Owls Count

This week the event was close to home - about eight miles to travel. This meant that we were able to get up later than usual and did not have to rush. Rather pleasant, which is also a good description of the weather. The area was a forest with many minor roads cutting through, leading to the course being a case of picking a few controls before crossing from one section to the next.

I started fairly well and was particularly pleased with the way I pushed hard on the early long leg. The problems came in the second part of the course. I lost about five minutes on finding controls 14 and 16. The first of these I confused myself by not noticing a stream on the map and looking in the wrong chunk of forest and the second I misread the mapped vegetation and overshot the control by 100m.

Also, somewhere in the middle of the course I slipped on some brashings coming out of a section of forest. While I do not seem to have done any damage I lost confidence to push my pace. In all I should have been about 10 minutes faster.

The first orienteering event for me this year and it was the club based competition - the Compass Sport Cup. Or rather Compass Sport Trophy, since Wimborne Orienteers are a ’small’ club. Having been ill in the run up to this event I was not expecting to run too well, meaning that I expected to keep up my form of never being one of the counting members for my club.

I started badly - losing 90 seconds on the first control where I ended up looking on a thicket in the wrong block of forest. I lost a little more time on the third control for reasons I do not now remember. From there I navigated well, but ran slowly to the road crossing. The first control after the road crossing I picked a slow route and lost a couple of minutes. The rest of the navigation was fine, until the last little loop where I lost some more minutes by not concentrating on where I was going.

Overall I was too slow - the recent illness meant that I had little strength in the legs and was struggling to maintain my pace. Unexpectedly I was the second best runner for my club on that course, though I still did not manage to count for the overall club score since those on other courses did better. To have counted I would have had to be more than twenty minutes faster, which would have been about where I would have finished with a clean run and no recent illness. So, possibly, something to aim for next year!

I am still not fully over being ill, but decided to start training again. I went for a run this morning - it was rather wet and windy out!

In a poor start to the year I went down with flu on the second day. I had arranged to run a 10k road race with a colleague, but had to give it a miss. Also the 10 mile race I had pencilled in for next month has had to be cancelled. Combined the means I am now looking around for some road races in the next month or so as preparation for the Reading Half Marathon.

As the year draws to an end I looked through the lists of books read and orienteering event attended this year. While looking through the lists thoughts turned to favourites.

Books
Mad Dogs by Robert Muchamore - the latest book from a very good teenage spy series.
The Financial Times Guide to Investing by Glen Arnold - if you are considering, or already have, investments in the UK then you should read this book.
Heat: How We Can Stop the Planet Burning by George Monbiot - a look at how we can reduce carbon emissions by 90% without make major changes in lifestyle.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Joanne Rowling - the end to a fantastic series.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt - intrigue in an exclusive group of students.
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk - a suitably named book. A haunting collection of linked short stories.

Orienteering
O-Ringen Day 3 - Vifolkavallen - the O-Ringen was my first time orienteering in Sweden and this was the first day when I had a reasonable idea of what exactly I was doing.
Spey2007 Day 4 - Culbin - I really enjoyed the sand dunes of Culbin and am looking forward to getting back later this year.
Warwick City Race - my favourite event of the year. A course that required full concentration for the whole way round.