Orienteering race 1:29:26 [4] ***
16c
SML/TT Long @ Chattahoochee Bend State Park
A bit heavy on the trial running up front, but generally a good, enjoyable course that did test your navigation as well as running speed, and really switched it up with some true flood-plain o towards the end- fast and flat and not so many features...
Beginning half had some quite normal spur-and-reentrant type terrain, fairly well sprinkled with trails, which were generally helpful to use. The forrest is far more green (leaves!) than up north, and some vines to thwart ya here and there.
My race went pretty well, felt in control of having a plan always to the next control and execution went well except once, to #3, where I lost ~4 minutes, ouch. I can now see what happened, I was farther north that I thought when I arrived in a stream bed, but I didn't quite realize that, and took an earlier reentrant with a dry ditch, because it at least seemed like it could be my swampy reentrant at the beginning- I mean, it's been dry, maybe the swamp isn't really there, thought I. Eh, but wrong.... Took me far too long to relocate, and I really didn't ever figure out what I'd done while I was out there.... bah.
Pretty smooth sailing through the rest of the first half, then botched the post-spectator control because I thought it was taped all the way and accidentaly followed the tape to the GO control... whoopsie! Ed witnessed this, embarrasing =). Then was scared of the flat flood-plain o but went to 11 via 14 which felt safe. Others went fine after that too.
So a good day, but not great because of that 4 min one + detour via GO control. Also need to work up on turning up running speed, but hope that will come with a bit more O this season...
1347/2000