12 PM
Running 5:08 [1] 0.79 km (6:30 / km) +3m 6:23 / km
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s
An abbreviated warmup.
Orienteering 48:29 [3] 6.93 km (6:59 / km) +115m 6:27 / km
18c shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s
Red course at Powissett, set by Jeff Schapiro. The day was fantastic - temperatures of about 10 C, with clear, sunny skies after a morning drizzle. The forest was dense; while visibility was good, there was plenty of undergrowth thick with green briar.
I generally orienteered cleanly and fast, but there were two noteworthy errors. On the way to 4, after skirting the edge of the private property, I chose to leave the stone wall handrail and punch straight through the woods on a compass bearing. I drifted, and while my time loss wasn't heavy (perhaps 30-45s), I lacked confidence. While the vegetation pushed me around, I should have been more accurate and confident with my compass.
At 6, I drifted too high, and while I corrected, I misjudged the shape of the target reentrant and overshot for a loss of about 75s. Most of the course wasn't difficult, but I executed parts of it solidly. The footing was rocky and poor in many places. Few of the serious contenders showed up, so I comfortably won.
Running 56:56 [1] 9.3 km (6:07 / km) +117m 5:46 / km
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s
While I had considered trying to race all three advanced courses, I decided to stop after red because the navigational challenge would probably be reduced after running red, I banged up my right knee falling on the run-in to the finish, I didn't want to "show up" the other runners, and I only had about an hour before control pickup was to begin. Had I shown up at 10 or 11 instead of noon, I probably would have given it a shot - Jeff was comparatively conservative in his course lengths.
To pass the time before control pickup, because I felt ok physically, and because my mileage has been weak this week (largely due to some lost time making my Halloween costume), I decided to go for a nice trail jaunt. My map ended well to the west of where I ended up running, so I was lost for part of the run before cruising back east.
Orienteering (Control pickup) 40:00 [1] 3.69 km (10:51 / km) +85m 9:44 / km
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s
Jeff, Pia, and I divided up the controls. Mine had two water stops (aw), but I negotiated this by dropping everything off at one control and circling around to pick up the remote controls before returning. I ran into two pairs of people who were interested in what I was doing, and after some pleasant conversation, I gave them the NEOC website. Hopefully they will come! I was wearing US team regalia at the time, which hopefully adds to my street cred.