Orienteering race 49:55 [5] 5.6 km (8:55 / km) +250m 7:17 / km
shoes: Orange O-Shoes
EVENT: UK Cup at Rowney Warren
COURSE: W-Open, 5.6 km, 250 meters climb, 25 controls
TERRAIN: Hilly, but quite runnable, with a network of small paths and lots of contour detail.
MY RUN: I started off with a 4.5 minute mistake on the first control, then was hesitant to the next few. I had a 2.5 minute mistake on #5, which is where Liis Johanson (as well as Vicky Whaley and Blanka) caught up to me. I pushed on the next few controls and stayed with Liis all the way through number 15 or so. We both messed up #14 by about a minute, although by this point I'd thought I'd lost her since I didn't see her. I was surprised when I finally found the control and started running to the next one, I could see her running along the path. After this, I was really hesitant to #16 (and in fact, went straight instead of taking the big trail right below, which I should have) so I lost about 30+ seconds there. Finally, I lost over a minute on #19. I was right on the mark and knew I was going on the right bearing, but the control was a pit which I just didn't see and kept running about searching for. After this, I was reasonably clean to the finish. With three controls to go, I hit a thick branch head-on and it knocked out my contact so for about 15 scary seconds I was sort of moving forward, but couldn't really see out of one eye, but luckily the contact hadn't fallen out and after a lot of blinking, I got it back into place and I could run again.
RESULTS: I was 13th out of 25 women in the women's open. The winning time was 35:49 by Pippa Whitehouse. Although I had gained time on both Vicky and Blanka after they'd caught up to me in the beginning, I didn't gain enough to beat them, so they took 11th and 12th place right in front of me. In total, I had about 9-10 minutes of mistakes.
THOUGHTS: I absolutely *loved* this race! It was hilly, but my calves didn't cramp up this time and I felt quite strong throughout. Also, it was very cool to run with Liis. I didn't have the speed to get in front of her and she never hesitated, but I was looking at my map and could anticipate which way she would turn and sometimes I'd take micro route-choices different from hers. So I did feel like I was orienteering (although not absolutely confidently) but also I was going *fast*! Sadly, because of my less-than-optimal choice to #16, I lost her and was on my own from there. Even after that, though, I was still going at a good pace. This was such a great event! After I finished, I wished I could go out and do it all over again. I felt awesome.