Orienteering race 1:24:29 [3] *** 6.0 km (14:05 / km)
spiked:13/23c shoes: Inov8 - Mudrock
An excellent Red course set by cedarcreek at East Fork. My run was pretty sloppy here and there, and I regret a few route choices, but there were no major blow-ups. There were some odd parallels to my run at Lapping park a couple of weeks ago, like botching a couple early controls, and standing within 15 meters of control #5 without seeing it, and then taking an extra 5 minutes to find it. These are the lessons to me to take the beginning more slowly.
I really like the East Fork map, and this section of the park is very detailed and interesting. Of course it's hard to keep a map updated with respect to vegetation, but there were several places (e.g., from #2 to #3) where the mapped vegetation probably convinced me to take an unnecessary route. Similarly, I couldn't really detect much difference in runability on the line between #16 and #17. Maybe I'm wrong, but the mapped distinct vegetation boundary seemed mythical. At least by #20, I had learned that the light green was quite runnable and took the direct route to #21.
A few highlights: Control #15, placed in the middle of a 'pond'. NIce! The leg from 18 to 19 was a blast. Maybe it wasn't the most technically challenging, but it was definitely the most fun for me. And although they can sometimes be annoying, there is also some charm in all of the clueless JROTC kids out in the woods asking you if you have seen #65.
Much appreciation to cedarcreek and Mike for putting this on. Sorry I had to bug-out early.