Once again felt slightly nervous about this race after last year but spent much time preparing before the actual event. #1 goal was to precision orienteer to the first contol. #2 Was to keep full contact through the race even if it meant slowing down.
The race went about as well as it could have gone. Had numerous successes. Realized from the GPS that I lost about 6:30 in total, three times less then last year. Largest mistake was 2:30 on #14 (pictured right) where I neglected my #2 goal and lost contact. Was excited to be be almost finished and let things get away. Started to really feel tired at that point and disappointingly blew another minute to #21. A little bit more discipline would fix these right away.
When I found #3 I noticed right away that the water jug, displayed nicely beside the control, had water pouring out the spout. Taken by the moment I dived for the jug and stopped the flow. Unfortunately after the heroics I neglected to punch the control and so miss punched. I would have come third but was quite far behind Wil who ran ~1:28:00. Nevertheless I am happy with my race. Took me a bit to get a hang of things in the beginning. Most of the five minutes I was behind Wil had been lost before #4. After that I feel I orienteered well.