 17 I crossed the river early, which was okay, but I think the running was better on the other side. 18 was just an evil and gratuitous climb, 19 I was sloppy and off my line a little bit 20 even more so, though part of that was just trying to find a good way across the reentrant. on 21 I was trying to catch up to Emily Kemp, and angled nicely across the woods to have a good line to the control. Here is another control where I was pleased with my route but then it turns out that Sam's route was better. She took the trail all the way and was almost as fast as I was. I guess the woods were nice but the trails were still a tiny bit faster. on the way to 22, Mike Waddington was encouraging me to keep working hard and to view the race like a qualifier for WOC. This was a good thing to hear at this point in the race and I surged a bit to close the gap on Eric Kemp. got a bit confused on 23, when I dropped down into the woods expecting to see a rootstock and saw nothing.... very hesitant down the trail because I knew Eric was right there with me and I didn't want him to find the flag and get a jump on me. The last bit was just running hard. Need to practice some hills still, getting up the back out of 24 was tough.
The race was ostensibly 12.4 k, and I ran 71 mins so that's just under 6 a k. I'm quite happy with that. I never took my hammer gel, because it didn't feel necessary. Maybe a couple places I could have been cleaner, but I'm happy to have put together a good effort and to get the win. Erin was second, which again was exciting. Wonder how much faster he is when he's not recovering from anemia :) Will wasn't there, he was at the U of R graduation instead. I think he probably would have run about the same speed but I might have edged him....