Oops! Logged in to blog about the JK to find I hadn’t finished off my Oban weekend post (hence the backdate!)
The weekend of 17/18 of March saw the first of race of the 2012 Scottish Orienteering League on the same area used for Day 4 of the Scottish 6 Days last year which I didn’t get to run, although I did spend the day in the soggy assembly field. Thankfully the weather was a lot more pleasant this time round! But first, Andy Paterson of Clyde had planned a middle distance race nearby for the Saturday…
Coille Nathais Middle Race, 17/03/12
Middle distance races have always been a problem for me; I tend to get flustered, run too fast and make lots of mistakes. So I was pretty determined to avoid it this time, especially as it was probably my last chance before the JK to do a middle race. Thankfully I managed to keep my cool and despite some wobbles early on I had a pretty clean race.
I also recorded a headcam video of this race:
Torinturk Scottish League Race, 18/03/12
Sunday brought the main event, the Long race. Given some leg niggles last week I was a bit apprehensive of a full on hilly race but it turned out to be ok. I felt a bit lacking in energy and power in my right leg but not too bad. I made some big mistakes early on, losing 5 minutes on number 4 was a particularly bad one. The forest around there was vague and my plan was even more vague. I should have followed the line of crags but went low, got confused and had to relocate a couple of times… Oops. The rest of the course was a bit of a plod but great to get some time in terrain before the JK.