(-2 minutes)
O-festivalen long distance. Aim for the weekend is to block out other competitors and the fact that it's a race, and just get some mental and physical confidence going.
In those stakes, I succeeded. Physically it was tough - everyone died in or before the final loop! The terrain didn't seem any tougher than what we've been in WOC training, but I guess race pace and the heat added to it. Mentally, I staid on track, even after messing around on the 2nd control and having Heidi catch me up at #4. I lost her at the start of the long leg, but must have passed her somewhere along the way again as she popped up behind me (and making the same mistake) as I was correcting from #10 back to #9 ;)
So, both check boxes for today ticked. Technically I was actually a bit horrendous, haven't added up mistakes but they're between 5-10 mins total. But the technical side is the last to put in place - it's hard to piece together a technical race when you're distracted by the mental and physical sides.
10th place, ~10mins back on Mari.