Training Log Archive: jennycas

As I was putting out direction signs at 8am in the wind & rain, I really regretted not having brought gloves, and erecting the toilet tent wasn't great either (the hole started filling up with water as soon as we had dug it). Decided not to wear a thermal top on course though because I'd need dry clothes for later and among the pines it should at least be sheltered from the wind. First creek crossing (of 4) was shin-deep and made my feet numb with cold - I think the last use of this map was the club relays in 2005 when we had to wait for the creek to go down and therefore delayed the mass start!

I always enjoy the flatter low-vis east part of Wirra Wirra even though hunting among the trees for the right patch of greener grass which may contain some rock was a bit hit & miss initially until I got my bearings under control. The change of terrain to the steeper western side of the road could potentially have been less interesting but had some good route choice legs, although that doesn't mean I took the best route. Certainly it wasn't ideal to be coming down off the steepest rockiest part of the ridge when the hail shower hit! Figured that keeping running was the best way of keeping warm, but still I was pretty cold when I finished. (Don't know how the people with lesser body fat percentage survived their courses.) Grateful for the junior squad selling hot soup, but took a while to feel like going out again for control collecting. Now that I've seen the longest course, I sort of wish I'd done the extra 1.3km, because the added distance was all among the rocks on the east side of the road.

I brought 3 pairs of socks today, but needed a 4th pair, and also should not have changed out of my O gear until after collecting the direction signs, because as soon as I got out of the car to do that, the heaviest rain of the day fell...and driving home involved going through a lot of water over the road, plus the Onkaparinga River at Verdun looked even fuller than it had this morning.