Orienteering race (Nav Dash) 24:27 [5] 4.3 km (5:41 / km)
ahr:164 max:177 shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS
Not really sure before the race how I would do. No nav for about 6 months and hardly any running for 4½ months is probably not ideal.
Started behind Andre and managed to catch him by #3 which probably caused me to be running a bit harder than I should have been as I stayed within a few seconds of him through to #15. I was worried how the nav would go but up until that stage I was going well with no indecisions or poor route choices. I started to feel very fatigued around 12-13 and Andre started to pull away slowly. At #16 after punching the control I felt very light headed and had a little throw up into the garden. The throw cost me about 5 seconds but when I looked back at the map I looked at #15 thinking I had to get to #16 while standing next to #16. Probably still a bit light headed I got very confused trying to figure out why nothing was where it was supposed to be. I really could have done with reading the control descriptions at this stage but didn't think of it (I have to work on that as I hardly ever read the descriptions and could probably save a few seconds on every control if I did). Eventually I realised my mistake and made my way to #17 then finished the course probably a bit slower than I could have due to being a bit disappointed with my silly mistake but at least I picked up the pace for the last leg.
Other than the 1 major mistake I was very happy with my effort today. Really need to work on the running fitness but that was expected, at least for the majority of the race I navigated without any problems.
Looking at the splits I was in 8th place after punching #16, 19th after #17.
Good to be out there again, now I just have to work on the running fitness and hopefully put in a decent effort by the end of the series.
I enjoyed the course set by tRicky and the map was a work of art, worthy of going up on my wall Juffy. Appreciate the effort put in by all who help to organise these events.
Good times.