Note
Today I unveiled the grand prize for the most deserving GHO member attending the Flying Pig. It's a battery-operated flying pig, of course! I have committed to developing stringent criteria for awarding this prize immediately following the last race at the Pig. It could reward the top orienteering performance, but maybe it will go to someone who distinguishes themselves in some other way. :-)
Orienteering race 35:00 [5] ***
Thomass orienteering race in Palgrave. I often have to drive over an hour to get to O events, and road conditions can be bad in winter. It was a real treat to just grab a house key and run 800 meters down our road to the starting line of today's race!
As I already knew from my run earlier this week, it was a tough slog with all the snow today. My legs weren't feeling too springy on my warm-up run, and I realized that I will need to start incorporating more running into my training soon. I've been doing lots of other stuff, but running didn't feel as natural as it should.
I don't think I dropped the best controls in the Thomass Box (based on age/gender handicap), but I was first out of the Box anyway, and was surprised when I continued to see no other footprints in the snow ahead of me. But within 150 meters of the finish line, with one control left to go, Hammer passed me. Grrrr! I forgave him immediately because he took 2nd prize (an orienteering calendar) and let me have 1st prize (ice wine and chocolates). Yes, I can be bought pretty easily - and hey, let's face it, I've gotta be happy with 2nd place. GHO runners were also 3rd (Marianna) and 4th (Bob), and we had others in the top 10, including 'Bent!
Running warm up/down 15:00 [2]
Snowshoeing 30:00 [1]
Snowshoeing with 'Bent from our place to and from the Duffy's Lane entrance to Palgrave. We encountered a very embarrassed gentleman with a chocolate Lab, standing in this remote parking lot beside his car, which was locked with the engine running and the keys inside. After some cell phone trouble as we tried to reach his wife in Bolton, we delivered him to our neighbour, another chocolate Lab owner. When we finished our excursion much later, his car was still in the parking lot, but no longer running, so I guess the poor guy didn't have a great day.
Orienteering (Snowshoe) 1:15:00 [1] ****
Contours-only Line-O exercise with 'Bent in Palgrave on snowshoes. We didn't finish the whole thing today, but we'll go back again. It went fairly smoothly with a few minor bobbles. We tried to go for several minutes at a time without looking at the map, and just talked about what we expected to see next. I've done a lot of map memorization lately in different contexts, and it is becoming a more natural skill.