orienteering race (Green Sprint) 11:34 [5] ** 1.79 km (6:28 / km) +42m 5:47 / km
spiked:11/11c
The overnight shift was rather more busy than I had hoped, and I had some minor concerns about getting my paperwork done before my 9:15 AM departure time, but the actual trip to St. Louis proved very easy, and I did get a couple hours of sleep on the plane. I had been worried about possible commuting delays, so had asked for a late start. When the commute went so well, I had plenty of time to warm up and watch the early runners. It was clear that at least one of the courses had an option to run along the road before entering the woods in a thick but apparently passable area.
I had thought that this sprint was a single course with results broken down into the standard course color of the various competitors, but it turned out that this information referred to the second sprint at Hawn. As a result, I had chosen to run my official Green class for the first time. The course turned out to be fairly straightforward with only 2-3 real chances to miss a control. I had a lot of trouble seeing the large trail markings which seemed easily confused with the contour lines or vegetation boundaries, but nevertheless navigated quite cleanly, notwithstanding a few slightly questionable route choices. As I neared the end, I recognized the route option along the road and took it with the confidence that the mapped thick woods would be manageable. When I hit this penultimate control cleanly and looked up to see that the roof of the Go Control location was already visible, I had a real sense that I might actually be in contention for an award, and I pushed with everything I had to the end. I was rewarded with a second place finish, kept only from ultimate glory by an M-18 runner. It was a very satisfying start to the weekend.
