Orienteering race 2:28:00 [3] *** 13.2 km (11:13 / km)
18c
Longggg red course!!! 17 controls including an virtual control at the 'mandatory' river crossing. I think this is the longest point to point that I've done. I'm tired.
A cold day (17F), but lots of bright sunshine. Carpooled with Matt. Not too many people showed up. One guy though, went out on the 9K orange course and hadn't made it back in by the time everyone was ready to leave. Thankfully, just as we were headed out to search for him, he came walking in.
There was a lot of water on the course. 2 river crossings and numerous small creeks. Wore seal skinz and my feet stayed dry, or at least the water in the river and creeks didn't make them wet. Soaked with sweat, but still warm.
I had a great run going thru 14: 9:45/K which is a PR. Things fell apart after that though.
Lost 8-10 minutes at 14. Hit the lake a little north of the control and misread my location. Thought I was south. Went north 'till I was certain of where I was and then had to backtrack.
Next, I was almost hit by a falling tree (a BIG tree) on the way to 15. There was no wind, it just fell. Heard what I thought were gunshots, no, maybe a string of firecrackers. Then a crashing noise and saw the tree falling in my direction. If I hadn't stopped to read the map, I might have been toast. Lost some time trying to regroup from the tree and found the control.
But I was totally distracted going to 16 and blew it big time: figured out that the map was upside down and ended up way east of the reentrant system I needed to be in.... I'm getting good a relocating based on features around me. Lost 15 minutes for sure.
Run back to finish was ok, but I was running out of steam.