It was the Compass Sport Orienteering and I was up for it - but my legs weren't. They feel didn't great before the start - and by the finish they were fair wrecked. The Wrekin ain't exactly flat. I didn't really have any choice but to take it steady today. Physically I wasn't capable of anything more than steady and so it began...
So as my start time approached I bid good day to team and headed across the field towards the start, some 600m away in the woods. To much amusement and the sounds of 'good luck' still ringing in the air I managed to catch a bramble not thirty metres away, in full view of everyone and stumbled to the grass - what a cock. With an omen like that I was going to be lucky to survive let alone finish. I did eventually manage to locate the start with no further incidents and, with compass to hand, set off at just gone eleven on the brown course - that's long and hard for those not in the know - ooh matron.
Unusually I made very few errors. A few 'cautious' entries - shhh, no, stop it - onto the controls but nothing I would call a major cockup. I'm figuring my utter lack of speed today enabled me to focus much more closely on the navigation. I think slow and steady is the future. Get the micro-navigation skills firing on all cylinders and the speed look after itself - well, that's my new theory. My current method of firing off quickly - I said stop it - and then getting the nav a little off kilter isn't going to win me any awards. It was definitely much more satisfying to come in - that's enough now - to the controls from the right direction...
On the score front it was a good day for the club. We won the trophy and so qualify for the finals in October - I say 'we' but I didn't actually score - story of my life....
And here is my not so 'looks like a spider crawled over the page' route from today...
So as my start time approached I bid good day to team and headed across the field towards the start, some 600m away in the woods. To much amusement and the sounds of 'good luck' still ringing in the air I managed to catch a bramble not thirty metres away, in full view of everyone and stumbled to the grass - what a cock. With an omen like that I was going to be lucky to survive let alone finish. I did eventually manage to locate the start with no further incidents and, with compass to hand, set off at just gone eleven on the brown course - that's long and hard for those not in the know - ooh matron.
Unusually I made very few errors. A few 'cautious' entries - shhh, no, stop it - onto the controls but nothing I would call a major cockup. I'm figuring my utter lack of speed today enabled me to focus much more closely on the navigation. I think slow and steady is the future. Get the micro-navigation skills firing on all cylinders and the speed look after itself - well, that's my new theory. My current method of firing off quickly - I said stop it - and then getting the nav a little off kilter isn't going to win me any awards. It was definitely much more satisfying to come in - that's enough now - to the controls from the right direction...
On the score front it was a good day for the club. We won the trophy and so qualify for the finals in October - I say 'we' but I didn't actually score - story of my life....
And here is my not so 'looks like a spider crawled over the page' route from today...
(ps for the record, the bit on the far left was a decision
to out and back to the control not a mistake - truth)
to out and back to the control not a mistake - truth)
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