Running (Trail) 7:25 [2] 0.87 mi (8:32 / mi)
Fishtrap Lake, WA. Warm-up run from the parking area to the start of the US Long Distance Championships. I'd already missed my start time since I was having split starts with Peggy and there was not enough time in-between. The scenery on the way to the start was rather nice. Had I the time, I would have wanted to come back to photograph the wild flowers. There were very nice yellows, whites and purples in good combinations with the rocks.
Orienteering 2:12:49 [4] 11.7 km (11:21 / km) +390m 9:44 / km
slept:8.0
US Long Distance Orienteering Championships, Fishtrap Lake, WA. I had a tough day. I had a difficult time reading the map and the bifocals I brought along didn't help; they were fogged-up too much. I got way off course on the way to #2 and was slow to recover from the error. I started getting more into the map for a while but nearing #5, a fall into the marsh off a low dam seemed to mark another change in effectiveness. I landed safely but after that my wet feet were more prone to hurting. The basalt or whatever the predominant igneous rock type was kept me off balance. I don't usually get blisters but ended-up with nasty toe blisters and torn calluses. This slowed me but my poor accuracy in the rock detail had as much effect. At 1:15,000 (the map didn't have a scale printed on it, the course notes didn't say, but I found out later) I really needed a magnifier. I took a fall again in the course. Wierdly it was while running up some bare rock. This stumble ended with a sore right hand that's still sore as I write this many hours later. I did well sometimes but when I missed, I lost a lot of time. It was hard for me to tell what was up and down. I'm going to have to find better ways to read detail on maps now that my eyesight has degraded. I enjoyed the race but could have used more protective shoes too. Before going out, someone had warned me that typical O' shoes weren't a good choice for this map and that person was right.