Orienteering race 52:50 [4] *** 4.99 km (10:35 / km) +235m 8:34 / km
spiked:18/20c shoes: Salomon XA Pro 3D (2007, gray)
A steep and rocky course at "The Toe." Another good run except for two of the middle controls 10-11. Breathing is much easier now than it was on my first day.
Orienteering 47:43 [3] *** 6.02 km (7:56 / km) +170m 6:57 / km
spiked:20/21c shoes: Salomon XA Pro 3D (2007, gray)
A good practice run, this time at Twin Boulders. A lot of open terrain with short grass. Stubbed my big toe on a rock while running downhill, and felt like I broke it at first (It took a couple of big leaps to avoid tripping and falling on my head, though.) Had to walk it off through the next couple of controls.
Note
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Today was the day of (minor) injuries. This morning's course was on a map called the Toe, with some detailed and rugged rock features.
I ran a good course, but when I was running into the second to last control, I had to duck under some branches of a big pine tree. I got under the first two, but whanged my head on the third. It sent me to the ground right at the control, where I blinked for a bit, realized I was still on the clock, punched, and ran the last control into the finish. I was the first person back so far, and as I walked around to cool down, Mikell pointed out that I had blood on my face. It turned out I hit the branch so hard that I put a 2 inch cut in my scalp, and of course it bled quite a bit in that last 5 minutes and the blood had dripped down onto my left cheek. My hat was pretty ugly looking, too. A little investigation revealed that it wasn't a major injury, so I made a makeshift ice pack with my towel and sat and talked to Mikell as the other people came in.
In the afternoon, I went over to Twin Boulders for the training course and did it score-O style - I simply tried to take the most efficient route to get all 21 controls. Most of the way through the route, I was running downhill and stubbed my left big toe on a rock. My upper body got ahead of my lower body at that point, and I made several valiant leaps to get my feet back underneath me and avoid having to somersault. My toe hurt like hell and as I slowed to a walk, I remember wondering if I had broken it. I had to walk the next couple of controls, and as I did so it became apparent that it wasn't broken, just very angry. I ended up with a respectable course time of 47 minutes. After I got back to the car, I also found out that the exertion and/or sweat had caused my head wound to bleed a little bit more. I was feeling a bit beat up, and right there and then I made the decision to forego the campground, head down to Laramie, and get a hotel room for the night, with a soft bed and a shower...
So I checked in at the Hampton Inn and the first thing I did was take a shower. Now I remember why I try to shower at least twice a day! After making myself look respectable again, I headed downtown to Altitude for dinner. It's a very good restaurant that I remember from being here three years ago, and if anything it had gotten better in the interim. Although busy, they had a spot to quickly stash a single diner. I had an appetizer of Vietnamese spring rolls with prawns and hot soy dipping sauce; a main course of blackened salmon tacos with cabbage salad and salsa; and for dessert, a slice of handmade peanut butter cheesecake. This restaurant has their own personal dessert chef, just like the Angry Trout. I had to take half the cheesecake back to the hotel.