orienteering race (Easter long) 1:57:53 [3] 11.1 km (10:37 / km)
shoes: Inov8 X-Talon
This would have been a good spur-gully map for a long day (although I don't know of anyone who wouldn't have been happy with another day on granite) if it wasn't for the erratically-mapped lantana making going direct - which I sensibly didn't do on either of the long legs - unequal to the track options. Oh, and the really horrible little seed-balls at thigh height which stuck to, and penetrated through, O pants and socks, making the sensation of running while being sandpapered deeply unpleasant.
Overshot the 1st control into the next gully and Susanne had already caught me 2 min there. Going into 5 (after a track leg where I saw Bridget & Anna going the other way) I saw her coming out, then Ilka, Rachel, Tracy all passed me down into and up out of 6. From 8 I briefly considered straight then saw Simon heading for the road so did likewise. Once I had turned W into the forest Aislinn passed me and I kept her in sight until the steep uphill. She was well ahead of me coming out of 9 as I went in. 10 had no water already with all the senior men and many junior men still to come through. I foolishly decided that straight south to the track would have less prickle agony than direct SE to 11. In fact it took longer and hurt more. Misread the pits at 11 but got a drink. Just got slower after this as it chafed too much to run faster - at least I wasn't overheating, I guess. Misread the creek at 13 and saw the boulder my control was on but thought it was a cluster at the creek junction upstream, so overran it (guess I was getting a bit of brain fade towards the end).
Finished feeling like I don't know why I bother training since everyone who does far less than me, can still come out and wipe the floor with me in a long race, without even trying. And I used to be comparatively good at longs, didn't I?