orienteering 1:32:25 [3]
Team Trials- Long
Gorgeous day. Clint Morse convinced me, before the start, to wear shorts on the course which was a great idea. the woods weren't exactly open, but there was no reason to wear pants, and shorts make me feel quick.
I was a bit hesitant on the first control, not seeing the indistinct trail on the way down the hillside, and thus being unsure about how far down the slope to go, and in which direction. I think I let this unnerve me too much, and started pelting down the hillside towards 2 with little regard to exactly where I was going. kept checking my compass and realizing that I wasn't on the right bearing, but never stopped to fix my bearing either. just got down to the bottom on the hill, and worked my way over to the control. Saw Ian Smith for the next couple of controls, in the loop, and then went pelting across the hillside towards 6 without a really great plan which had the potential to be a real disaster. I ended up over shooting 6 by a little bit, and I think learned my lesson about needing to stay in better control. was solid on 7-8-9-10, I think I chose well for me on my route over the top of the hill to 11. certainly talking to others, contouring around was a mistake. Erin Schirm had a pretty stellar split on this one. I saw Clem headed to 14 as I came in to 11, and that helped me keep pushing. I was reading the terrain very well on 12-16, 17 and 18 were okay, and then I stayed low through the campus to 19 which I thought was good, but again there were some pretty fast splits by other runners. I think I was getting tired at this point, and was off a bit on 20 ( hit a red control first) and slowish on 21. was very glad that the finish came up so quickly after that.
ended up 2nd on the day behind Eric, just a little ahead of Erin. But a good enough race to get me a spot on the WOC team. really thrilled about that. have been smiling ever since I finished.
many thanks to all those who put lot's of time into DVOA meet to make it such a success. apart from all the people that normally get acknowledged a big shout out to the start and finish crews who I found to be super encouraging and friendly. It was very nice to have happy helpful people at the beginning and end!