okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mindless running in Georgia
One of my "rules" is to take a few seconds to stand still and read the map after I fall down during a race. I violated that rule in Georgia. Check out my crazy 10th control (and the 11th is dismal, too). Just before I get to the control circle, you can see a red dot on my track. That's where I fell down.
I put my foot into a hole, straightened my left knee, and fell forward. When I got up, I started moving right away. I "forgot" where I'd been and just ran mindlessly for a bit, then looked around (without stopping) tried to match up some stream bends that I saw with the map, made a parallel error....and ran right off the map! I fell down again - right at the edge of the map - and AGAIN, I got up and kept on moving.
I need to figure out a good way of practicing falling down - a way that'll work without having to actually put my foot in a hole and hyperextend my knee.
You were lucky that there was that long straight road right on the edge of the map to stop you losing too much time. Mind you I'm surprised you didn't realise there was something wrong when you ran through the long straight fight just before that :)