Orienteering race 50:00 [4]
shoes: New Balance 1600
Okay! Last race in China, time to make it count. And boy howdy did I! I actually don't think I ran quite as hard as I possibly could have, there was a little left out there. I need to learn to ramp it up faster when I get to the last few controls. I think I can hang on to a final sprint top speed just a bit longer than I give myself credit for. Perhaps that's treadmill workout.
Anyway, really fun map at Ruins of Yuanmingyuan, a map I've been near before. There's lots of bridges, and very roundabout route choices. I think I lost time with multiple bad route choices, by made it up by being almost flawless most everywhere else, especially the tricky bit in the hills. I didn't find it all that tricky though, managed to read everything quite well and hit them bang on.
It stings a bit to be 11th, a top 10 result would have really, really made my year. Those 10 guys were really the class of the trip, the super-elite of orienteering and to get just one scalp would have really been awesome. Even though Edgars isn't a sprinter, being 2 seconds back is painfully close. After a year of epic frustrations and mis-punches, no other race this year matters quite as much as this one does.
Next year can't come soon enough.
Running 1:05:00 [1] 6.84 km (9:30 / km)
shoes: Pearl Izumi Streak (circa 2009
Obligatory run at the Great Wall. Kind of raining at first, then it stopped and kind of cleared up a little. It was a super impressive day, and the wall was almost entirely deserted. That was definitely the highlight, no people.
Also, now I have the Strava course record for the climb! Woot!