Orienteering race 1:13:23 [5] 7.5 km (9:47 / km) +200m 8:38 / km
shoes: Icebug olx 2nd
Susquehanna Stumble, hosted by QOC at Prince William Forest. I chose the Short Stumble, because I really didn't want the total body wreckage that would come from running a 15k mass start event, and also I figured I could place pretty well in the short.
And that last part was certainly right, I came in second, 10 min behind Chris Gross and 8 min ahead of Rick Oliver. But here's the deal, this wasn't really orienteering. I hardly navigated at all, just an occasional check to see which window control we were going to, and I was invariably surprised to see the control coming up so soon.
I mostly followed Ted and Vido, both running Long. At one point I was following Ted so closely I spiked him on the calf when I stumbled trying to avoid a fat greenbriar strung low between the trees. I stopped to check with him and he emerged apparently unhurt, but it was bad form and I am sorry about it.
When Ted split off to the left going to 14 I went up the trail with Vido, but we managed to make a bad attack and lost the spur with the control on it. Then I did some actual navigation, and we found the right one together, about 4 min lost. Also navigating to 15 and 16, and then solo to the finish.
I ran well, probably nearly 10k total distance with a fair amount of elevation gain. I felt strong the whole way through to the finish. But there's no way I can navigate on my own at that speed. I've occasionally done it in easier terrain, but not in this kind of complexity. This was mostly running, not orienteering.