Orienteering race 2:31:54 [5] *** 7.6 km (19:59 / km) +310m 16:36 / km
25c shoes: New Balance 479
I needed, but did not have body armor for this one... On the plus side, I didn't change my navigation to avoid climb, but I did to avoid the prickly undergrowth...
Ok - looking at the map and splits and comparing splits it's worse than I thought - wow - I can't even remember how I found several of those controls two days later...
First 4 controls - great. Except of course that I didn't read the bit about the road crossing getting subtracted out (up to a minute), so instead of punching, crossing slowly, drinking, and punching again, I punched, crossed, punched, drank and hurried off... [twice]
So that false sense of success had me going by the seat of my pants to the fifth control and blowing it completely.
Only a couple good controls after that and many to be unhappy with.
Lessons:
In a calm state, and with my reading glasses on, I can barely read the red control circles on the map. I'm expecting that with sunlight and my compass magnifier I felt better.
But - I think the lack of contrast and a slight slip of the map made me plan a course to 10, then think that the control circle of 15 was where I was headed, and send me off on a wild chase.
Next - I need to get some more experience on these hills covered with rock, boulders and cliffs - I muffed several of these and know that it has been a weakness in the past. We just don't have terrain like that here to practice on.
Last - Before I used to fail physically and then make errors. I don't see that happening, I think I moved faster than my skills in this terrain could support. It would have been better to plan more, control movement more, and recover less.