Orienteering race (Sprint) 26:31 [4] *** 3.71 km (7:08 / km) +19m 6:58 / km
slept:7.5 shoes: Salomon Sense Pro - Blue
Turns out I've been wasting my time training for races that take 40+ hours. Apparently, the sweet spot for me is a little over 20 minutes. Who knew?
The NAOC Sprint was a great time with loads of variety in a short race. We started by Madawaska Falls after running a beautiful riverside trail to the start. I went out for 5 minutes on the little warm-up map since I haven't run on a map drawn to sprint standards for a long time - probably not since the Canadian Champs a year ago. It was a good reminder of what trees, rocks and vegetation would look like and what a 1:4,000 scale would feel like.
Cristina and I had the same start time so I shamelessly followed her to the start triangle. ;) Then she was off like a shot running through the streets of Arnprior. Woo, Cristina. I jogged along at a more sensible pace, picking off controls in the downtown area - stone walls, trees, etc. It was like a ghost town with the busiest streets closed to traffic for us - very cool.
We ran into a residential area and through a little fenced walkway, then ended up on the front lawn of a school at #6. From here it was about 70 m due north to a rootstock in the forest. I briefly considered going straight there but had a nervous moment and decided to run along the schoolyard until I hit the little trail that led right to the fallen pine tree attached to the rootstock. As I look at the map now, it appears to be a dumb choice - about 60% more running to get to a control that was only a stone's throw away. However, this tied for my best split of the day (3rd) and moved me up from 8th to 4th place so apparently my nervousness was well founded. We had a few more controls in the forest, then I missed seeing #11 as I ran by in moderate visibility vegetation. This was a 1:09 error, according to AP. Yipes, it didn't feel that bad but I guess it really shouldn't take me 2:18 to run 100 m.
Soon after that was the scary part of the race where we ran into Robert Simpson Park, which was filled with spectators. We'd been warned there were 14 controls placed within 120 m of the finish chute, only a few of which would belong to our course. I didn't stop to read my map carefully in the park due to embarrassment about everyone watching, which could have led to embarrassment about everyone watching me get hopelessly lost but fortunately I had two minutes of unconscious competence at the right time. I only wasted time (2 seconds) looking for the start of the finish chute, which was just silly because I'd stood for an hour at the finish line before my start, and it had never occurred to me to imagine what the big tree by the Go control might look like if I approached it from the other side.
7th of 28 today, 83 seconds off the podium and less than 5 minutes behind Pavlina. (In our age category, we only race for 2nd place!) She was 3 minutes behind Ted de St. Croix running the same course so maybe it was a little long for the recommended winning times, not that I mind. It was nice to feel things click today - just in time for the event to be over. :(
Then we watched the very exciting North American elite relay championship. At least it *was* exciting until the Americans pulled ahead on the final leg and won the darned thing. ;)
Great job by Orienteering Ottawa on this entire weekend - a class act and lots of fun.