Owls Count

The courses used a section of Oxford that I know well. The map could be used to detail where I spent a good portion of my time while a student at the university. I’ve not bothered to draw my route in, but there is a Garmin track showing where I went. Or showing where the GPS thinks I went – Lyra, from Pullman’s His Dark Materials, may have explored Oxford from the rooftops, but I kept to the ground.

The course was OK, but not technically that difficult. As I knew the area well, I could look at the map and know where the next control was and, so, spend most of my running time avoiding collisions with pedestrians, cyclists, and buses. To improve in the results would have involved me running faster.

I am really glad this race was on Saturday and not Sunday. Missing the torrential rain and winds of Sunday was good.