Run 2:15:00 [3] 13.5 km (10:00 / km) +525m 8:22 / km
shoes: Raptor Red 1
BCOC long on combo of Black Magic and Lost Lake map. Cool terrain on the upper slopes - really felt like we were way out there. As per usual mixed up a couple of the early controls. On 2 did not trust my distance estimation and got detoured too early. Then did a 90 degree compass error which luckily I caught pretty quickly and didn't lose me too much time to others. Didn't feel like I was moving fast for the next several controls as was trying to stay in contact with the map (fairly long distances between some controls). Overall had good approaches and was only puzzled a couple times when features appeared sooner than I expected (especially on of the mtb trails). Major mistake was on 10-11 as about halfway I recognized some cliffs so knew where I was then proceeded to go downhill 90 degrees from the direction I was supposed to. Not sure what happened - relocated but lost about 5 minutes here. I blame not being able to see the map as gave myself a corneal abrasion on my right eye (glasses fogged up again). Combined with my recurrent left corneal abrasion my vision was rather crappy. As always when you look back at the map it seems so obvious - it could have been a much easier control had I gone left at the cliff and contoured the dark green to the control (or hit the trail).
After 11 we had a long leg through the residential area to the Lost Lake trails. In retrospect my route wasn't too bad but certainly could have been tweaked in a couple spots to save a few minutes (forgot that shortcutting road swithcbacks is a good idea). Was hard to switch from open forest nav with few trails to lots of route options. Took a few controls to adjust. The Lost Lake bit was longer than I hoped for as my running fitness was failing me and given the plethora of trails running speed would have come in handy. In retrospect would have gone differently from 14-15 and lost a few minutes on 17 when my eyesight failed me again and I thought I was on a different parallel trail than I actually was which meant my bearing off that trail took me nowhere...
Alll in all satisfied with my run. 15 minutes of fixable mistakes. 5-10 minutes improvement if I was just generally sharper with decision making (which sadly won't happen unless I spend more time on orienteering maps). If I was in better running shape could perhaps take another 5-10 minutes off there. 2nd place again but 35 minutes behind Brian May (7th or 8th on the course).