orienteering race (Vic Long Champs) 1:11:38 [4] 11.3 km (6:20 / km)
shoes: Asics Kayano 15
So, this morning when I put my brain in, I tamped it down well, screwed the lid on tightly, then added some air holes. I also wore my runners and used extra extra ankle tape. I was going to remain focused at all costs, except perhaps at the expense of my ankle, which was fairly unhappy running across hillsides early in the course, but didn't mind runing linearly along spurs and gullies. The course wasn't at all steep and there was very little undergrowth, and the purple (Caladenia?) orchids were everywhere and I had to try not to step on them.
Was slightly high on 2, Aislinn had caught me 2 min by 3, I lost 30sec going unnecessarily over a rocky knoll at the end of the leg to 4 then being slightly right of it, but as I punched she came down the bigger hill which she hadn't meant to go up. We were both a bit too far right on 6 and bounced off the fence but I caught on before she did, Clare was punching 6 as we came down, and after that I never really lost sight of Aislinn and the ground was less rough than earlier on so I could run quite strongly, and went pretty direct on the long leg, actually punched 10 before her and then we leapfrogged the last few controls. Kathryn had started 8 min behind me and I was amazed to finish just before she did - had been sure that she'd go through me halfway round.
Yeah, so I think this was a good run - not the most technical course but it gave me some confidence back - and it's nice to know that I'm racing better than I ever have before, even if my navigation is taking a while to catch up. The road trip back was okay too; I wasn't nearly as tired as when coming home from the relays a week ago, and our daisy chain (the one which I had made for Fern at Vaughan Springs yesterday, then hung from the back windscreen wiper as a joke) survived the drive, although it was somewhat tattered by the end, to say the least!
And now it's only 6 weeks until the World Champs rogaine so I'd better build some distance up again, and while I'm at it, entries for the Cradle Mountain Run open in a week (and will probably close the same night).