Orienteering race 1:28:02 [1] ***** 5.7 mi (15:27 / mi) +176m 14:06 / mi
And then, orienteering.
Eventually.
At first I wound up bumbling around the woods for a while, remembering how to orienteer. I'd left my compass in Boston, but Becky lent me one, which was very helpful.
Found 1 okay, then got sidetracked finding 2 and wound up way down a trail, logging hadn't helped. Good attack once on the trail. The for 3 I handrailed off what I thought was a lake but was instead a marsh and got way out of whack, wound up on the main trail well south of 4, then followed a stream up to find the control. Which meant my attack to 4 was fine.
5 was where I kind of remembered how to orienteer. I got there following features in the woods, although at the end just bashed down to a valley and up the other side, but found the control. 6 was similar, although with a very vague attack off of a trail and poor orienteering at the end. 7 I found by pretty much dumb luck; as I was going off to get caught by the trail I saw it. 8 was easy.
9 was a long leg across flatter, less-featured terrain, but I ran it well in a pretty straight line and while the marshes at the end weren't perfect, wound up right at the control. 10 was sub-optimal but I never really lost contact, but did wind up at the stream beyond just a bit above. 11 was nearby but hidden, and 12 was through some green (and there were a few other rocks that could have been mapped on that shelf). 13 was a short leg, and 14 would have been better if the trail along a ridge had been on the map. Lost 90 seconds on that out-and-back. 15 was fine, 16 was in a vague reentrant, then finish.
Orienteering is fun! Just a bit (a lot) rusty, and maybe after two days of hills my legs are tired.
Quote of the day from a passing trail runner:
"Oh, orienteering. That would explain the person covered in blood stumbling out of the woods.":