Street O: Greythorn
It's amazing how the number of cars on the road seem to triple when it is raining. Due to traffic I didn't get to street orienteering as early as I liked. Still just enough time to register and a bit over five minute warm up. "Seven o'clock... go!"
This time I really was going to hold back on my pace. No surges to catch when I thought I really knew where I was heading. Just a nice steady clip that wasn't too hard for my brain. A quick overview of the map had me choose a clockwise route. This would give a few different choices for the second half of controls, that I could work out later.
Punching through the first three controls everything seemed to be falling into place. I picked the shortest pathway to the fourth control, but with hindsight I should have picked the slightly further one. Need to take into account those contour lines.
Holding back felt like it was working. There was still that voice bouncing around in my skull calling me slack and demanding I run harder. This time I muffled that voice with success. The run began to feel invigorating, and more importantly my brain was working an absolute treat. For the first time the map took on a new life. Different possible routes appeared with ease. Revealed itself with each step. Furthermore I wasn't making silly mistakes. I had time and the mindset to use the techniques of collecting features and attack points. I was feeling as if I knew what I was doing.
Soon enough I had punched my card at 18 out of the last 20 controls. My final pathway was easy in terms of navigation. The legs were feeling relatively fresh. So I picked up the speed just a little. Not a massive surge, but now I was feeling comfortably fast. Through the final two controls and onto the finish. First time this season I managed to collect the whole lot and still had about three minutes to spare. I should have placed higher this time.
This time I really was going to hold back on my pace. No surges to catch when I thought I really knew where I was heading. Just a nice steady clip that wasn't too hard for my brain. A quick overview of the map had me choose a clockwise route. This would give a few different choices for the second half of controls, that I could work out later.
Punching through the first three controls everything seemed to be falling into place. I picked the shortest pathway to the fourth control, but with hindsight I should have picked the slightly further one. Need to take into account those contour lines.
Holding back felt like it was working. There was still that voice bouncing around in my skull calling me slack and demanding I run harder. This time I muffled that voice with success. The run began to feel invigorating, and more importantly my brain was working an absolute treat. For the first time the map took on a new life. Different possible routes appeared with ease. Revealed itself with each step. Furthermore I wasn't making silly mistakes. I had time and the mindset to use the techniques of collecting features and attack points. I was feeling as if I knew what I was doing.
Soon enough I had punched my card at 18 out of the last 20 controls. My final pathway was easy in terms of navigation. The legs were feeling relatively fresh. So I picked up the speed just a little. Not a massive surge, but now I was feeling comfortably fast. Through the final two controls and onto the finish. First time this season I managed to collect the whole lot and still had about three minutes to spare. I should have placed higher this time.
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