Orienteering race 56:27 [5] ***
(injured)
Thanksgiving O-Cross at Palgrave Conservation Area.
Damp, grey weather, but it was fun to race on home turf. Today's competition had Long, Middle and Short courses. I did the Middle length, which was 3 very similar loops north of the Palgrave pond. We would often see controls for different loops close to the correct control. (Good practice for Micro-O!) After the first loop, it was more of an exercise in trying to find the fastest route between two known points, then there would be some more finely-tuned nav close to the destination. All this emphasis on speed made it obvious that I am *really* out of shape. I was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. Even with all the repetition between loops, my biggest mistake was on the final loop. Leaving a control, I didn't bother glancing at my compass, because I knew in my gut that the trail (which I had just left) was "50 meters down there". I was actually going parallel to the trail and ended up tangled in some nasty stuff at the end of a marsh, well below the trail. Oops. Always take a second and look at the compass, Doofus!
With my confidence increasing after the last couple of days, I was less gentle on my knee today, and a slight medial ligament pain is telling me that I didn't successfully keep things aligned - but it's really not bad. My highlight of the day was talking with JD from Quebec, who had a huge knee brace. His ACL is almost completely torn, and after strengthening his muscles enough, he's able to do all kinds of sports, including ultrarunning. He only wears the knee brace for orienteering. Hearing that was absolutely awesome.