Orienteering race 37:57 [4] *** 3.67 km (10:21 / km) +47m 9:44 / km
spiked:12/17c shoes: Nike Trail (Blue)
Course 3 at Miami University Western Campus, set by Mike Minium.
I loved loved loved this sprint. Out of 17 controls, there were only (by my count) 2 legs that weren't especially awesome. This is the sort of course that could cause someone to become addicted to orienteering. My only regret is that my fitness didn't allow me to run it at sick fast speeds. (At the speed I was going, it was a little too easy to stay in contact. I'm really interested in the thoughts of the faster runners.) I was very impressed by the number of interesting legs and how even the shorter control picking legs at the end required attention.
One leg I'll mention only because it was so unexpected for me was the run from 17 to the finish---As I crossed to 16, I picked up the "stone" feature, a sculpture that was also a bench, and then as I ran to 17 my plan for 17 to the finish was to aim for the right side of that bench. But when I punched at 17 and lined up toward the finish, there was a crest between 17 and that bench and it wasn't visible. I glanced down a few times at the map, but wasn't able to pick up a feature that would align me perfectly toward the control. As I got to where I could see over the crest, I had drifted a few degrees left. I wouldn't call it a boom, but it for sure wasn't a spike. The control wasn't hidden at all, but it was occluded from view in a manner that you couldn't easily detect by looking at the map. I love that.
Looking at the results, I was 3rd fastest on 9, the knoll next to the major trail. {Edit: I was off by one---the hazards of trying to remember the course without having the map in your hand. It wasn't the knoll it was the reentrant. I was 3rd on this leg because I generated splits for 2 people by halving a big number. I'm guessing I was really 5th. So...Nevermind.}
Other than that one leg, I was mostly just slow and slower.